Changing guitar strings

@rgbrock1 6097 wrote:

Hi.

I have a question which may seem rudimentary but I’ll ask anyway!
When changing strings on an electric guitar is it preferable to do so one string at a time
or take all the old strings off and then restring. I’ve seen claims that by taking all
the strings off at once one stands the chance of warping the neck. Is there any truth
to that assertion?
Thanks in advance.

Richard

Richard, 🙂

First of all, NO your neck should NOT warp by taking all the strings off! If that were true, how could one ever clean one’s frets/fingerboard (super-fine steel-wool, for example) or lubricate a rosewood fretboard (lemon-oil for example?) That being said, if you have a tremolo sytem (especially full-floating/double-locking – like Floyd Rose,) there are definite advantages to changing one string at a time. I usually “setup” my “live” guitars every 8-10 weeks (which requires full fingerboard detailing, neck checking/adjustments, intonation-check/adjustments, etc.) so “all-of-the-strings” come off at once then. However, when I’m doing my “bi-weekly/tri-weekly” string-changes, I just do the “one-string-at-a-time.” So I guess whether you want to take all the strings off or not is a matter of context and what type of work you’re intending to do on the guitar, IMO. 😉

Another oft-confused technique is proper string winding! It certainly depends on the type of guitar, and it happens to be extremely difficult to verbalize (even for a verbose “mofo” like “I” – LOL!) 😮 so I will NOT attempt to explain. However, if anyone is NOT sure, do some research! I think there are a few decent YouTube tutorial/demos. BTW, is there an Infinite Guitar Tutorial from the past that I’m NOT aware of that addresses this important topic??? Well anyone? Hey Sean, what do you think??? That could be a great “fundamental” maintenance tutorial! Maybe that and a few other very simple maintenance-based guitar issues could be addressed?!? 😎

Just a thought! (I have plenty of ’em, and once in a while, they actually make sense! – LOL!) :rolleyes:

~Bill Meehan~ 😀

How frequently do you change your strings? This could be a good survey question. 🙂

Hey Bill, thanks for answering.

I hate changing strings! But since my first real purchase of a guitar I’ve started to take loads of care of it. i.e. wiping the strings after playing, etc. From my experience, I change strings when I can see they have lost their lustre, which I estimate is around once in 5 weeks.

I read somewhere about the “rules” of changing. Not sure where though. It went something like – if you play x number of hours, you should change strings every y days. But I guess thats just the strings manufacturer’s way to increase sales! 😀

Thanks,
Rohan

I change strings maybe twice a year. This due to 2 reasons. 1.) I have very dry hands, and absolutely NO acidity, which means that my strings feels and looks brand new even after several months. 2.) As I use 0.11-50 string, they tend to last much longer tone, and intonation-wise. However, once they start loosing tone, and intonate badly, I change them.

Well, seeing how Yngwie uses 0.008 strings, he’ll probably have to change them frequently since they will degrade rapidly. But he does have a very light touch and pick-attack so I don’t think he brakes a lot of strings. Me however, since changing to heavier strings back in the early 90’s, have developed a veeeery hard pick-attack. When I play 0.09 I really have to focus on not hitting the strings so hard, or I’ll brake them. For me at least, the fat is that I have much better control and dynamic using my heavy attack, than I ever could using a light touch like yngwie. But, we are all different, and I think most people would have greater success with a lighter touch.