by Matthew James

Strings should be changed when they start to look or feel rusty, start breaking, lose their tone and sound, or look dry. It is tough to know how long strings will be good as many factors such as climate, how often (or not) you use your axe, whether you are involved in a band or just jamming at home, will all effect the longevity of your strings. Generally, when playing a full set with a band, strings will usually only last 3 – 6 gigs. After that, you risk the humiliation 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. 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 to stretch your nylon strings so they stay in tune.

There are many good products out there that lock the string into the guitar head and require no turns or wraps. Make sure to do your research but two good ones are Spertzel or Grover locking machines.

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 playing and using string life products such as Fast Fret or Finger Ease before and after each playing session. It makes a HUGE difference on the life of your strings and length of a 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.

You don’t want to pop a string during your great guitar solo so make sure you take good care of your strings. Clean them, change them, and buy good quality strings. It will help with the tone of your guitar and make for a better sound.

Matt James knows about sound and stereo and has been mixing music for over a decade. For more information about stereo and sound, visit his site about used guitars and check out the guitar articles.

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