Chicago winters kill guitars. The weather gets dry and cold, so we turn on our furnaces – drying out the air in our homes even further. Many will see their indoor relative humidity drop below 20% . That’s 25-30% lower than the factories where guitars are made and the wood just doesn’t like it. Like the skin on our fingertips and the seams on our hardwood floors, dry guitars can split open without ever being dropped or otherwise mishandled. Other symptoms we see include:

• rough fret ends that stick out past the edge of a fretboard
• loose bridges and braces
• loose neck joints
• separations along the many glue joints that hold a guitar together
• dramatic changes in playing ‘action’

So what can you do to prevent costly repairs to these problems? There’s so many choices hanging in guitar stores that it can be hard to tell which one to buy. We may kick ourselves for giving away the secrets that keep us in business – but here’s a look at the products that will best help you keep your guitar healthy and happy this winter. You’ll also find a simple formula for how to effectively use them.

We’ve heard some interesting home remedies over the years – from leaving a baggie with a wet sponge in a guitar case to putting an apple or potato inside a case (NOT recommended by these two technicians.) And we’ve seen lots of products too -from film canister size humidifiers with clay inside to rubber tubes with a sponge inside to space-age devices that  can offer protection for months. When selecting products to carry here at Chicago Fret Works, we applied the lessons we’ve learned over the years and chosen these winners:

Best Choice For Acoustic Guitars – Planet Waves Humidipak*

($30) We were thrilled when Planet Waves (D’addario) recently re-released the Humidipak for guitars.  It utilizes sophisticated modern technology for a low-maintenance, long-term solution to keeping fine acoustic guitars properly humidified. Three removable packets hang in black mesh pockets (two for the soundhole and one for behind the headstock,) releasing just enough moisture to keep the inside of your guitar case at 48% for 3-4 months. The moisture is all in those packets – no need for constant refilling with water. Read more about it at www.planetwaves.com . While you’re there, be sure to check out the video of Bob Taylor from Taylor Guitars to see what he thinks.

*Planet Waves did recall this product twice in the past few years for design flaws. They’ve spent lots of time and money eliminating those problems and we are happy to report nothing but success in the 2009-2010 season. Here’s Planet Waves statement on that subject.

Runner-up Choice for Acoustic Guitars – Oasis

($20) We really like these humidifiers. They hold enough distilled water to last from one to two weeks without needing to be refilled. Special crystals inside expand into a super absorbent paste that should be replaced each year (replacement kits are available at CFW for $6.) One advantage Oasis holds over every other product is that it will tell you when it’s time to refill by collapsing into a raisin-like appearance that says “Yo! Gettin’ a little dry over here!”

For the tight budget – Planet Waves Humidifier

($8) If you play your guitar every day or two and don’t mind refilling a sponge that often, Planet Waves’ original guitar humidifier is the least expensive option. It’ll work as well as the others but will need more attention.

Humidifying F-hole guitars on a budget

($8) Finally, we do keep a few of the old-style tube humidifiers for guitars and mandolins that have F-holes or for those who just like this style. Fill them up every one to two days.

The Recipe For Keeping A Guitar Properly Humidified:

• A FULL humidifer
• Inside the guitar
• Inside the case   (NOT hanging on the wall or on a stand.)
• From October through April (or as long as the heat is on in your home)

…Or let it go and come see us in the spring for the best structural repairs anywhere!

Here’s a project with humble beginnings that grew into a full vintage restoration. The owner picked up this very old Epiphone Devon at an estate sale (along with several other groan-worthy items I won’t even tell you about.) It had been rather sloppily stripped and refinished and the binding had entirely peeled off. Initially, we planned only to add the binding to the body and unfortunately didn’t bother to take pictures. So the photos here begin after the new binding was already in place, when the owner decided he’d like it completely refinished to look like it did originally. It was a good decision.

Here, Dan prepares the body for finishing. The previous finish job was topped off with some white paint or nail polish inside the F-holes, an apparent attempt to make the holes look bound. Based on some good photos of a Devon in its original condition, we decided to clean off the white paint and leave them unbound. After sanding away the old shellac or varnish, Dan sprays a sealer coat, taping off the fretboard.

