Tips On Restringing Guitars

First off, always keep your guitar in an average temperature. Never carry your guitar outside with no cover (unless performing). Wipe the dust of your guitar frequently to reduce the possiblity of a breakage. These are just some of the things that you probably already know about. I just wanted to cover them.

Ok, here are some of the things that I do. I am one of those guitarists who wants to make the strings last as long as possible so I dont change them on a regular basis. I always change them when they break, or when they are a pain in the ass to tune or when they are all messed up with fret indents and rust. Most of you probably change on a regular basis so I dont want to read any lame comments about how there is a difference there.

One thing I do is try to always keep my guitar inside of its gig bag when I am not using it or playing it. This will keep the strings from getting covered with dust and it will reduce the time it takes for them to erode in oxegen.

It also helps to always after taking a string off to look carefully at the bridge, neck, and tuning machines. If you look closely, you could possibly find a small ident or a crink in the metal. These can be the number one reason for strings constantly breaking. If you see one of these, contact your local guitar repair shop (most music stores can fix them). What they will do is fill the indent up with pencil graphite and/or file the crinks down. (by the way, I'm not sure how you spell "crink" so dont be too harsh).

After putting the string(s) on my guitar, I always tune them very slowly. What I usually do is put the string on and tighten it halfway. Then in about an hour, I tune it very slowly the rest of the way up. The reason for this is that when a string is taken out of its package it is immediatly introduced to a different temperature and a different air chemical. If it is tightened all the way really quickly, the odds are it will break right then, if not within a few days. If you give the string(s) time to stretch, adjust to the air and temperature, and become fitted into the guitar, they will play much better and wont break as easily.

Another thing is when you have extra string at the tuning machine of your guitar, always wait a day or two before clipping it off. Usually they dont but sometimes strings can slide out of the knob after being put on. If you have a trimmed string, it could slip completely off and you wouldnt be able to reuse it. When you have extra string, it can slide down without falling off and you wont have to (re)restring. Believe me, if it happens to you it will "piss ya off".

Well this isnt really an official guite to strings but I find these things very effective when restringing my guitar. I hope these tips can work for someone else too.

Comments

[folk_rocknroll]

good if youve never done it before

[FretPopper]

Use spell check, you have a lot of spelling errors.

[Kroach]

How can your strings slip out :S

[AndyGray]

it didnt really have anything to do with re-stringing you guitars in any detail, more like how to look after you strings and making them last

[Slashfan#1]

I hate it wehn somone gievs ohter poeple shit abuot thre speling on a webpage.

[rackmesideways]

I use strings on my guitar

[Aioua]

Most of what you said doesn't make any sense at all.
Its completely unneccesary to wait an hour to tune up new strings... In fact you're the first person I've ever heard come up with this crazy idea. Most people will tune their strings up all the way, and then, so they don't de-tune so quickly, will bend and pull on the strings like crazy, then tune them back up 'cause they'll have stretched out some.
Only once have I seen a string break the moment it was put on, and it was a crummy old ernie ball or GHS or some other cheapo brand that had been sitting in my friend's gig bag for over a year. If you buy good strings, and know how to tune, then you're not going to break them.
...
Dust on the strings is not bad for it. It is much more helpful to clean the strings after you play to get sweat and dirt off (somthing you didn't even mention)

and why is "piss ya off" in quotes?

1 star

[dwnbowden]

why is this getting slaughtered? I thought it was a good article and very helpful.

[thedankle]

rackmesideways:
I use strings on my guitar


wtf do you meen? a guitar is a stringed instrument.

[met@l_$pike]

i thought it would be focused on how to tune the guitar after re-stringin, like to tune this string first then that one cuz if if not then it can cuz problems on the bridge....but i guess its an ok article

[SethMegadefan]

I thought, for the sake of the NEW new guitar players on this site, that you would say actually how to put the strings on. You left out a lot of important details, most of which have already been mentioned by our fellow members, and someone who is going to change strings for the first time will read this hoping to know how to do it all and will be left very disappointed. I really don't understand at all your theory of leaving the strings out an hour. I find a contradiction in your article because, if you leave your strings out for an hour, they will collect dust, and in your article you said not to leave the guitar out when not playing it because the strings collect dust. ...? Then how am I supposed to leave them out for an hour and make them not collect dust?
It's a moderately helpful article, it's not really all that bad, it just could have gone into more detail.

[mikeyjoe]

rackmesideways.....hahahahahahahahaahahahaaa..

[slash111391]

its an okay article, there wuz alot more to tuning that u could have put in, but i dun feel like goin into details

[slash111391]

^ stuff like takin out slack and pinching the string down while its bein tuned

[Anaxagoran]

This was a horrible article

[will102387]

uh, thank god for PRS locking tuners i say...

