When your string breaks…

I agree with Bill’s first and last paragraphs.

Also, if I’m gigging/recording on a regular basis I change them all at the same time. That way I know I can rely on them to give me a consistent tone across all of the strings and also get me through a gig with less likelihood of one of them breaking mid-song. I almost always change them after every 2 gigs. 1 gig if its a long gig or particularly humid.

I can’t think of any musical style I enjoy playing that sounds better to my ears with older strings than with new ones.

If I’m not gigging or recording then tone is not usually so much of an issue. At this point economics is a factor (I find strings to be quite expensive) and I avoid changing strings till they break/rust, at which point I’ll just replace the broken one. Luckily, my sweat seems to make strings last longer rather than rusting them quickly. When I play on a friend’s rusty/dirty strings I usually rub them clean with a cloth/tissue and after about half-an-hour of playing they are pretty smooth and slick to the touch. They probably still look black and sound like ****e though 😀

I’ve never used coated strings, but many people seem to love them. Also, haven’t tried stainless steel strings either. I understand that both of these types lead to your strings lasting much longer. I’d like to get some coated strings for my acoustic as I don’t play it that much so I want the strings to last as long as possible and stainless steel for my electric so it’ll last a little longer between string changes.

@TheAngusBurger 9525 wrote:

I try to replace mine every month or so, although often I simply can’t be bothered. I personally am not a fan of the brightness brand new strings give (especially as I play a Strat player primarily), although once they’ve worn in for a few days they sound perfect to my ears. I suppose from thereon the tone deteriorates, but I don’t really mind the tone, it’s the feeling of grime on my strings that ultimately makes me change.

On an acoustic though…I love new strings, nothing sounds better in my opinion.

Hey AngusBurger, 🙂

I understand your opinion, especially as it pertains to inherently “bright-sounding” guitars in general (Strats, Teles, etc.) The Eric Clapton and James Jamerson anecdotes I shared earlier certainly support your point! However, I personally like my acoustic strings a bit “worn-in” and thus some of that “new-string-squeak” diminished! 😎 I suppose the context would affect my opinion also (like recording versus live-performance…)

Good points “beefy!” – (LOL!) :rolleyes: 😉

~Bill Meehan~ 😀

Now-a-days, I change them all, but when I was younger and didn’t have the money to spend I would just get out the needle nosed pliers and repair the broken string. I always used Earnie Ball strings and would just re-wrap the ball end of the string. One thing I usually do that a lot of people I know don’t bother with is to put solder over the wound part of the ball end of new and repaired strings. This helps to keep things tight down there, so they don’t pull loose and de-tune. Especially on strings that have been repaired.