Strings should be changed whenever
they start to look or feel rusty, start breaking, lose their tone and sound,
or look dull. It is difficult to know how long strings will last as factors
such as climate, how often (or not) you play your guitar, whether you are
working in a band or just playing at home, all effect the longevity of your
strings. Generally, when playing a full night with a band, strings will
usually only last 3 - 6 gigs. After that, you risk the embarrassment of
snapping a string during one of your glorious solos.
When changing strings leave enough
slack to ensure that there is going to be 3 – 5 turns of string around the
tuning head. Do no not use too many turns or wraps as this leads to tuning
instability and constant string stretching. Make sure you gently but firmly
stretch the strings when they are new. While connected to your tuner keep
pulling and stretching the string and re-tune as necessary. Remember that
nylon strings will always take a great deal of stretching to remain in tune.
There are many interesting products
which can assist in tuning stability and make changing strings easy. Two
good ones are the Spertzel or Grover locking machine heads. They require no
turns or wraps at all as they lock the string into the machine head.
A good idea on electric guitars with
tremelo bridges such Floyd Rose types and also on Gibson style ‘tune o matic’
bridges is to change the strings one at a time. This stops the tremolo going
completely out of adjustment and, in the case of the tune o matic, from
falling off the guitar and losing the whole set up.
Always keep your new strings as
clean as possible by wiping them down after each period of playing and using
string life products such as Fast Fret or Finger Ease before and after each
playing session. It makes a HUGE difference to the life of your strings
and length of good string tone. You can greatly extend string life by also
using strings brands such as Elixir strings, which add about 8 times to the
life of strings. However, they are about 3 times more expensive than normal
strings.
An essential tool to have is an all
in one string crank/winder/cutter/bridge pin remover such as those made by
Planet Waves or similar.
