There are a few things you can do to keep you Cigar Box Guitar playing well and some improvements you can make too:
- Keep it clean
- Change the strings
- Keep the bridge and nut in good condition
- Check the fretboard and frets
- Check the pickup and electrics
- Check for loose screws
How To Keep Your Cigar Box Guitar Clean
I know how easy it is to just grab your Cigar Box Guitar and play, but if you regularly play without clean hands the guitar is going to get dirty pretty quickly.
Even if you always play with clean hands your guitar will need a bit of a clean sometimes. I won’t go as far as to say as some do that you should wipe it down after every use- I certainly don’t. There does however come a point when you can tell that you need to do a bit of cleaning.
I like to wipe the guitar over with a clean cotton or microfiber cloth to remove surface dust from the body and neck. I don’t use any cleaning products when I do this as I don’t want to cause any damage. On my main Cigar Box Guitar, the box itself is covered in paper and even though I think it might be lacquered I don’t want to risk getting it wet at all.
When I change the strings, I have better access to do a deeper clean. When the old strings are off, a cloth can get into the fret spaces much more easily. A cotton bud gets right up to the edge of each fret and the saddle, bridge and nut. Again I don’t use polish or cleaning products although I might add a little oil to the fretboard after cleaning if I think it needs a little lubrication.
Storing Your Cigar Box Guitar Safely
I don’t think it’s a great idea to keep your guitar in a case unless you know you are not going to be playing it for some time. I need my guitar out and visible to encourage me to quickly grab it and play. If it’s in a case I would only play when I had a fair bit of time, rather than picking it up whenever I had a few minutes to spare.
I do make sure to stand my guitar up safely, although admittedly not always on it’s stand. I have a simple foldable ukulele stand which works well:
Here is a link to check out the price on Amazon.co.uk and here it is for those of you in the USA
I know some people like those clips that allow for wall hanging but we have children visiting our house and I don’t want anything falling from a height as they run around.
I make sure my Cigar Box Guitars are protected from extremes of temperature and humidity- I keep them in room that’s suitable for me and I don’t like cold damp rooms or hot dry rooms. I do watch out that I don’t keep them too near a window as I don’t want the guitar in direct sunlight all day, nor next to a radiator. So basically I look after the guitar like I look after my own body.
How To Look After The Strings On Your Cigar Box Guitar
The strings also benefit from a wipe down with a clean cloth. I also have a tub of “GHS Fastfret” which is a cleaner/lubricant for guitar strings which I use sometimes. You can get it here on amazon.co.uk and here on amazon.com It makes the strings feel smoother to play but I must admit I don’t use it that often.
I’ve read that you should replace strings after about 100 hours of play or about 3 months but I tend to change them when I feel like they don’t sound so good any more or if I want to try lighter or heavier strings or a different tuning. Strings are not really that expensive and string choice can make or break the sound of your guitar. It’s really worth experimenting and then making a note of what works well so that you can repeat buy them when they wear out.
Strings should not get rusty or feel rough- you should definitely change them if that is the case.
I have a couple of articles about strings that you might want to check out:
How Do I Put New Strings On My Cigar Box Guitar?
9 Different Tunings For Cigar Box Guitars
Do This When You Change The Strings On Your Cigar Box Guitar
- Clean and check the fretboard and frets
- Clean and check the saddle, bridge and nut
- Check for fret buzz or too high an action
- Check for intonation problems
When you’ve removed the old strings, don’t forget to give the fretboard, frets, saddle, bridge and nut a good clean too ( see paragraph above).
Strings take a while to settle in until they don’t go wildly out of tune, so remember to stretch the strings after you’ve changed them ( by carefully pulling the strings slightly away from the fretboard). This really helps new strings to stay in tune. Another important maintenance tip is to trim the string ends and ensure that there are no sharp ends pointing up that you will catch yourself or your clothes on.
Changing the strings gives you a good opportunity to check for any intonation problems. You can move the saddle slightly toward the base of the guitar if the fretted note at the 12th fret is a bit sharp sharp. Alternatively you can move the saddle towards the headstock if it’s a bit flat. The saddle / bridge can be angled slightly if needed to get all strings correctly intonated.
I have an article on how to solve this and other intonation problems here:
Guitar Tuning And Intonation Problems: How Can I Fix This?
Whilst your checking your strings, it’s a good idea to check for any buzzing string problems. If strings are buzzing, it’s usually because they are hitting a fret or several frets. This can be remedied in 2 ways: lower the offending fret or raise the offending string by raising the bridge and/ or nut. I will have more detail about this in my article coming soon.
Keeping The Bridge And Nut In Good Condition
Apart from checking the height of the bridge and nut are correct to avoid string buzz or too high an action( where the distance between the fretboard and string is too high), there are a couple of other things to check.
If your guitar has a cheap plastic nut or bridge, you can change them out for bone or metal. This will improve the sound of your instrument and is not a very complicated job. You might have to carve slots for the strings so be sure to wear a mask to prevent yourself from inhaling small particles.
You might also need to enlarge the slots for the strings if you choose slightly heavier gauged strings as they might be a little wider. A trick to try first is to rub a pencil lead on the slot. The graphite from the pencil acts as a lubricant allowing the string to move into the slot more easily.
A cotton bud is useful for cleaning the bridge and nut. I don’t recommend using any cleaning product apart from a little clean water on the cotton bud- just enough to make it damp.
Checking The Frets On Your Cigar Box Guitar
When the strings are removed is a good time to check for any damaged frets. Frets can get dented or come loose or have slightly rough ends and you can do a little to sort out these problems if you are confident e.g. if you’ve built your own Cigar Box Guitar or have maintained a guitar for a while.