[Buscubba]

rackmesideways:i use strings on my guitar



that is beautiful....nuff said

[zeppelin420]

we must be getting desperate for article subjects...

anyone could write an article called "tips on restringing guitars" well, but somehow this guy blew it.

and the idea of waiting an hour before you tune all the way is ridiculous. tune them up, bend and stretch them out, and tune up again. keep on doing this until they are all streched out.

[Mad_Gouki]

what if im restringing my ukulele?

[Metallica420]

What dumb *** doesn't know how to restring a guitar?!

peace

[LeoKhenir]

Well. This guide was better than karma_carver's article on the same subject (and that article I and others already have flamed thoroughly) and I guess that it was that article that made this guy write a similar article. However, it can be done better. But many nice tips here. I comment some here (somehow, my comments always get very, very long)

1. Waiting before clipping loose ends. Good point. It has never happened to me, but then again, I don't clip it at the tuner, I leave a little bit (about 1-2 cms or half an inch, if you prefer)

2. Using an hour to tune your string. Well, that's one way to do it, I suppose, but what I do, is that I tune it to E (or C#, if it's my strat with 011s GHS boomers). Then I play it till I can hear that it's out of tune, and then leave it to the next day (perhaps not the thing to do if you need it right away, but if I've changed the whole set as maintenance, I have the time. If I've changed just one because it snapped, I don't wait) before I tune it again. Giving it the extra day takes up much time you perhaps could have used for playing, but if you change them just before you go to bed, that would be sufficient.

And to the guy going about "GHS being a cheapo brand", please go die. GHS is of the better strings on the market (Though I always recommend D'Addario or D'Orazio or D.DeSalvo to people asking me. I am a music store tech, you see) - I use some GHS Boomers right now on my downtuned guitar, they do the deed, and they seem to be coming along just nicely.

[toolmns]

They're guitar strings, not piano strings....
and they DO NOT break that easily. Unless you're using cheap strings, maybe .008 on top of that.

[moonskunk7]

Thanks for the tips!!!

[kirkhammett150]

yeahh, not piano strings..i like that!!! HAHAHA!!!:

[low_slinger]

the thing about clipping the strings; if u string your guitar correctly this wont happen.
you should wrap the string firstly over where the string goes through the nut then for 2nd and/or 3rd wrap (dont put it round any more) put it under, then clip with bout half-1 inch of string left and bend that upwards, this will stop the string slipping back through. (also fast fret keeps your strings for longer)
btw crap article, 1 star

[fatsmcfatterson]

it was ok, the title should probably be something different

[Hosscat]

should be titled "strange theories I've derived from restringing my guitar a couple of times"

.....ya gotta pull em tilll they're streched out, just like a drum head!!

[Tchort]

well, i gave it 5 stars. But only to stand out you see....

[Bulletbass man]

I think this is the dumbest article i've read on this site. Except why axl rose hated nirvana but its pretty obvious what your saying.

[azkonceptz]

ive read worse articles anyway, anyway, useful article, my strings break in 5 hours after restringing

[IllegalPanda]

i restring my guitar with my penis

[thedankle]

IllegalPanda:
i restring my guitar with my penis

you're joking, so do i!

[Karlofasaur]

stupidest article ever, comepletely useless...I don't spend hours waiting to tune new strings and they've never broken, just don't be cheap and get the good strings

[Canadianozzy]

This is baddd.. i mean u dont even say how to string it and who takes a day to restring a guitar....

[DaveGilmour1189]

I miss some of your reasoning here. You say that you should keep the guitar in the gig bag to keep oxygen from getting in and rusting the strings. Keeping it in the bag aint gonna do s***. The only way you can stop the strings from rusting is to hermetically seal your guitar in a vacum bag.

[FenderStrat1337]

it was ok, most of these articles on restringing your guitar get horrible ratings though.....

[jedislame]

no important facts, facts replaced with useless info = this article

tune this halfway

[osiriscrazy]

Horrible article.

Most of the points have been covered already, so here is one more that I haven't seen:

The reason for this is that when a string is taken out of its package it is immediatly introduced to a different temperature and a different air chemical.

Please. Spare us. Do you SERIOUSLY think the conditions in the package the strings came in are so different than the air around it? Most strings are not vacuum-sealed. Also, I don't know about your strings, but mine don't come in refridgerated packages. The temperate is the same inside the package as outside.

Make good articles.

[getchaguy1]

in a way this was a good article, cause it was so friggin bad everybody had to tell them ther RIGHT way, so i learned and laughed

[HendrixFan434]

Yea, makes since, but I dont think I could wait an hour after putting strings on :P

[Craigo]

Everyone knows how to do it. If they don't, thye look at the other strings and do it...

Please ask yourself: "Is it needed?" before posting.

