Each guitar is meticulously handcrafted with only the finest parts and materials, so with a little care, your instrument should last a lifetime and then some! These are heirloom quality instruments that will perform flawlessly if you follow these simple steps to maintain its playability and appearances.
First you should wipe down the body and neck with the flannel cloth provided. Flannel is the only material that won’t scratch a lacquer finish. You can just wipe it down dry, or if you choose polish, I recommend stewart macdonalds preservation polish. It’s silicone free and any ding down the line will easily be repaired (if the surface is free of silicone!) I keep my DR strings clean with a quick wipe with String Ease.
Second thing is to regularly change your strings depending on how much you play. Simple enough right?
Third is the straightness of the neck. Your Brooks Cobb Guitars neck has been built using a two-way truss rod (4mm allen wrench) and two carbon fiber internal stiffening rods. As string tension pulls against the neck we counter that pull by tightening the truss rod which keeps the neck straight. However in some of my guitars the necks are stiff that relief may need to be induced. Tightening bows the head away from the fretboard or back bow. Loosening results in bowing the head towards the strings or relief. We want the neck as straight as possible with a tiny bit of relief! If I held a straight edge over the top of all the frets I would want to slip a dollar in between the straight edge and the top of the fret at the 7th fret. Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosy is the name of the game and only a quarter turn max per adjustment! If you’re uncomfortable making this adjustment Please take it to your local certified Brooks Cobb Guitars service tech and he/she can perform a setup
Fourth is the string height. When the neck is in proper relief or straight we measure the action at the twelth fret. The low E string should be 5/64ths+/- measured from the bottom side of the string to top of the fretwire at the 12th fret. The high E should be 3.5/64ths+/- measured from the bottom side of the string to top of the fretwire at the 12th fret. Adjust your action using an allen of appropriate size to adjust the bridge saddle up or down. Keep the saddle level as you adjust the height. After the two e strings are set to correct height then repeat for the a,d,g, and b strings going from 5/64ths to 3.5/64ths across the board. You should have a smooth even radius when you are finished. Tune it up and you’re almost ready to play.
Finally we can set the intonation at the saddles. Each open string needs to be in tune with its 12th fret octave. Using your chromatic tuner tune the open string then fret it at the 12th fret. We will use the low E string for example. Tune the low E open string, now fret at 12th fret and check the tuner if the E is perfectly in tune the intonation is set. It usually requires a bit of adjustment though. So if the 12th fret octave is not in tune with its open string then we need to adjust the length of the string by moving the saddle forward or backwards. The rule here is if the note is sharp the string is short. So using that trick if my e string is sharp at the twelth fret I will adjust the saddle so the string becomes longer. If my e string is flat at the 12th fret octave I will adjust the saddle to make the string shorter. When all strings are intonated properly, the open strings will be in tune and the 12th fret octave notes will be in tune as well.
Last note just use common sense if something becomes loose, carefully tighten it up before it becomes a problem, again anything you’re not comfortable doing I have a certified tech in your area who can! Just email me brooks@brookscobbguitars.com and I will get you taken care of.
Cheers, Brooks cobb