However if you don’t know what you are doing you could end up wrecking your guitar. Ask the original builder if they can do some maintenance or try your local guitar shop. Even if they don’t sell Cigar Box Guitars, they will often be able to help with sorting out fret problems.
Smoothing out rough ends on the fret wire is called dressing the frets. I have found that it’s a bit tricky to smooth the wire without damaging the wood in between. Masking the wood, either with masking tape or a metal or plastic guard can help. The ends of the fret should slope inwards from the edge of the fretboard and hopefully your guitar had any sharp bits that were protruding over the edge removed in the manufacture. However, as the wood of the fretboard shrinks you can sometimes be left with frets that are slightly too long.
I haven’t invested in fret dressing files and just use a small file to carefully remove sharp bits. My bought guitar has not needed any such work, but I have had to work a bit on my homemade ones. I have seen builders use a belt sander to work on many frets at once but my belt sanding skills are not quite up to that yet!
One of my home made builds had a problem with a couple of fret wires coming loose where I had made the groove slightly too wide, but I fixed that with a drop of super glue and that trick might help you. If this hadn’t worked , I was planning on filling in the groove I’d cut with a mixture of glue and sawdust to match the fretboard. Then I would have recut the groove, being a bit more careful to keep my saw upright.
This is the saw I use to cut my frets. It’s Japanese, cuts a really narrow fret groove ( if you keep it upright) and is available on amazon.com here and amazon.co.uk here.
I haven’t experienced a dented fret yet thankfully because if it was bad enough I think the fret wire would need replacing and the thought of trying to match up the wire so that the fret sits well is not something I look forward to. I think I might end up having to replace all the frets and that seems a lot of work. As I make guitars I end up with bits of spare fret wire but they end up in the bottom of a box of bits. Perhaps I should organize myself a bit better and put any spare in an envelope labelled with the build number…..
How To Maintain The Fretboard On Your Cigar Box Guitar
In addition to making sure the neck and fretboard are clean so that my hand can glide smoothly up and down, I make sure that when I remove the strings I have a proper look at the fretboard and frets.
I’ve never had a fretboard get really dirty but I’ve read that you can clean the fretboard with wire wool or even scrape it with a blade if its unlacquered.
That sounds a bit drastic to me but I guess it’s the only way to get really greasy grime removed. I’ve used wire wool when I’ve built Cigar Box Guitars and I know that tiny iron filings come off the wool so I would want to wipe the fretboard down well after cleaning it.
Since a coiled pickup contains magnets that would attract these tiny pieces of steel, I would want to protect any magnetic pickups with low tac masking tape. A tiny magnet might be useful in removing loose pieces of steel from the fretboard but I would have to make sure that the magnet got nowhere near my magnetic pickup or electrics.
Once the fretboard is clean, it might need a bit of lubrication from a proprietary fretboard oil or some almond or lemon oil. Oil is not needed on certain types of wood e.g. maple, or laminated or lacquered fretboards. It’s best to apply any oil sparingly, leave it to soak in and then remove excess with paper towel. You just want to lubricate the wood to stop it splitting not leave it all greasy again.
Looking After The Pickup And Electrics On Your Cigar Box Guitar
If you are a guitar builder as well as player, you may want to address problems with your pickups but if you don’t know what you are doing this is better left to someone who does.
Piezo pickups shouldn’t need any maintenance so long as they don’t come loose within the box or unless a wire comes loose.
Magnetic pickups might need a little adjustment on the height. If you are getting too much string friction sound it’s probably because the pickup is too close to the strings, or if the guitar sounds too muted it might be too far from the strings. These things all depend on the strength of the magnets which will decrease over time. Again I’ll say it: you can really mess up things if you don’t know what you’re doing.
As for the electrics themselves, any loose wire will obviously cause problems. You will need soldering skills to fix this.
Another potential issue is the potentiometer or pot which acts as the volume control. These can fail and need replacing as they wear out or can just need a bit of a clean. If the volume is jumping rather than increasing smoothly try a little contact cleaner. This is a specialist spray lubricant. Here is a link on amazon.co.uk to the one I use made by WD-40. This is the same product on amazon.com
You will have to be really careful that you don’t get spray on the box body of your guitar so use something to mask around the control knob.
Another part that may need a bit of maintenance is the input jack. These can work loose but can be tightened with a spanner. You might need to open the box to stop the whole jack rotating as you tighten and you will certainly need to open the box to sort out any loose connections.
Some builders use just the metal box corners to close the box but be aware that some might have glued the lid shut and this might result in some damage as you open the box.
Other Important Maintenance Checks For Your Cigar Box Guitar
Other parts that can come a bit loose are the tuning pegs. Again you can tighten them with a spanner but don’t make them too tight. The tuners might also need a bit of a clean to prevent dirt build up especially if you play and store your guitar in a workshop. I mean you should clean the part that turns- the gear- not just the knob itself. It’s also a good idea to check the screws on the pegs to make sure they aren’t working loose from the headstock.
The box body can get a bit worn, especially if it is covered in unprotected paper, but personally i like the look of a worn guitar as it shows how much it’s been played and hopefully loved.
If you don’t intend to play a particular guitar for a while, you can loosen the strings a little bit which will help the neck not to bend, but it’s not strictly necessary.
When you are cleaning your Cigar Box Guitar, check for any damage or cracks. A small problem can be repaired so much more easily ( and cheaply).
A competent builder will be able to repair your guitar or set it up ( changing string height etc.) if you can’t do it yourself.
Extending The Life Of Your Cigar Box Guitar
I hope you have seen that a few simple things can keep your guitar in good working order and enable you to keep enjoying playing it for many years:
- keep it fairly clean
- check for damage and loose parts periodically
- use the time you change the strings as an opportunity for a more thorough clean and check over
