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Saturday, July 30, 2011

Ukuleles- Caring for Your Ukulele

By Scott E. Hutton


As all musicians know, instruments call for regular care and maintenance. Weather and other environmental aspects impact the condition of a Ukulele. Since they are made of wood humidity affects the condition of the instrument as it loses or absorbs moisture.

Too dry along with the wood might crack or shrivel. Too moist as well as the wood might swell or warp. For this reason, the instrument needs cleaned and inspected frequently. Often this means keeping them in a case having a humidifier or taking them out to dry. Modifications in weather may also affect tuning and trigger the neck to warp.

Cleaning and caring for your instrument is the exact same as caring for a guitar. Clean and care for your Ukulele regularly. Exactly the same brand of polishes, cleaners and fret board oils utilized for guitars can also be utilized to clean a uke. The body and also the fret board are produced of differing materials and call for diverse sort of cleaners. Never ever use exactly the same one on both surfaces. Cleaning and polishing protects the instrument against the sweat and salt produced by the player's skin. Sweat can deteriorate the wood finish and corrode the fret wires. It also collects on the wood surface causing it to hold on to dirt and dust.

Take care when cleaning around dings, blemishes, cracks or dents. If cleaning fluid gets into them, it could trigger the wood to swell and make those blemishes worse. If the ukulele shows some tiny scratches or surface marks, you are able to use a clear nail polish to seal them. This approach requires the use of a small brush plus a steady hand. Wax is very good to make use of for sealing cracks inside the wood. It is possible to use a guitar wax as it will also maintain moisture out. One method to stop scratches when cleaning may be the use of a microfiber towel.

In no way use ammonia based cleaners on your instrument. These varieties of cleaners are not created for wood and dry the surface out causing it to warp or crack. Ammonia will also deteriorate strings and dull the ukulele's finish. Household cleaning goods like furniture oils aren't great cleaning products also. They leave a residue that attracts dirt and dust allowing it to collect on the instrument. By no means use straight lemon oil to clean the fret board as it really is a solvent. Nevertheless, you will find fret board oils that contain lemon oil, but not at a high enough concentration to hurt the instrument.




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