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| Kozam |
 Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 7:44 pm Post subject: When and Why To Change Your Guitar Strings |
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Joined: 16 Aug 2005
Posts: 309
Location: Seri Kembangan
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Changing your guitar strings is routine maintenance, but when should you do it?
Over time, dirt and oil from your hands build up on your strings, causing them to tarnish. This dirt on your strings will cause them to begin to sound dull and lifeless. Washing your hands before playing will extend the life of your strings, however other factors (like the natural stretching of the string over time) will require you to change your strings regularly.
How often should I change my strings?
It varies from guitarist to guitarist, but keep in mind...
guitarists who sweat more will need to change their strings more
guitarists who smoke, or play in smoky clubs will need to change their strings more
those who spend hours a day playing guitar will need to change their strings more
guitarists who play "hard" (heavy grip in fretting hand or an aggressive picking hand) will need to change their strings more
How do I know if my strings need to be changed?
You'll know if...
you have a harder time than usual getting the guitar in tune
your guitar tone begins to sound "flat"
your strings begin to discolor or rust
it's been several months since you last changed your strings
This is one of the major factor why you will get flat and dull tone..so...mari kayakan tokey string...
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| Erna |
| Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 8:15 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 04 Apr 2006
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| thanks for ur info Kozam.. |
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| ETERNAL |
| Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 1:34 pm Post subject: |
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Any comment on tuning stability that affects sound?
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| spiderfingers |
| Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 1:46 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 13 Jun 2008
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Strings sound dead are due to grime/oxidation on the string itself which causes improper/imbalanced vibration.
You can restore the bright tone.
First you relax the string to give it a bit of rest/slack.
Then you clean the grime/gunk off with brasso/autosol on a tissue paper then wipe clean and followed with mineral oil on tissue paper. Once you get no more black lines in the tissue, that's when the strings are free of brasso/autosol remnants.
Do it only for the GBE strings since they are the ones that rust/oxidizes.
For the wound strings just use mineral oil will do on cloth/tissue.
You can get johnson baby mineral oil for under rm 5 from any pharmacy/stores. Get the pink bottle version.
Brasso and autosol you can get from any hardware department of the store/market for under 10 ringgit.
Once you've removed the oxidation/grime/gunk/rust from the GBE strings, tune up and play, enjoy the tone of new strings again. Wipe down with mineral oil on tissue on all strings after playing to slow down future rust/oxidation and clean your gunk/sweat.
It might be brighter than new because we've removed all the nickel plating and exposed pure steel. Steel strings sound bright on the pickups.
Some will say without nickel plate it will eat your frets. This is not stainless steel mind you, just regular steel.
I will say even with nickel plates, the common frets you press would've worn out the nickel underneath anyway.
The brasso/autosol combo would've removed AND smoothen the surface of the steel due to very minor abrasion and would equally help prevent premature fret wear.
I've successfully restored/renewed/used the same set of strings for 1 whole year with this method and no significant wear on the frets of my cheap squier which i've been playing for 2 years.
THe only time I ever change to a new set of strings is when one of them broke.
Even then, if I could just buy that one string alone I would, and I will strip the nickel plating off so that the string will break in with the rest of the used ones. |
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| soundfreak22nd |
| Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 11:11 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 04 Jul 2006
Posts: 216
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| spiderfingers wrote: | Strings sound dead are due to grime/oxidation on the string itself which causes improper/imbalanced vibration.
You can restore the bright tone.
First you relax the string to give it a bit of rest/slack.
Then you clean the grime/gunk off with brasso/autosol on a tissue paper then wipe clean and followed with mineral oil on tissue paper. Once you get no more black lines in the tissue, that's when the strings are free of brasso/autosol remnants.
Do it only for the GBE strings since they are the ones that rust/oxidizes.
For the wound strings just use mineral oil will do on cloth/tissue.
You can get johnson baby mineral oil for under rm 5 from any pharmacy/stores. Get the pink bottle version.
Brasso and autosol you can get from any hardware department of the store/market for under 10 ringgit.
Once you've removed the oxidation/grime/gunk/rust from the GBE strings, tune up and play, enjoy the tone of new strings again. Wipe down with mineral oil on tissue on all strings after playing to slow down future rust/oxidation and clean your gunk/sweat.
It might be brighter than new because we've removed all the nickel plating and exposed pure steel. Steel strings sound bright on the pickups.
