Need to get and share a resource for someone putting on new strings and needing them to work well first day

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Williams on March 24, 2009 at 12:25am

well i don't have an actual "resource" to reference .. but this is what i do ..
first off i put my string on in a certain way .. i wrap back and under the post so that when i tighten the string it comes across the loose end and basically "locks" it in place on the post ..
secondly i'll press down very hard on the string at the sound hole .. this stretches is quite well ..
its also important to make sure your string doesn't go too far down in the peg hole at the bridge .
if you can't see the secondary wrap on the string its too far down in the hole.
the peg doesn't hold the string in .. the peg pushed the ring end behind the wood on the under side of the bridge and that is what keeps it in and transfers vibration to the top of the guitar ..

I'll add a text explanation of the locking technique ..
push the string through the post hole ..
bring the end of the string under the installed string from the center of the headstock
pull up on it tightly then back toward the center ..
hold the end of the sting in position as you tighten and you'll notice that the wrap will start to go over the end part you wrapped under and back / over ..
thus locking it in place ..

hope this helps ..
Cheers
Jeff Williams
Acoustic Guitar Tapping < google search term for my website **

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Permalink Reply by Ship of fools on March 24, 2009 at 8:56am

Well here is one reference to changing strings
http://www.thepodium.com/t-stringchange.aspx
And another one
http://www.thepodium.com/t-stringchange.aspx
And then of course a great read about strings
http://www.flatpick.com/Pages/News_And_Reviews/Gear.html#ST1
But really all you need do is strech them out a bit as you tighten them up, just a little extra tug will work wonders. Most strings are ready to go after installing them and being played a while also helps.Ship

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Permalink Reply by WeaserP on April 2, 2009 at 6:27am

Kevin - check this out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXEkDR_-D88&eurl=http://www.elix.... This is really a pretty good video for anyone looking to string a guitar correctly. I follow this pretty closely then, once they're all on and tuned for the first time, I do have a little stretching routine that seems to work pretty well. Again, once they're all on and tuned, I grab each of them - one at a time - at about where the neck meets the body and slowly pull up about a quarter inch. Then re-tune. Then I'm pretty much ready to butcher any song in my path! Give it a try and see if it works for you!

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Permalink Reply by Kevin G. Lougheed on April 2, 2009 at 7:40am

This is an excellent reference video....thank you very much.

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Permalink Reply by Jeroen Wenting on April 2, 2009 at 10:46am

The best I've seen are on Taylor's website under customer service.
There's also a PDF there that describes the whole thing complete with images.

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