Guitar Maintenance part two – changing strings
When it comes to putting a fresh set of strings on a guitar, there are two schools of thought. Some people will only change one string at a time, while others will take all the strings off to do it. The ‘one at a time’ method is probably used by the majority of people because no-one wants to introduce any unnecessary conditions which may cause their guitar neck to move. Strung-up, a neck is under a fair amount of tension and to suddenly lose it may cause problems between neck and fingerboard. However, I’ve never seen or heard of any incidence of any damage that has occured when all the strings have been removed at the same time, and it gives the owner the chance to brush away dust and wipe off any marks that were underneath the strings. With all strings removed, it’s a good time to clean the fingerboard if there’s any build up of ‘gunk’ in between the frets. This can be done with an old credit card or blunt knife but care should be taken not to scratch the surface of the board. A little lemon oil can be applied very sparingly to a rosewood fingerboard if it looks a little dried out, with any excess carefully removed. Ebony and maple fingerboards do not need oiling.
When changing strings on a guitar for the first time, it’s preferential to use the same gauge it came with. This information can usually be found on the manufacturer’s website; it’s important to follow this general rule because deviating from the original gauge may cause the neck to either bow backwards or forward. The upward curve is known as ‘relief’ and the neck will end up with too much if a much heavier gauge of strings is fitted. With a much lighter set, the neck may end up too straight or even bow backwards. This situation involves a truss rod adjustment which will be the subject of a future blog and not something an inexperienced person should attempt.
The only tools needed for changing strings are wire cutters and a stringwinder. Half a dozen turns on the winder is enough to loosen the string enough to remove it from the machine head. Cut the wound section of the string off and make sure it goes straight into a bag or bin. If it gets caught in a carpet it is hard to remove and can cause damage. Pass the remaining part of the string back through the bridge and then wind it up and discard it. If you’re re-stringing a LP type take care that if it has any sort of vintage style bridge, the bridge saddles do not fall out.
Pass the string through the hole in the machine head so it’s tight and not caught up anywhere, then pull it back about three inches. Make a bend in the string and wind on, ensuring that the windings travel downwards. This will ensure maximum break angle over the nut. The wraps should not overlap. With the thinner strings, more spare can be pulled back. On a ST type guitar, the machine heads generally have hollow shafts. Run the string past the machine head a couple of inches – more on the thinner strings – and then cut the string at that point. Poke it down the hole util it stops and then put a bend in it and wind on as an LP.
Alternately, fit the string as in the picture. Some people like to double wind on LP guitars, that is, they poke the string through the hole again before winding. Personally I don’t find it helps and just makes the string harder to get off. The method for locking machine heads is different; there’s no necessity for any ‘wrap’. Simply pass the string through the hole in the shaft, lock the screw and tune up.
Once all the strings are on, tune them up to pitch and give them a good stretch, either by pulling up – not so hard so as they break – or bending them by whole tones. Tune up again and repeat the process until the tuning is stable. Exactly the same process can be used to string an acoustic guitar, with the exception of having to deal with the bridge saddles. Push the string well through the hole, push the bridge pin into place and then carefully pull the string out until the ball end is caught. The pin may try to pop out while tuning up so watch out as it will fire itself out with some velocity. If it starts to pull out, slacken the string off and start again. Finally, cut off any remaining excess string with the wire cutters and discard.
Fresh strings are a wonderful thing. Your tone will be brighter, your tuning will be better and best of all, your guitar will thank you and play itself. That’s my theory and I’m sticking with it.
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Tags: changing strings, guitar maintenance, guitar strings
I’m certainly not a guitar tech. and alsway have any major work, even setups, done by someone who knows their trade.
I take all the strings off my PRS and give the fingerboard a good clean before re-stringing. Due to the cam type machine heads it only takes about 15 minutes which is nowhere near as long as when someone is working on a fingerboard stoning frets or refretting. I don’t know if any special procedures such as truss rod adjustments are used to counteract the lack of string tension when doing this kind of work but in my experience I’ve had no problems in removing all the strings when re-stringing. It takes a bit longer on a Les Paul but I’ve still had no problems.
Steve