This is also a guitar website. Most of the people here find it a secod nature, and most stuff here is common sense.

If it belongs anywhere, its the Beginners Column.

[KENZI]

it ain't that bad, and only took you 5 minutes to read so why complain?

[xEDGEx]

Dirt erods, metal corrodes.

And the part about a "different air chemical" that can cause a string to snap makes no sense.

The fact the string goes from nice and coiled up to under a lot of tension really fast makes sense. But tension has nothing to do with the composition of air.

Only strings in the plastic wrappers would be in older air, but all the ones i've bought aren't vaccuum packed. So, it's still air.

If you've never strung a guitar before, this is nifty. If you have, it doesn't do much.

Beginners Column.

[STRAT811]

reading this was 2 minutes of wasted time that i'll never see again. It pains me to think of all the things I could have done from 4:36 to 4:38 on a thursday instead of reading this. If you wanted to steal other peoples time, then great job.

[Valterra]

You know, if you wrap the string around the tuning peg a few times before inserting it into the hole, it won't slip out.
If you bend/stretch the strings a bit before putting them through the bridge, that'd reduce the chance of it breaking right after you tune it (even though I've never heard of, or seen, this happen).
What's this with waiting a day? Don't you think you're a bit too careful. I mean guitar strings aren't made of straw and lace. They're steel and nylon with some copper. They only break if you really WANT them to break (and some people even have a problem with WANTING them to break). Nice try...but maybe you should focus more on PLAYING the guitar.

[AxeAbuser#2]

i hate to say this mate, but you have wasted your time writing this article, poorly planned out and not enough of the most needed infomation. keep writing though, you should get better

[minorbravo]

you guys are all retards.

[DaveGilmour1189]

STRAT811:
reading this was 2 minutes of wasted time that i'll never see again. It pains me to think of all the things I could have done from 4:36 to 4:38 on a thursday instead of reading this. If you wanted to steal other peoples time, then great job

Just think, in those two minutes i could have been practicing. Now i won't be better next time my band gigs. The record exec won't like our music. We won't get our recording contrat. That record we never will record won't top the charts. I'll never be that international superstar i was destined to be. THANKS FOR RUINING MY DREAM!!!!.....quiet sobbing, slowly gains composure

Wow i got carried away with that one.

[Nelsean]

i once had a guitar string slip out...damn thing cut my finger

[SethMegadefan]

I've never gotten cut by a string before. How exactly is it? Does it bleed, or is it kind of like a paper cut? Does it sting as much as a paper cut?
DaveGilmour1189, shutup please. Just because this article wasn't as helpful as you thought it would be doesn't mean you have to be an asshole about it. All titan metal wanted was some constructive criticism, not for you guys to be jerks.
As for the article, it was really lacking in certain areas. There is a lot more you could have covered here, but maybe next time, right?

[ynxyg]

Do the UG staff even bother to look at peoples Colum before they post it? Someone should at least read colums and make sure its a complete artical not 1/3 of a article before they upload to the UG servers and plublish this crap online for the world to rant at.

This is why we get crap articles by Pakis that bearly speak english and there Article basically go like this:

"To be super Max Guitar player you must play solos and play fast and practice everyday on Strat"

Goodone UG Staff. -_-

[AxeAbuser#2]

im sorry to say this but... ("^^ *** you you rascist dick, go and wank over your goats.")

[Stefaknee69]

ok honestly guys calm down,I like to see you guys write an article!!!..

[Aioua]

and, ynxyg, you don't even have your stereotypes right... "To be super Max Guitar player you must play solos and play fast and practice everyday on Strat"
is much more engrish than anything else

[travislausch]

always wait a day or two before clipping it off.

I do that, but for a different reason. If one of my other guitars has a broken string, and I'm short on extras, I can take one off one guitar for use on another when they have different scale lengths. I know that contradicts everything else you said, but in a pinch, it works!

[GuitaPlaya]

booo..ring

[getchaguy1]

aaa..hhh.. the madness

[Iruleeverything]

I eat ice cream with my butt while stringing multiple guitars all at once

[SethMegadefan]

Get the hell out of here, Iruleeverything. Er... unless you're serious. In which case I'm going to need evidence.

[VelvetÆnema33]

All wood guitars aren't effected by the weather as much or moisture for that mater. And you should change them on a regular basis... don't wait 6 months... that's stupid.

[VelvetÆnema33]

Oh forgot to put... if you put on your strings right... they won't slip off. I've never had them do that... You just do the one loop and tighten so when you turn the tuning peg, it tightest up on the string, locking it into place.

[Retro Zero 7]

Rofl@Iruleeverything!