Some will say without nickel plate it will eat your frets. This is not stainless steel mind you, just regular steel.
I will say even with nickel plates, the common frets you press would've worn out the nickel underneath anyway.
The brasso/autosol combo would've removed AND smoothen the surface of the steel due to very minor abrasion and would equally help prevent premature fret wear.
I've successfully restored/renewed/used the same set of strings for 1 whole year with this method and no significant wear on the frets of my cheap squier which i've been playing for 2 years.
THe only time I ever change to a new set of strings is when one of them broke.
Even then, if I could just buy that one string alone I would, and I will strip the nickel plating off so that the string will break in with the rest of the used ones. |
nica one bro..
will try your tips and advice..
kalo tak mati la aku tuka every 2 weeks.... |
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| Kozam |
| Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 3:22 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 16 Aug 2005
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Location: Seri Kembangan
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| browndog2woof |
| Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 6:42 am Post subject: |
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| rebus pon ok... the old school way. jangan la ko minum air dia sudah.. nanti jadi terror macam cerita tenacious D lak bila dapat pick tu... |
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| spiderfingers |
| Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 5:19 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 13 Jun 2008
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| browndog2woof wrote: | | rebus pon ok... the old school way. jangan la ko minum air dia sudah.. nanti jadi terror macam cerita tenacious D lak bila dapat pick tu... |
Itu rebus hanya boleh do a few times and only good for wound strings. Heat will also cause molecular movement/expansion in the strings. Not so advisable since your string life won't be as long as you could have it using brasso/autosol.
This autosol/brasso method you can keep doing until the string breaks, but you should only do it when the tone is changing, not everytime you finished playing, which is about once a month is enough, then condition it with fast fret/mineral oil to slow the process until the next brasso/autosol session.
But the wound strings, the edges are harder to clean due to residue which could get trap between the wounds, so it's best to just stick to mineral oil or isoprophyl alcohol to loosen the gunk.
best to use cloth instead of tissue since wound strings will tear the tissue off very easily. |
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| spiderfingers |
| Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 5:22 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 13 Jun 2008
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| soundfreak22nd wrote: |
nica one bro..
will try your tips and advice..
kalo tak mati la aku tuka every 2 weeks.... |
2 weeks is too much and too often. Gila sial, mahal loh, pocket kosong pokkai.
Furthermore strings are damn expensive in Malaysia. I am surprised there're Malaysians who keep saying 'tukar aje tali tu'.
Mostly are rich kids who have no financial and common sense. |
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| soundfreak22nd |
| Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 04 Jul 2006
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aku ade masalah dimane string aku akan jd brownish and hitam dalam 2-3 hari lepas pasang..
string cleaner pon tak leh handle..
WD40 pon same cam string cleaner..
elixir bole tahan 2-3 months plus for me.. |
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| browndog2woof |
| Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 8:01 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 10 Nov 2006
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| spiderfingers wrote: | | browndog2woof wrote: | | rebus pon ok... the old school way. jangan la ko minum air dia sudah.. nanti jadi terror macam cerita tenacious D lak bila dapat pick tu... |
Itu rebus hanya boleh do a few times and only good for wound strings. Heat will also cause molecular movement/expansion in the strings. Not so advisable since your string life won't be as long as you could have it using brasso/autosol.
This autosol/brasso method you can keep doing until the string breaks, but you should only do it when the tone is changing, not everytime you finished playing, which is about once a month is enough, then condition it with fast fret/mineral oil to slow the process until the next brasso/autosol session.
But the wound strings, the edges are harder to clean due to residue which could get trap between the wounds, so it's best to just stick to mineral oil or isoprophyl alcohol to loosen the gunk.
best to use cloth instead of tissue since wound strings will tear the tissue off very easily. |
yes. it is called tempering process. it changes the molecular, something like blue steel by dean markley which i don't prefer. (that's personal preference). but honestly speaking, if you were to ask any luthier around, tukar tali baru la... maybe some people might have opt for your concept and ways of saving the strings, but for me, i don't think so.
- polishing won't bring back the actual tension and responds. they are moreless dead after strecthing, you can't bring this back to life
- fret marks on the strings can still be felt on them though they may look shiny to you. if you can't feel them, then i'm so sorry for you.
