what, if anything, needs to be done to maintain a guitar when done playing
After I finishing playing I usually just stick my acoustic guitar back in the case. Is there anything I should be doing to prolong its life and keep it in good shape?
If my hands get sweaty while playing I will wipe the back of the neck off on whatever t-shirt I happen to be wearing, is this necessary, or bad, or doesn't make a difference? What else should I do before putting it away?
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Sweaty hands, likely sweaty body. Sweaty t-shirt makes it worse! A clean dry handkerchief is pretty good for wiping under and over the strings, and anywhere else that may have salts from sweat deposited. Straight in the case is good if there's kids around, otherwise, leave it out to air for a while. But don't leave it where it could get knocked over. Necks break easily!
Cellist dropping in here. Humidity control is a good idea, but overall it's more important to maintain a level than to try to keep the case at some level different from the room or local environment. It's the rapid changes in moisture level that stress the wood (within limits, of course: 0% RH is a bad idea, etc. ) .
Your instrument should definitely be wiped down after every use. Sweat & body oils are not friendly to wood (or the varnishes & stuff on the wood). You should see how many cellos require refinishing on the top of the body where the left hand rests, after 60 or 80 years of use (seriously). Wipe down the strings for the same reason, tho' I'll grant that a good set of guitar strings costs as much as one mixed drink, while a good set of cello strings is slightly more.
You could also wipe off the strings which can make them last slightly longer. And probably both hands get sweaty so you might wipe the top and sides as well.
If it's a solid wood acoustic, then it should be kept at the proper humidity. Whenever I put my acoustic away, I check the humidification system and adjust it accordingly. I also check the wetness of my guitar before I play by sighting down the neck and looking for the height of the bridge to line up with the frets. A low bridge means a dry guitar, and a high bridge means a wet one.
Taylor's excellent links on dry and wet guitars (sorry, they have annoying pop-up crap on these sites):
www.taylorguitars.com/support/maintenance/symptoms-dry-guitar www.taylorguitars.com/support/maintenance/symptoms-wet-guitar
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