Anyone who is a musician will tell you that their instrument is their most-prized possession, so it can often be devastating when something terrible happens to it. When speaking specifically about guitars, one of the worst things that can occur is when the wood of the guitar begins to crack. Thankfully, there are some precautions you can take to ensure that this does not happen to your guitar.
Here are five methods that can be used to keep your guitar from cracking:
- Do not leave the guitar anywhere that is too hot and dry.
- Monitor the humidity of the guitar’s location.
- Do not put the guitar through extreme temperature changes.
- Keep the guitar in a protective covering.
- Ensure that the guitar has a correctly-installed pickguard.
This article will break down these methods into further steps that can be taken to prevent any damage from happening to your guitar. It will also explain why cracks may occur and what to do if they happen.
Related: 4 ways to keep a guitar from getting dusty, 6 ways to keep a guitar cool in a hot car, and how to keep guitar strings from slipping on tuning pegs. For the full overview, see our guitar maintenance basics.
How Cracks in Guitars Happen
Even if you are treating your guitar extremely carefully, there is always the possibility that a crack could seemingly appear out of nowhere in the wood of the body. While this may be a distressing phenomenon, it is important to consider how the break happened because it will give you a better idea of how to prevent it from occurring going forward.
There are really only three main situations that can happen that can cause a guitar to crack, and luckily all of them are preventable if the proper measures are taken.
A Lack of Humidity
The most common reason for a guitar to begin showing cracks is that it is being kept in an area that is too dry and is not exposed to enough humidity on a consistent basis.
Just like any other object made out of wood, the body of a guitar can expand and contract depending on the environment in which it is kept. The wood of the instrument will shrink if it becomes too dry, and when it can no longer stretch in its frame, it can crack.
This type of break typically runs along the grain of the wood on the top of the guitar. Sometimes, the separation in the top can be as much as 10 to 15 thousandths of an inch (0.254mm to 0.381mm). While this sounds like an extremely small amount, it can be detrimental to the instrument if the proper measures are not taken to care for it.
Impact Cracks
Another possible instance where a guitar may begin to break apart is when the guitar takes a substantial hit against something hard and begins to split.
These types of cracks from impact typically are not open and do not separate the actual wood of the instrument. The wood will most likely break along the grain of the guitar as a humidity crack would, but it should not split apart unless you really smack it against a hard surface or a heavy object is dropped on it.
The Pickguard Is Installed Incorrectly
There is a third possible reason that a guitar could start to break apart, and that is if the pickguard on the guitar is not installed correctly.
If the placement of the guard is poorly done, it will begin to exert stress on the body of the guitar. The longer the pickguard stays this way while being played, the higher chance there is that the shell of the guitar could crack.
This is the most unlikely scenario since most guitars are built perfectly fine and will not have a pickguard that is out of place or built onto the guitar incorrectly. When purchasing your instrument, be sure to check that the pickguard is appropriately installed before you leave the store.
Five Methods To Keep Your Guitar From Cracking
Preventing your guitar from cracking is actually relatively straightforward when the right measures are adhered to. The steps that should be taken to keep breaks from occurring are ones that can be done by anyone in any location.
1. Do Not Leave the Guitar Anywhere That Is Too Hot and Dry
Because one of the primary reasons that guitars crack is a lack of moisture in the air, it makes sense that leaving your instrument in a place that has a hot, arid climate could cause it to break.
A crack from low humidity is much more likely to occur if you live in a dry area, but it can still happen in locations that are humid, depending on the season and the temperature outside. During the wintertime, there is a much higher chance of this happening because people naturally turn on their heat, and the house becomes too dry for the guitar to handle.
One way to prevent a guitar from drying out and separating is to keep a guitar humidifier in the case where the instrument is kept. A guitar humidifier like D’Addario Accessories Acoustic Guitar (available on Amazon.com) is essentially a small sponge that sits inside a plastic container. The container rests inside the soundhole in the body of the instrument, where it is suspended by the guitar strings.
When the sponge is soaked in water and the container is closed up, the wetted sponge will help to release moisture into the air inside the case. It will not provide an extensive amount of humidity, but it will keep the immediate area the guitar is in from becoming too dry and help stop cracking from happening.
2. Monitor the Humidity of the Guitar’s Location
While it is essential that your guitar stays in an area where there is plenty of moisture in the air, it is also crucial for you to check the humidity levels in that area from time to time.
Wooden guitars should ideally be stored inside of a case in a room where the relative humidity is between 40% and 55%. The optimal percentage of moisture to keep a guit