- as for the wound strings, if you still insist on using brasso or autosol, the ressidue have to be clean up after polishing. imagine on how to polish on the other side of the strings. but if you have more time to spend on this, if that should not be a problem, well go ahead. but again the stretch/fret marks still maintain. (in this case, honestly, i don't)
- the 'rebus' concept is another 'ol skool' way of getting things done. especially on the bass strings because of the cost. honestly again, i don't do this as well
however, it is up to one self on how attend to the matter whether it is for fun sake, cost wise or as for another idea to have more time spend on it. but never the less, this would be a great idea if there are no more new strings left on earth except the ones on your guitar.
sorry mate.
woof!
Last edited by browndog2woof on Sat Sep 27, 2008 8:27 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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| browndog2woof |
| Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 8:24 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 10 Nov 2006
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| soundfreak22nd wrote: | aku ade masalah dimane string aku akan jd brownish and hitam dalam 2-3 hari lepas pasang..
string cleaner pon tak leh handle..
WD40 pon same cam string cleaner..
elixir bole tahan 2-3 months plus for me.. |
body chemistry ko reacts to the strings. kawan aku sweat kat palm a lot. but the worst part, dia punya body chemistry reacts so fast on new strings. less than one week dah oxidized. aku suruh dia pakai tali pancing je... pity him though! quite familiar problem to some musicians. this one i can't do much help. |
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| spiderfingers |
| Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 8:34 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 13 Jun 2008
Posts: 119
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| browndog2woof wrote: |
yes. it is called tempering process. it changes the molecular, something like blue steel by dean markley which i don't prefer. (that's personal preference). but honestly speaking, if you were to ask any luthier around, tukar tali baru la... maybe some people might have opt for your concept and ways of saving the strings, but for me, i don't think so.
- polishing won't bring back the actual tension and responds. they moreless dead after strecthing, you can't bring this back to life
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Strings that are stretched can be brought back to life by loosening and let it be for a few days then retune. If the strings really cannot hold, it will just break, that's when you change. Nobody said you never need to change string. I am just saying you could prolong the life without having to change string every few weeks.
| browndog2woof wrote: |
- fret marks on the strings can still be felt on them though they may look shiny to you. if you can't feel them, then i'm so sorry for you.
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Fret marks are underneath the strings. I don't know about you, but I can't feel dents that are underneath the strings because I don't know of any playing technique that requires my finger to go underneath a string with my finger tip. Nevertheless, those dents/marks do not affect tone/sustain much because the mass/molecules are just compressed/moved away a bit, and not removed. Compared to gunk/rusts that adds to the string's weight and affects vibration, the dents underneath don't affect it that much. Also depends on playing style, if you're a light fretter, most dents don't form so instantly compared to rusts/oxidation. It takes a long time especially if you're a light fretter on a fairly low action guitar.
Most of the fret dents are more visible on the wound strings, less prominent on the treble side, but also depends on whether you're playing lead or rhythm. As far I know, it has not affected the tone/brightness significantly. It's the rust/gunk/weight distribution due to these that affects the tone more than molecular displacement from fret dents/marks.
| browndog2woof wrote: |
- as for the wound strings, if you still insist on using brasso or autosol, the ressidue have to be clean up after polishing. but if you have more time to spend on this, if that should not be a problem. but again the stretch/fret marks still maintain. (in this case, honestly, i don't)
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No, i've said already, do not use brasso/autosol on the wound strings because the residue will get caught between the wounds and makes it difficult to be removed, and causes more gunk to pile up. That's why i suggested only alcohol or mineral oil because they will evaporate or easy to clean off using tissue/cloth.
| browndog2woof wrote: |
- the 'rebus' concept is another 'ol skool' way of getting things done. especially on the bass strings because of the cost. honestly again, i don't do this as well
however, it is up to one self on how attend to the matter whether it is for fun sake, cost wise or as for another idea to have more time spend on it. but never the less, this would be a great idea if there are no more new strings left on earth except the ones on your guitar.
sorry mate.
woof! |
The rebus concept is very inconvenient and it means restringing the guitar with a string that is already stringed before, it is troublesome and you might break the strings, I certainly wouldn't do that.
Sure, it's up to oneself to do it the way they see fit, but when one has to keep forking out 20 ringgit every week for a new set, it starts eating into the budget real quickly. We're not americans, we don't earn American dollars.
If strings costs 20 usd per pack for Americans, they'll be sure to really think of saving the strings/prolonging them.
