QnA: Gitar Baru

Q: bro ada tips utk menjaga guitar baru bro utk newbies macam aku
bro.? how often to polish ke ape ke?? and apa pendapat bro pasal
floating bridge ni
A: First of all, congratulations on the new guitar. :D

Set Up
Unless ko punya guitar tu memang fresh baru keluar dari kilang, you
might want to have a pro to take a look at it. Ni yg dipanggil set-up.
Its something you do on a new, not so new, or old guitars, to optimize
the instrument. And mekanik dia dipanggil luthier, or guitar tech"
(luthier actually buat guitar gak, bukan repair jek).
Set-up ni penting especially kalo ko tak biasa dengan Floyd Rose punya
bridge. Floyd Rose ni bukan macam fixed or one-way punya bridge. Its
a little more complicated than that. Bile set up ni, dia akan check action
(ketinggian tali dari fret). To me thats probably the hardest to do, at
least for beginners. Kalo ko tak experienced sangat, maybe ko akan
ingat action ni just adjust anchor screw kat bridge tu jek. Well, thats
part of the story. Kalo curvature fretboard tak betul, tak guna gak. Nanti
tak boleh kasi action tu low without too much buzzing.
Nak adjust fretboard ni kena adjust truss rod dia. For Ibanez RG and
most guitars screw dia dekat headstock dia. RG punya hidden dekat
bawah plastic plate tu. Adjust truss rod ni kalo tak reti jangan try. Sebab
kalo terputar screw dia kuat sangat, rosak. Lebih baik buang jek gitar tu
dari repair. You dont wanna do that on a new guitar.
Lagi satu dia akan adjust spring kat belakang bridge tu mengikut string
gauge pilihan ko. Thats very important untuk bridge camni.
And adjusting intonation on a floyd rose tak sesenang macam bridge
strat biasa tu. So, its good to have somebody show it to you.
Nak pasang tali pon, although it looks relatively easy, kena buat dengan
betul. Baru lepas pasang pon kena stretch tali tu sume kasi maintain
tuning. Your guitar tech should be able to show you how.
So, I think paying a visit to a guitar tech is a good idea. This is
something that I wished I knew mase dulu-dulu. Only bile aku nampak
guitar tech corner dekat Guitar Center baru aku tau kepentingan dorang
ni. Of course, sooner or later youll learn more about your instrument,
that you can do most of the maintenance on your own. But if youre
new, the guitar tech may get your instrument to the best playing
condition. And thats a good thing.
Aku beli JS aku aritu, lepas beli 3 hari aku tak main. Tunggu guitar tech
balik cuti, kasi buat set up dulu.
Even pros visit their favorite guitar techs. Instructor aku pon, hes been
playing professionally since before I was born. He gets his guitars set up
by a tech. And some techs are better than others. I think its more art
than science.
So, get somebody to take a look at it. Get a quote. Aku tak tau la kalau
kat Malaysia bape dorang charge. Kat tempat aku, satu kedai tu dia
charge $60 untuk full setup. Aku cakap ngan dia aku just nak dia check
action jek, since aku tak berani nak buat sendiri. So dia kasi $12 jek.
Lepas dah siap tak sampai hati aku nak baya banyak tu jek. He was
having a hard time getting the right adjustment. :P Well, dont multiply
that cost by 3.1 or whatever the exchange rate is. This is almost entirely
a service. So, rate dia aku rasa takde la sampai RM50 kot. I donno.

Maintenance
Hmm, bape kerap nak polish, I cant really answer that. Ha ha, I think
from now on I should pay attention to that. But lepas main, memang
aku lap pakai kain microfiber la. Well, honestly I only do that on my JS,
since masih bersinar-sinar lagi, and it cost a lot more. :P
But I probably dont have to do it too often anyway. Since aku main
dalam rumah jek, main pakai baju, tade daki-daki.
Before main, make sure basuh tangan dulu. Especially kalo kat
Malaysia, aku rasa udara sana lembap, so korang senang berpeluh (I
sweat so much aritu). So, kasi bersih tangan dulu. Its good for your
strings too.
Aku main gitar seboleh-bolehnye tak pakai baju yg ade butang. I mean
not butang sampai bawah la. And aku avoid jeans sebab ade butang
metal yg besar (except dalam video la, but still, I keep it away from the
body of the guitar). I dont want to scratch the back of the guitar.
Lepas main, lap tali tu. Make sure lap belah bawah tali tu skali. Its good
for the strings, and I think its good for the frets too.
Kalo fret to rosewood, once in a while bile tukar tali bersihkan pakai
lemon oil type of cleaner.
Ape lagi. Jangan kasi orang pinjam, as much as you can. Kalo orang nak
try, do it in front of you. Kalo member mengade nak strum ganas ganas,
slap him/her.
And bile dah lama main, your frets especially akan haus sket sebab
bending and stuff. Depending on how much you play, at some point,
youll have to send it to a guitar tech again. Get him to recondition your
guitar. Fret tu nanti dia akan sand kasi rata sket, level them and all.
Thats something I wont do myself yet, at least not on my best guitars.
Oh, before lupa. Kalo main berdiri pakai strap, pakai locking strap. That
way tak risau terjatuh.