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January 2007
Posts: 672
Location: New South Wales, Australia | I recently showed my brother in law how to string his guitar. He's been playing for six months...I've been banging away for 27 years.
When I was finished he said to me "don't you have to stretch them before you tune the guitar?"
I tactfully avoided the question by telling him there was beer in my fridge and the question was quickly forgotten.
Should new strings be stretched first and if so, how do you do it and why? |
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December 2004
Posts: 1116
Location: Keller, TX | I do, just to get the initial stretch out of them. They are going to stretch anyway. If you don't it will de-tune itself for the first few days as the string stretches.
After stringing, I will pull up on the string by the nut, middle of the fretboard, and near the bridge, then retune. Repeat until the string holds the pitch. Repeat for all strings. |
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January 2004
Posts: 799
Location: Athens, GA & Gnashville | Forcefully stretching steel strings destroys the tensile strength, and therefore the longevity, of a steel string. |
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June 2006
Posts: 7307
Location: South of most, North of few | I usually just initially tune the strings, then strum an E chord rather strong for about 30 seconds then let it sit for about 5 min, then retune. Seems to work for me. |
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February 2004
Posts: 548
Location: Up North | So which is it then? To stretch, or not to stretch? I always assumed a little tug on the string up by the nut was a good thing. :D ;) :p |
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March 2002
Posts: 1380
Location: Central Oregon | I pull up on each one near the middle a few times as I'm tuning the first time. |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | I usually will tune a new set to concert pitch, give each string just a BIT of a "stretch" at about the middle of the scale length, and then re-tune back to pitch . . . |
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January 2005
Posts: 640
Location: boulder | why would you ever change your strings??? |
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March 2005
Posts: 1421
Location: Orange County, California | Goob's right. I let our electric player use my U681T for our Easter celebration. He actually thought he could use his old Tak without a pickup & pre-amp, because it was going to be an "acoustic set" (which out here means amplified acoustic instruments, no bass player and a drum set consisting of everything except the "drum set" itself. Back to the strings... Silly-nilly would try to bend the %4it out of the strings to pull them flat and then tune them back up. I've seen him do this on his on guitars, and I don't know why (other than to see if they're going to break when you bend them). They (mainly the G & D strings) were slipping on on the machines, then sliding back back up th where they belong (memory I guess). He was getting frustrated and said "this guitar is really hard to tune". So I said "lemme see it" and mostly by ear brought it back to pitch and matched it to our worship leader's pitch. He agreed to let me be his roadie from now on. I saw him check it once during the set, but he never touched the tuners again and the guitar was in perfect pitch. Moral of the story. My strings "learn" what pitch, length and tension they will live at. After the initial stretch in, which I let happen, I don't pull up on them or do anything silly. I may bend them all a little to "seat" them, and tune "high" the first time up, but that's it. Subsequently, my guitars stay very close to pitch. I've also never broken a string. Never. IMHO, manually stretching new strings damages them somewhat, and since you elongate (and make thinner) some portion of the string in the middle or over the bridge and or nut more than the natural consistent elongation under normal tension (think fat spots and skinny spots up the string), they wont resonate consistently either, making them sound weird.
Remember, I sell web tension controls for processing & converting everything from toilet paper to structural steel cables. You can't pre-stretch your strings unless you know exactly how much elongation you want, at what tension, over what length. This is done on a machine, not your guitar... :D :p :D :p |
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Joined:
November 2005
Posts: 4833
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Get up about 15 minutes earlier than normal on the day you play to restring your guitar. It should be a dry day for steel strings, for nylon it's irrelevant.
Carefully unwrap each of the strings and lay them out straight and flat on a solid surface. (This is why I have harwood floors but countertops will work too.) *Do not do this on carpet or lino as the strings will pick up the pattern of the flooring. This will effect their ability to produce clear frequency resonations!
One at a time, grab the end of each string and apply at least forty pounds pressure by hand while vibrating like you have MS. It is helpful at this time to hum the note to which each string will be tuned.
Five minutes each with the strings one time through, then four, then three, and so on.
Then, restring your guitar using the proper approved guitar stringing technique and you should never have any problems with new strings detuning.
*Saw the Smothers Brothers last night. I'm feeling little inspired today. They put on a great show for 68 & 70 year old men.... actually, they don't look a day over 60! |
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December 2004
Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | The proper use of "String Tubes" will help. :D |
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September 2006
Posts: 347
Location: Reno, NV | Originally posted by mtnbikerfred:
Goob's right. I let our electric player use my U681T for our Easter celebration. He actually thought he could use his old Tak without a pickup & pre-amp, because it was going to be an "acoustic set" (which out here means amplified acoustic instruments, no bass player and a drum set consisting of everything except the "drum set" itself. Back to the strings... Silly-nilly would try to bend the %4it out of the strings to pull them flat and then tune them back up. I've seen him do this on his on guitars, and I don't know why (other than to see if they're going to break when you bend them). They (mainly the G & D strings) were slipping on on the machines, then sliding back back up th where they belong (memory I guess). He was getting frustrated and said "this guitar is really hard to tune". So I said "lemme see it" and mostly by ear brought it back to pitch and matched it to our worship leader's pitch. He agreed to let me be his roadie from now on. I saw him check it once during the set, but he never touched the tuners again and the guitar was in perfect pitch. Moral of the story. My strings "learn" what pitch, length and tension they will live at. After the initial stretch in, which I let happen, I don't pull up on them or do anything silly. I may bend them all a little to "seat" them, and tune "high" the first time up, but that's it. Subsequently, my guitars stay very close to pitch. I've also never broken a string. Never. IMHO, manually stretching new strings damages them somewhat, and since you elongate (and make thinner) some portion of the string in the middle or over the bridge and or nut more than the natural consistent elongation under normal tension (think fat spots and skinny spots up the string), they wont resonate consistently either, making them sound weird.
