How To Change Your
Electric Guitar Strings
by: Mantius Cazaubon
Many guitarists, especially beginners,
struggle with changing electric guitar strings. But it really is a
simple exercise. Here's a straightforward guide you can follow:
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Tools.
You will need a small needle nose
pliers to cut and bend the strings, and a string winder to help you
wind the strings quickly.
Remove the string.
You should change each guitar string
one at a time. That way, you will avoid warping the guitar neck, and
you will be able to quickly tune the new string to the other strings.
I usually remove the 6th string first.
Use your string winder and turn the tuning peg until the string
becomes very slack. Now cut off the twisted end of the old string so
that it slips easily out of the guitar. Then wind the top section of
your string out of the tuning peg.
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What you do next will vary depending on
the type of electric guitar you have. The one I'm using, the strings
go through the body. Remove the old string. Pay close attention to the
way your old string comes off, and do the opposite when putting a new
one back on.
Relace the string.
Now let's put back a new string. Feed
the string through a hole in the body of your electric guitar, or the
tail piece. As said earlier, it depends on your particular electric
guitar. Get the ball end of your string in place.
Now pull the string over the bridge,
over the nut of the neck, and up past the tuning peg. Make sure it
isn't slack. The new string is very long so you will have to cut some
of it off. Leave enough string for a few winds around the tuning peg.
Two inches above the peg should work. |
Pull the string through the hole of the
tuning peg and begin winding it. The string shouldn't be slack. To
keep the tension, place your fingers under the string. With the guitar
facing you, wind the tuning pegs on the left side clockwise. Wind
those on the right side anticlockwise.
To speed up the winding process, place
your string winder over the tuning peg and wind until the string
becomes tight. Then take off the peg winder and use the tuning peg to
tune the string.
Now that you've changed and tuned your
6th string, you can just repeat the process for all the other strings.
Breaking in.
Since the strings are new, they can
stretch and go out of tune easily. They need to break in. You can
speed up the breaking in process by stretching the string yourself.
Give the strings a few gentle pulls or do some spirited strumming.
You will find yourself having to tune
your guitar quite a bit after replacing your strings. But after one or
two days everything should be okay.
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