I mentioned in a previous post that you could lubricate your guitar fret buttons to reduce the noise and improve the overall feel.

Your fake plastic guitar strum can benefit from a little judicious lubrication, too. Think of all the relentless up and down strum action it sees in every jam session!

The easiest way to lubricate is to spray a little silicone lubricant into the strum hinge, at the areas marked below. Be sure that you have 100% silicone spray lubricant — no petroleum distallates — that is safe for plastic! If you do not use pure silicone lubricant, you can eat away or melt the plastic in your guitar, so be careful! One brand that I can recommend is Silicone Shock Oil.

Just spray a little in the marked areas around the edge of the strum, Then use a paper towel to wipe away any excess. This is a convenient way to lubricate your strum; it doesn’t require disassembling the guitar.

However, If you’re willing to disassemble your guitar, you can do a more thorough job of lubricating the strum. After opening the guitar, unscrew the four philips screws holding the strum assembly to the guitar.

Pull the strum assembly off to reveal the strum buttons, the strum itself, and the two plastic bridge pieces on the right and left of the strum that hold it in place.

(If the clicking of the guitar strum bothers you, these two buttons are the culprit. There are ways to remove the clickers, but that’s a mod for another day.)

We’ll use the lithium grease crayon. You can find this at your local hardware store in the automotive section for a few bucks.

Pull out the two plastic bridge pieces holding the strum in place on each end, and take out the strum. The primary lubrication point is the metal bar inside the strum. Use the lithium grease crayon to thoroughly “paint” both ends of the metal bar.

Lubricating the metal rod in the strum is probably sufficient, but if you’re a completionist, there are a few more lubrication points: the strum well corners where the bar is held in place, and/or the bottom part of the bridge pieces where they contact the metal bar.

Once you’re done, place the strum back in the well, slide the plastic bridge pieces into place, then reattach the strum button circuit board.

Now enjoy the super-smooth lubricated strum action on your fake plastic guitar!