restringing a guitar. (Page 1 of 2)

selso I have been playing for along time ,many years and I still have some trouble restringing mine, I cringe at the thought each time I know I have too do it. I know someone else will come along soon and give you some advice,I am going to keep an eye on this to see if I can pick up any tips also.     dino

Hi Selso,

  I change mine fairly often and found that the easiest is to use the methods that Taylor Guitars outline in videos on their website in the customer support area.  www.taylorguitars.com

  If that link works....  in the support or resources pages there should be a series of videos pertaining to electric and acoustic guitars that should be informative.

Take Care
Doug

Check out Justinguitar.com.

He's got a good tutorial on changing your strings.

Keep Rockin!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for all the help, guys. The videos were very useful. I just wish I had a decent music store in my town.

I like to release all the tension from the strings so I can reach in the soundhole and push them up from the bottom... That way there's no worries about marking the bridge or pins. A good puller does make a difference though... I hate seeing people do this with a pair of pliers...Cringe

Lazy or not handy little gadget so i made my own to use with my little srewdriver drill

i know this is not Blue Peter but here's one i made earlier lol

and no stickyback plastic in sight ( though i did use glue)

It cost the price of a hand winder, about a pound? if it breaks i'l make another

cheers micky

Dont Stop Kid Keep Rockin'  !!

Here's a question... how often to change your stings?  I know that it has to do with how much you actually play... so let's say you play for a couple hours every day as an average ... do you change strings at regular intervals, or do you change strings when they just won't hold a tune anymore? 

Also... I have a frayed string.  Do I just change the one, change them all, change one or all when it breaks?  Mind you... I only started playing a few weeks ago and my guitar is a week newer than I am... it seems my high E is still getting broken in as it tends to still go flat regularly (nylon strings). 

My guess is play till that frayed string either won't hold a note or breaks and then just change the one unless it'll make it a good few months then just change them all.  But... I'd rather have the opinions of you vetrans!  Thanks!!

That's my benchmark, the sound. I find that my strings will "settle in" and get rock-solid on pitch for a while, then as they dull down in tone they will start drifting again, causing me to tune more frequently while playing. Before it turns into a nuisance, I rack up a new set.

just changed my own strings for the first time. It's not too hard.  bought a winder tool that came in handy for pulling pegs, and tuned the strings before I started and as I progressed, string by string. didn't know I needed to change them until a good friend, and guitar virtuoso informed me that my strings were "dead". When I played the new strings, side by side with the old strings, I could tell the difference immediately.  definitely get the winder tool.  it's worth the $$. About $15 or so.

Hi Mekidsmom,

  Noticed your post about Nylon strings and have a thought to share.  I also have a "classical" guitar in the arsenal, and would get about three months on a set of strings (when I was playing it regularly) at about three hours a day.  You didn't say if you are using a pick though, and some picks are tougher than the strings and can wear them out early.  Always using fingers myself, fraying was never a problem.  As to your high E going out of tune...  is it possible that the knot at the bridge is slipping?  Getting the unwound strings to hold firmly at the bridge can be a problem on some instruments, and the same holds true up at the tuners.  I found it helpful to add another twist to the knot on the G B E strings after I had some slippage troubles.  Once again there is a good tutorial on the Taylor website and their method seems to work well for me the last couple of times I restrung.

  Don't play the old thing as much anymore, but do really like the mellow tone for some tunes, it spends most of it's life hanging on the wall of the music room in a gig-bag waiting it's turn.  Now I'm feeling guilty and simply MUST give it a little attention.

Take Care;
Doug

I change my strings every 3 months.  And I usually take all the old strings off at once and put the new ones on in order from the heavy E string to the lighter e string.  Thats the way my teacher taught me and I can do it fairly easily.  As for the pins that hold the strings at the bottom, once I have all the old strings down it's easier to push them up from below if they get a bit sticky.  I also use a manual string winder just to make the job a bit faster.  My teacher can do it in 15 minutes or less.  It takes me at least 30-45 minutes.  But the sound of new strings is well worth the effort and practice.

I play pretty much everday and have been playing for two years now, I can now hear when the strings just sound dull instead bright and punchy, that's how I know it's time to change the strings. I usually change two strings at a time, low E and the A etc,etc.. I do this so That I can clean the fret board along the frets and inbetween each fret, to get rid of some of that gunk that can build up over time on the fretboard. Usually when I change my strings (usually every month, unless money is tight, every two months), I take this time to give my guitar a real thorough cleaning and then a good polishing. It feels awesome to play with new strings and a super clean and shiny guitar. Well that got me excited, I'm gonna go play my guitar now see ya!! And keep on rockin' \m/ .