when to change strings

I like to change my guitar strings every time they get cruddy and lose tone. This may be as often as every two weeks, depending on how often I am playing a particular instrument. Steel strings never present a problem after a change, only because I’m sure to stretch them out by hand after they are tuned for the first time.
Nylon strings seem to present more of a problem because they tend to take longer to stretch and stay in tune…especially the clear or unwound ones. I feel it is unwise to change nylon strings right before an important gig or recording session, and usually have to wait until I can let them stretch for a few days.

This entry was written by admin, posted on June 3, 2009 at 1:07 am, filed under Lessons and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

40 Comments

  1. Bye Mario Chang
    Posted June 4, 2009 at 7:57 am | Permalink

    I used to change my bass strings each month but at $60 to $80 for a set in a 5 string bass, it just was a hassle in the long run. Even when I used the same gauges and brand, I had to adjust the bridge for intonation and height action. Boiling the strings to bring back the brightness works only 2 or 3 times and if what you really want is to remove the crud; the best thing to do is wipe them with alcohol. Everclear works great & after you finish you can take a few swipes to congratulate yourself on a good cleaning job and to help suggest yourself that they actually sound better. My solution to the loss of brightness in old bass strings is to gradually increase the extreme high end on the digital EQ (Behringer 8024 or the DEQ2496) until it becomes a null gain. That takes about 5 to 6 months. Except with some brands on the G and the D strings, I did not encountered major problems with stretching on new bass strings; but when they do get old they start having a flange, tone tremolo or slow chorus effect (boing instead of boom), or not hold tone altogether. To me that is the time to recycle that old metal. This might be a good or bad sound characteristic depending on you level of purism, and in a semi-hollow “classic” Rickenbaker bass I had; it behaved that way even with new strings but has able to compensate that rubber band sound with EQ. As you can see, I do try to stretch the use in my bass strings until those before mentioned signs of wear and until I become a rich and famous bassist that can afford a few dozen basses, roadies or a bass string manufacturer’s endowment. Maybe this comment will help. Bey Mario Chang.

  2. Jason
    Posted June 18, 2009 at 2:30 pm | Permalink

    This is good info. I am not a professional musician but my method of changing strings is when I feel like saying “Damn, how come I sound like crap today?” ;-) Mainly I can feel the rust element on the strings.

  3. admin
    Posted June 19, 2009 at 11:40 pm | Permalink

    There have been exceptions, sometimes (but not often) the crud can build up on my electric strings in such a way that actually makes them sound and feel better than new! What is this phenomenon?
    I need to change my electric strings before my gig at the Elephant Room this Sunday, or I’ll regret it….
    Also, on my nylon string guitar, often it’s the “D” string that wears out 1st. Usually affecting not only the tone, but the intonation as well…
    Another recent observation about nylon…Elixir strings seem to be more trouble than they are worth….

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3 Trackbacks

  1. By Антон Павлович on March 22, 2010 at 7:00 am

    Steel strings never present a problem after a change, only because I’m sure to stretch them out by hand after they […….

    Пожалуйста!=)…

  2. By Kylie Batt on April 15, 2010 at 8:18 pm

    У всех личные сообщения отправляются сегодня?…

    Steel strings never present a problem after a change, only because I’m sure to stretch them out by hand after they […….

  3. By Kylie Batt on April 20, 2010 at 10:42 pm

    По-моему это очевидно. Ответ на Ваш вопрос я нашёл в google.com…

    I like to change my guitar strings every time they get cruddy and lose tone…..

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