Taking Good Care of Your Guitar

All Cassidy guitars are crafted from carefully selected tone woods, with several of our Acoustic models featuring all Solid Wood construction.

The overall setup of a guitar is a very delicate balance with the natural woods used in construction supported by a properly adjusted Truss-Rod counteracting the forces of the strings tuned to pitch.

As a natural substance, the woods used in guitar construction are very sensitive to environmental changes to temperature and humidity. Extreme changes can be traumatuic for your guitar and should be avoided if at all possible.

Ideal Storage Environment

To avoid critical damage to your guitar, we recommend you pay close attention to how it is handled, as well as to the ambient humidity and temperature it is exposed to.

When not in use, the best place to store your guitar is in a Hard case or good quality Gig Bag. This will slow down moisture loss in a dry environment, and moisture absorption in a humid environment. It will also minimize the possibility of accidental damage.

To avoid shrinkage, cracking, swelling, and warping of your guitar, we suggest keeping it in an environment that provides fairly constant temperature and humidity. The humidity level should be closely monitored with a quality hygrometer. Ideal humidity is 40-55% relative to an ambient temperature between 12° to 27° Celcius (55° and 80° Fahrenheit). In practice, 40% is sufficient at high temperatures, and 50% required for low temperatures due to less moisture capacity of the air. During the colder seasons, we suggest the use of a guitar humidifier (in order to counter the effects of your Central heating System), placed in the sound hole of your guitar, or the case in which the guitar is stored.

We recommend using some of the excellent Humidifier Kits produced by D’Addario / Planet Waves which we are able to supply as an optional extra with all of our guitars. Take a look at the D’Addario Humidity & Temperature Sensor and the D’Addario Two-Way Humidification System.

Strings

Your guitar will have been setup by us before delivery to you with D’Addario Strings with the following Gauges :

Electric Models : .009 to .042
Acoustic and Electro Acoustic Models : .012 to .053

We have selected these string gauges based on our experience of producing the best tone from our instruments. However, we accept that string gauge and setup are subject to individual personal taste. Should you choose to change the string gauge then the balance of the forces within the guitar will change and the guitar will need to be setup again by a qualified and experienced person. Particular care should be taken when changing the strings on Acoustic and Electro-Acoustic models and we advise against using heavier gauge strings on these guitars.

Setup

All of our guitars are setup against our detailed factory specifications immediately prior to delivery. It is possible that effects of transportation and weather conditions may change the setup in a number of ways. This may result in symptoms such as fret buzz when you first play the guitar. Firstly, give the guitar 24 hours to acclimatise in it’s new home then if the problems persist the next step would be to make a slight adjustment to the Truss Rod and possibly the action of the guitar. If you are unsure how to make these adjustments then give us a call for advice.

Cleaning

When cleaning your guitar we recommend always using specialist guitar polish on the body and neck, and lemon oil on Rosewood fretboards. Maple fretboards should be simply wiped clean.

Transportation

Special care should be taken when transporting your guitar from your home to another location particularly in extreme Hot or Cold Weather conditions.

Be careful not to leave your guitar in a parked car in extreme conditions, and be very careful when taking your guitar into a warm room if it has been in a cold environment for any length of time. In such case it may be necessary to give the guitar time to acclimatise before opening the case. This acclimatisation can take as long as 5 or 6 hours, depending on the differential temperatures – be careful!