Next comes the sunburst on the top. Below, he scrapes the dark brown finish off the white binding by hand.

Then full darkening of the back and sides and a vintage amber top-coat.

Once finishing is complete, the new binding blends in and looks beautiful.

The final product fully assembled.

Originally, a Devon would have had a thick and fully-bound tortoise-shell pickguard. Since a hand-made bound guard would have cost $300-400, we opted for a more affordable 3 ply tortoise reproduction. The shape is right and the white middle layer gives a satisfactory illusion of binding.

The original tailpiece and bridge and some period tuners made the whole thing look just right.  The thin lacquer finish helps bring out this guitar’s full, rich tone. A real beauty.

A common problem on vintage Gretsch guitars is the decay and crumbling of the outer celluloid binding strip. Sometimes, owners will opt to leave the cracked binding alone, but in this particular guitar’s case, the owner wanted it repaired. In areas, it was loose enough to be scraped off with a fingernail and in others it needed to be scraped and even chiseled off. We ended up replacing the outer layer entirely, then touching up the nitrocellulose finish.

Here, Dan chisels away the cracked and loose old binding.

After cleaning and smoothing the binding channel, he glues the new binding into place.

Then he touches up the area with ambered lacquer to better reflect this vintage guitar’s age.

Final buffing…

Shiny, clean, and looking great.

As a rule, we and others in our profession have an unwritten standard that says you don’t do irreversable modifications to vintage guitars unless you absolutely have to. But there are times to interpret those rules strictly and times to be a bit more loose. Refinish your ‘56 goldtop Les Paul in purple? Not here. Rout a ‘61 Strat for EMG humbuckers? No chance. Install locking tuners on your pre-war Martin? Keep shopping.

Install a humbucker in an acoustic Harmony Monterey archtop that you got for a couple hundred bucks? Hmmm… maybe…

The owner of this old Harmony thought about it carefully and weighed the upside of keeping it original vs. turning it into a guitar he’d really like to play. Since its value will likely never be through the roof, he decided he’d rather hold onto it and convert it into a hollow body electric.  He wisely chose Chicago Fret Works and a Lollar Imperial pickup for the job.

We created a custom routing template and carefully cut a hole to fit the new pickup.  We also added a volume and tone control as well as a jack below the treble side F hole.

So did the owner of this guitar make a good decision? We think he did. He took a cool but not great old guitar that didn’t have a great deal of value and converted it into a unique custom guitar that he loves to play. If it was a 1940’s Gibson L-47 we would have argued against this work. But for this one, why not. And it sounds terrific.

We are proud to be the only authorized Chicago dealer of Lollar pickups. We feel they are among the best replacement pickups being made today. Who agrees and plays with them? Jeff Tweedy, Keith Richards, John Fogerty, Elliot Easton, Joe Perry, Johnny Marr and many, many more.

Sometimes braces come loose inside guitars as they grow old and dry out. When there’s a big circular soundhole to reach through, those repairs are easy enough. But in this guitar’s case, there are a pair of slender F holes and one brace that’s come completely out. The only way to get it glued back into place is to remove the entire back. Doing that to a guitar made in the early 1940’s means opening up a time capsule that hasn’t been seen by anyone since it left the factory.

Here’s the back, separated from the rest of the guitar. We immediately noticed that all of the braces were coming loose so we decided to reglue all of them. Before that, however, take a look around the inside of this guitar.

It’s so cool to see the plane, pencil, and chisel marks left by the builder at the Gibson factory who carved the inside of the top. You’ll notice that the top braces aren’t placed symmetrically. If it were a newer guitar one might think this was a scientific attempt at getting the bass or treble side to vibrate at a different frequency, but the truth probably is that they just fit best in these positions and someone wanted to get this guitar completed so they could move on to the next one.

One by one, we removed the old braces, cleaned the glue joint areas, and glued them back into place.

Then it was time to put it all back together. We like to fit the clamps without glue, then lay them out in order so we can get them tight before the glue starts setting.

After the box is glued up we re-attach the original binding,..

…lightly touch up the repair area,..

…then string it up and give it a strum. This guitar sounds as great as it looks.