Remember, I sell web tension controls for processing & converting everything from toilet paper to structural steel cables. You can't pre-stretch your strings unless you know exactly how much elongation you want, at what tension, over what length. This is done on a machine, not your guitar... :D :p :D :p So then anyone who ever performs a bend is essentially ruining the strings. Seems like playing and destroying strings goes hand in hand. |
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Joined:
May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | For all my guitars, after restringing, I'll bring them to concert pitch. Then tug them up at the 12th fret. Just a tug, then retune. Then play. After half an hour for steel strings, they settle in, and for nylon strings about 6 hours.
Then after that intitial .5 or 6 hour period, the strings start to lose that very bright sound, and enter the sweet spot. |
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August 2006
Posts: 2804
Location: ranson,wva | only strings i streach are nylons, as far as bending strings on accoustic, i play with med-heavy's so bending is all but impossiable when tuned to coneret pitch...
my electrics had lite strings on them.....jason |
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October 2006
Posts: 51
Location: Arizona | Originally posted by Yak:
So then anyone who ever performs a bend is essentially ruining the strings. Seems like playing and destroying strings goes hand in hand. Yup, you got it. Playing them degrades them, touching them degrades them, leaving them exposed to the air and elements degrades them.
Strings have a limited lifetime and how you use them affects the length of that lifetime. If you do a lot of bending, they're not going to maintain a good sound as long as if you didn't bend them. So if you bend, change them more often, it's not a big deal. If you play with dirty hands or do all sorts of other things that accelerate degradation, change them more often. Strings aren't all that expensive, nor are they hard to change, one just needs to pay attention to what one does. |
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October 2006
Posts: 5576
Location: big island | putting strings on a guitar and also playing them does, in fact, destroy them. the stringmaking industry is a secure business. |
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December 2004
Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | Originally posted by Lanaki:
the stringmaking industry is a secure business. So is the guitar making industry. :D |
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October 2006
Posts: 5576
Location: big island | true, mike. as long as GAS exists, so will these industries.
by the way, mike - i will need four adult tickets to dollywood for june 9, please. i suppose my daughters, aged 2 and 1 will not require admission. |
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November 2005
Posts: 1126
Location: Omaha, NE | I put on new strings, tune up, and play. The first few minutes I need to touch up the tuning a few times, but that's no biggie. The strings always settle in just fine. |
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Joined:
January 2007
Posts: 672
Location: New South Wales, Australia | Originally posted by fugot:
why would you ever change your strings??? I've got an old hillbilly mate who last changed his strings in 1996!!! He's got an old Yamaha guitar which he treats pretty badly but the old thing always stays in tune. It sounds REALLY dull, but always in tune. I'm amazed they don't disintegrate whenever he puts his fingers on them. |
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April 2006
Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | It strikes me as Odd , how guitarplayers have different opinions about strings,where as Violinists,Cellists, and the like know that it takes at least 3 days for strings to settle in,and about a week to reach full potential,I wonder how many guitarists know,that a good solid top on a brandnew guitar can be over 50 years old,before it was sawn ,... ;)
Vic :cool: |
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February 2004
Posts: 2487
| Saw the thread figured I throw this one out. I have been using the Elixir Nano's for a while now. the #11's seem to fit my playing and I have found they are economical if your playing to an audience but really do not want to change strings every gig or so to keep the sound as pro sounding as possible. NEver in my life have I had the ball end unwind on me but the high E #11 gauge did this from four of five packages I bought a few months ago. ONe on stage and the rest at home while going through them one by one to find a good string in the bunch. Only the high E was bad. VEry odd.........Anyway fifth package was fine. So I told Elixir in a nice well explained letter that I liked their strings and as a weekend guitarist I would continue to use them no matter what their response was. I asked them to send me one new pack of the nanowebs and four seperate E strings and we would be even again..... Two days later............One new pack of #11,s and four high E strings in a nice little box care of Elixir strings.
There ya go. Customer service..........I will be buying those strings for a long time.
Randy |
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September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I'm still a novice... [and always will be, as soon as you think you got it, you're through!]
But I bring my strings close to tune, by ear. Then give them all alittle stretch. If I've done it well, the strings will still be in tune, one-to-another. Then I use the tuner, either internal or external.
By the time my strings will stay in tune for a day-or-two playing, it usually means they are getting dull and need to be changed. About once a month, cuz I rotate guitar usage.
My friend Tom thinks I'm weird, cuz I change my strings so often. His 12-string has had the same strings for years, literally!
Tom's weird! |
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January 2007
Posts: 672
Location: New South Wales, Australia | Hmmmmm...maybe this wasn't such a dumb question. Seems there are two schools of thought out there....stretchers and non stretchers.
I'll stay in the non stretching camp for now as I've never done it before and haven't had any problems keeping my guitar in tune. |
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Joined:
April 2007
Posts: 225
Location: Stow, Ohio | I tune 'em to pitch, tug 'em, tune 'em, tug 'em, untill they stay in tune, then I lock down that locking nut, crank the Laney AOR 50MV and step on the OD pedal and weeedly deeedly to my hearts content. :) |
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dumb question no.3 -- stretching new strings