[getchaguy1]

what if the string when into ur urethra: ooouch

[Dudecallednick]

i think you mean "increases" the ammount of time the string takes to "corrode" in oxygen

[BenitoBandito]

What the hell was that!?!? This 'article' was such a pile of horseshit (can I say horseshit on here or do I have to say horsesh*t?) I don't really know where to start crtiticising it. Maybe at the beginning... "Always keep your guitar in an average temperature", what's your point? Don't keep it in the fridge? Don't leave it in the boiler cupboard? And that stuff about leaving the strings half wound for an hour before tuning up the rest of the way? Are you kidding me? You don't think those strings are designed to be strung in one go? What if you're in the middle of a gig: "Er, sorry guys, would you mind waiting around for an hour while my new string adjusts to the difference in air chemicals. Thanks." What are these mysterious 'air chemicals' anyway? And are they not found within your all-protecting gig bag? If you're so clumsy and ham-fisted you break strings immediately upon attaching them then maybe an instrument requiring any digital dexterity - i.e. a guitar - is not for you. Try the tambourine, or maybe the kettle drum. Was the article a wind up or a re you seriously that stupid? Well done for attracting such a broad spectrum of what can almost be described as hate mail. If I could give this no stars I would, and I recommend you never write down any thought you may have ever again, especially if you intend to inflict it on innocent people.

[titan metal]

OH WOW, i didnt even know this article made it up. I did this one a long time ago an it didnt make it up within the first few days. Well, i think some of you people dont belong on here, like the guy who was saying he put on guitar strings with his dick, and the guy who said he eats ice cream with his ass. i think i did better in this one then when i did the metallica vs megadeth article

eh....eh?

oh, BenitoBandito,
Even though i highly disagree with some of the shit that you are saying, you made me laugh there (seriously). Im just saying that these tips work for me and maybe they will work for you too. Now if i a-bombed your guitar with these tips, im sorry.

Oh, and if you break a string in a gig, that is what other/extra guitars are for, later

[titan metal]

OH WOW, i didnt even know this article made it up. Well, i think everyone has made thier points, except for that dickhead who said he put on strings with his dick

Benitobandito,
you just made me laugh, you are sopposed to bring more that one guitar to a gig.

[titan metal]

oops, guess my eyes played a trick on me, sorry for dilivering the same message twice people

[monkey_xxx2003]

Hey i thought this article was very helpfol. Most of this shit makes real sense, i gave it five stars

[monkey_xxx2003]

helpful, sorry, mispell

[Mental Hop]

After putting the string(s) on my guitar, I always tune them very slowly. What I usually do is put the string on and tighten it halfway. Then in about an hour, I tune it very slowly the rest of the way up. The reason for this is that when a string is taken out of its package it is immediatly introduced to a different temperature and a different air chemical. If it is tightened all the way really quickly, the odds are it will break right then, if not within a few days. If you give the string(s) time to stretch, adjust to the air and temperature, and become fitted into the guitar, they will play much better and wont break as easily.

What? Whenever I put on new strings I take them out of the package and put them on and ya know what? They don't break off immediatly, or in a couple days or anything like that. What strings are you buying that they're snapping as soon as you put them on the guitar?

[Mental Hop]

That's the funniest thing BennitoBandito, congrats.

[kirkII]

This was a good article

[Mark0]

Ohh shut up all you whiners. Why flame the guy for something he spend his spare time writing to help us?
If you don't like it, dont read it. duuh.

[madi_smith]

I agree with mark. I stopped reading it because it was stating the obvious, and making things up.

[pg84]

If you know what you're doing it should only take 6 minutes to change a set of strings.

[Jack3n665.5]

Wow this article and some of the responses made me laugh so hard I actually cried! THe air chemicals??? What in the Fuck???..

[BasketCase87]

*** that i aint waitin an hour to restring ma guitar..... BTW if your worried about "air Chemicals" go protest for Greenpeace or something.

[kennethdave]

How the hell can your string slip off ? That's stupid, i've been cutting my strings immediately after restringing.

[ahmyfingers]

if i was a redneck hillbilly, i wud use string to hold my trousers up, cause its fun!!!!!

[slash_angus_VH]

the string slipping ALWAYS happens to my high E string..it's so annoying!!

[fahd]

all stars to BenitoBandito
hahaha

[Trillionfelis]

I'm still trying to find out how dust could break my guitar...

[RaDja]

so you're saying your room temperature changes before and after you open your strings? plain stupid. I've been tuning right away for 9 years and the only time they broke was when I was still a noob and couldn't hear that I was already way past the E note on my 1st string.

[RaDja]

Don't listen to this fool. If you don't tune your strings right away, it will greatly change the tension on the neck and that's very dangerous. Also, change your strings one at a time. (take out 1st string, put on 1st string, tune. then take out 2nd string, put on 2nd string, tune. And so on). prevents great tension shift on the neck.