First of all, we would like to thank you your confidence in Alhambra guitars.

We want to remind you that extreme humidity or dryness are dangerous, as well as the quick change from one state to the other one.

It is recommended that you keep your instrument between 40 - 60 % relative humidity of the air. When the humidity is less than 40 % the wood could crack and the action would be lower. When the humidity is greater than 70 % the glue could soften, the guitar could lose sound and buzzing troubles could appear because the string action would be higher.

Below you will find some other maintenance advice for each guitar part:

Wood

When cleaning it, you only have to rub the guitar with a humid cotton cloth. There are also some other specific products for instruments but you must bear in mind they must not contain solvents. On the other hand, when rubbing the guitar, do it slightly, because matt finish, for example, could become in shine finish, although this will inevitably happen as time goes by.

You must be careful when applying products for wood maintenance, because we do not use the same varnish in all the wood types and it could be damaged. Among Alhambra instruments, we can distinguish between polyurethane varnish for models 1 C up to 7 P and laca-nitro varnish (nitrocellulose lacquer) in models 8 P up to professional guitars (top only). We began using it in 2002 and you cannot clean it with alcohol.

In all our steel string guitars, we use the polyurethane varnish (shine or matt options). Regarding its correct use and maintenance, the most important thing is avoiding extreme humidity and dryness.

Fingerboard

After cleaning the dust, just apply a small quantity of petroleum jelly with a clean cloth. You can also use a cloth dampened with alcohol to clean the accumulated dirt because of use.

Frets

The dirt accumulated between them and the fingerboard can be cleaned with a small toothpick (please do not use other things harder than Rosewood or Ebony not to damage the wood).

Machine Heads

Just grease them with lubricating oil.

Strings

We recommend you to clean them after playing the guitar using a cloth dampened with alcohol under the strings and along them. If you clean them regularly, their useful life will be extended and they will recover their original brightness.

What strings to use for my Alhambra guitar?

CLASSICAL AND FLAMENCO GUITARS

For our CLASSICAL guitars we use extra high tension strings: D'Addario (EXP 44 Extra Hard Tension).

However, it does not mean you necessarily have to use extra high string models from these or any other strings manufacturers. You can also use High or Normal tension. Everything will depend on your comfort with the guitar and the features you obtain from each kind off string. This is due to different pulsations of each player.