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Ooh,
That Smell
Q I
was recently playing guitar with my (former) friend in his backyard.
I momentarily leaned my Taylor against the wall, and his dog urinated
on my guitar! We cleaned up the mess with water and towels the best
we could, but how do I get rid of the smell?
Eric
Robicheaux
Metairie, Louisiana
 A
This sort of thing happens
more often than you would think (or hope); chalk it up to territorial
animal instincts. If the exterior of the guitar is the only part
that was soiled, normal guitar cleaning methods (polish, etc.) should
do the trick. If any urine got inside the guitar, you have a more
difficult job ahead of you. Probably the most guitar-friendly approach
is a combination of fresh air and trusty old baking soda to neutralize
the odor. Let the guitar air out for a bit (avoid heat since it
can set the stain), then place a spill-proof open container of baking
soda inside the body of the guitar. If that doesn't work, you may
have to go with a commercial cleaning product. As you might guess,
pet stores generally carry a wide selection of odor removers. Pet
odor is protein-based, so look for an enzyme-based product that
literally eats away the odor, rather than something like ammonia
or vinegar that merely masks the smell.
—Nicole
Solis
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Practice
Time
Q What is the
best way to organize my practice time? Between trying to fit in
all the different styles I'd like to learn, I feel like I'm not
getting anywhere.
Bruce Armentrout
Baltimore, Maryland
A Having
more than one thing to work on is actually a good thing, because
switching between different styles and techniques can keep you from
burning out. The trick is to keep each area of study on a progressive
track, so you can hear yourself improve over time. One idea is to
figure out where you'd like to be a year from now and then work
out a program of little methodical steps that can take you there.
If you're working from
several books, pick one to use as your main program for each technique
you want to develop. Plan on working out of each book for about
the next three months (at which point you can re-evaluate your plans
and interests). Look each book over to get a feel for how it's organized,
how much material is covered in each section, and what you can hope
to play when you've made it partway or all the way through. In the
book, mark off a small section—some exercises, part of a piece,
or a combination of the two—with the date; that's your assignment
for this week. Do the same thing with the other book or books you
want to work out of. Three subjects is probably the most you should
tackle at a time.
If you already have
a particular time set aside for practicing, great. If not, try to
find a daily practice time that works for you, even if it's just
20–30 minutes a day, five days a week. Divide your daily practice
session evenly, spending the same amount of time on each lesson.
If you're focused, you can make surprising headway by devoting ten
minutes a day to each of your lessons.
After a week, create
your next assignment. But before you do, ask yourself: How did it
go over the past week? Did you assign yourself too much? Too little?
It may take a while to accurately estimate your weekly capacity.
If you could do the whole lesson by the second or third day, then
it was too easy; if you're only halfway through and still struggling
by the end of the week, it was too hard. After three months, look
back at what you've accomplished. You'll undoubtedly see that even
with these small steps, you've made some progress toward your goals.
—David
Hamburger
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Nuts
and Saddles
Q I
am trying to find parts for an Epiphone FT-140. I want to replace
the nut and saddle, but I can't find anything that lists the correct
size parts.
Marvin R. Harris
Bay City, Texas
A The
parts you're looking for—nut and saddle—are
generic parts any well-stocked music store should carry. Because
every guitar (even of the same model) is slightly different, this
isn't a case of just dropping in a new part in place of the old
one; the parts generally need to be modified or even fitted from
a bone blank. If you don't know how to do this, take the guitar
to a repair person for the job; it takes experience to make an instrument
play well. Check out www.frets.com
for advice on how to do this work yourself. Fortunately, this is
one thing you can experiment with that won't damage your guitar.
If the parts you make don't work, you can always start over, since
they're not permanently attached to the instrument.
—Teja
Gerken
Send Questions, tips, or observations to Acoustic
Guitar’s online discussion forums at www.acousticguitar.com
or write to Q&A, Acoustic Guitar, PO Box 767, San Anselmo,
CA 94979-0767.
Excerpted from
Acoustic Guitar magazine,
August
2002, No. 116.
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