The trouble with Malaysians is most are desensitized by the increasing cost of living, low wages and the lack of financial management education causes Malaysians to overspend and get into debts regularly.
Just because it's easy to tell someone to just slap on a new set of strings, doesn't change the fact that Malaysians are financially ignorant and desensitized about their financial predicament.
My personal advice is that everyone should strive to save as much as they can without going overboard and not waste too many strings because it is also bad for the environment.
Don't simply throw strings away, but recycle them whenever possible (by donating or sell to metal buyers) |
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| browndog2woof |
| Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 7:25 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 10 Nov 2006
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| spiderfingers wrote: | | browndog2woof wrote: |
yes. it is called tempering process. it changes the molecular, something like blue steel by dean markley which i don't prefer. (that's personal preference). but honestly speaking, if you were to ask any luthier around, tukar tali baru la... maybe some people might have opt for your concept and ways of saving the strings, but for me, i don't think so.
- polishing won't bring back the actual tension and responds. they moreless dead after strecthing, you can't bring this back to life
|
Strings that are stretched can be brought back to life by loosening and let it be for a few days then retune. If the strings really cannot hold, it will just break, that's when you change. Nobody said you never need to change string. I am just saying you could prolong the life without having to change string every few weeks.
| browndog2woof wrote: |
- fret marks on the strings can still be felt on them though they may look shiny to you. if you can't feel them, then i'm so sorry for you.
|
Fret marks are underneath the strings. I don't know about you, but I can't feel dents that are underneath the strings because I don't know of any playing technique that requires my finger to go underneath a string with my finger tip. Nevertheless, those dents/marks do not affect tone/sustain much because the mass/molecules are just compressed/moved away a bit, and not removed. Compared to gunk/rusts that adds to the string's weight and affects vibration, the dents underneath don't affect it that much. Also depends on playing style, if you're a light fretter, most dents don't form so instantly compared to rusts/oxidation. It takes a long time especially if you're a light fretter on a fairly low action guitar.
Most of the fret dents are more visible on the wound strings, less prominent on the treble side, but also depends on whether you're playing lead or rhythm. As far I know, it has not affected the tone/brightness significantly. It's the rust/gunk/weight distribution due to these that affects the tone more than molecular displacement from fret dents/marks.
| browndog2woof wrote: |
- as for the wound strings, if you still insist on using brasso or autosol, the ressidue have to be clean up after polishing. but if you have more time to spend on this, if that should not be a problem. but again the stretch/fret marks still maintain. (in this case, honestly, i don't)
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No, i've said already, do not use brasso/autosol on the wound strings because the residue will get caught between the wounds and makes it difficult to be removed, and causes more gunk to pile up. That's why i suggested only alcohol or mineral oil because they will evaporate or easy to clean off using tissue/cloth.
| browndog2woof wrote: |
- the 'rebus' concept is another 'ol skool' way of getting things done. especially on the bass strings because of the cost. honestly again, i don't do this as well
however, it is up to one self on how attend to the matter whether it is for fun sake, cost wise or as for another idea to have more time spend on it. but never the less, this would be a great idea if there are no more new strings left on earth except the ones on your guitar.
sorry mate.
woof! |
The rebus concept is very inconvenient and it means restringing the guitar with a string that is already stringed before, it is troublesome and you might break the strings, I certainly wouldn't do that.
Sure, it's up to oneself to do it the way they see fit, but when one has to keep forking out 20 ringgit every week for a new set, it starts eating into the budget real quickly. We're not americans, we don't earn American dollars.
If strings costs 20 usd per pack for Americans, they'll be sure to really think of saving the strings/prolonging them.
The trouble with Malaysians is most are desensitized by the increasing cost of living, low wages and the lack of financial management education causes Malaysians to overspend and get into debts regularly.
Just because it's easy to tell someone to just slap on a new set of strings, doesn't change the fact that Malaysians are financially ignorant and desensitized about their financial predicament.
My personal advice is that everyone should strive to save as much as they can without going overboard and not waste too many strings because it is also bad for the environment.
Don't simply throw strings away, but recycle them whenever possible (by donating or sell to metal buyers) |
sorry mate. can't help you on this one.. we spoke of a different wavelength. just go along with what you percieved and believe. best of luck for you to achieve it.
adios mate! |
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| Kozam |
| Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 4:10 pm Post subject: |
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