Changing strings often??

boss^is^dead · #1 10-11-2006, 06:53 AM

hey all

Just got my Jem as I've been saying(ranting,shouting,parading etc)
I changed the strings friday and having broke high E, i decided to change the G,B and E strings!They were getting a bit black and crummy after a few days of playing!ANYWAY,what I want to know is,should i be changing strings after a certain amount of play?I mean,is it better for tone and all round practise if you have newer strings?is it daft to be changing them that quickly?
any tips for cleaning down frets after play?

any help would be great!

god i love this website......

GTR-MAN · #2 10-11-2006, 08:45 AM

It's really a matter of preference. Some people like the sound and feel of old broken in strings. Some people change them once a week. generally new strings have a better tone and after they've been stretched properly, stay in tune better. I , myself, use my ear... if I don't like how they're sounding I change them no matter how long they've been on. Also if you break a string, it's always better to change all of them (one at a time of course, unless you block the trem) because the new strings will always sound brighter than the old ones and your intonation will suffer.

**elcid** · #3 10-11-2006, 10:42 AM

I change mine as soon as they feel dirty. If your 3 treble strings were black it probably would have been a good idea to replace all 6. I dont think I've ever changed just a few strings, aside from when I first started and broke the high e all the time.

SonataGuitarist · #4 10-11-2006, 11:17 AM

There was a poll on this not to long ago, check it out:

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/showth...change+strings

I'm all about Dadd' Jazz 11's, they have great life, and great tone. It's about every 2/3 weeks for me. The Elixirs in my SG, however, are at about a month and a half and still truckin.

**elcid** · #5 10-11-2006, 11:21 AM

I put some Elixers on my Martin and I can't believe how fresh the strings still sound after about a month of serious play time.
I still don't know if I'd put them on an electric. I tried the coated GHS strings and didnt like them at all, plus I still have about 10 sets of D'addarios to go through before I try anything else.

SonataGuitarist · #6 10-11-2006, 11:30 AM

Yeah I just tried them (Elixirs) for the first time a few months ago, some for my SG, and some for my Ovation acoustic.

Elcid is right, they are so awesome on acoustic, continually sound like brand new strings.

The electrics took some warming up to, but now I love em, it's just so nice to take is out of the case, run my finger down em, and they feel smooth (the SG is a string killer). I wouldnt put them on all my electrics though, their a bit "jangly" for some high dist. applications. Still awesome. Highly reccomend the acoustics though.

Was that OT? lol

**jemaholic** · #7 10-11-2006, 12:00 PM

After 38 continuous years of playing guitars I have come to use ONLY ONE way to determine if the strings need to be changed:

loosen the string a few turns....slightly lift it off the fingerboard......
slide your fingers along the UNDERside of the string up and down the fingerboard.....if you feel bumps, grit or sticky stuff....TIME TO CHANGE YOUR STRINGS.

The top of the strings are always clean, smooth and decieving.
Try my way- capitalize on my years of searching!

-Jemaholic

**elcid** · #8 10-11-2006, 12:05 PM

You dont need to loosen the strings at all, I usually wipe my strings down after each use and when the cloth has little black lines on it, it's time.

rrhea · #9 10-11-2006, 12:14 PM

I change strings when they get grimey. I've been playing for a very long time, and it's just something you know to do when it's time. It might be 1 month or one week, depending on how much you play that particular guitar.

Another tip that can greatly extend string life is cleaning the fretboard periodically with steel wool or a plastic pad (for rosewood) or guitar polish for lacquered maple boards. If the fretboard has a bunch of gunk on it, strings will get dirty exponetially faster than on a clean board. I don't do this every string change, but I do try to do it often, especially when I notice a set going south qucikly... that tells me the board is probably getting nasty and if it looks like it could use a cleaning I'll do it on the next string change.

RR

GTR-MAN · #10 10-11-2006, 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jemaholic

After 38 continuous years of playing guitars I have come to use ONLY ONE way to determine if the strings need to be changed:

loosen the string a few turns....slightly lift it off the fingerboard......
slide your fingers along the UNDERside of the string up and down the fingerboard.....if you feel bumps, grit or sticky stuff....TIME TO CHANGE YOUR STRINGS.

The top of the strings are always clean, smooth and decieving.
Try my way- capitalize on my years of searching!

-Jemaholic

I do that too sometimes, but I don't loosen the strings to do that either. It's very easy to tell on the bottom 3 strings for fret bumps.

**Ayrton** · #11 10-11-2006, 10:21 PM

Speaking of new strings, anyone get a new discount email (online sales) for strings?

life is pain · #12 10-11-2006, 11:39 PM

I just went back to using 9's... I was playing 8 ex lites... but no matter what gage I have they will always be Dean Markley

Jem#5150 · #13 10-12-2006, 12:33 AM

are the colored DR's any good? i had seen them on a ernie ball guitar here in a music store, but i was curious if anyone had used those. i heard they are coated kind of like the elixers.

morgtahna · #14 10-12-2006, 01:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elcid

You dont need to loosen the strings at all, I usually wipe my strings down after each use and when the cloth has little black lines on it, it's time.

Just as how i do it

ibanezdiehard · #15 10-12-2006, 01:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elcid

You dont need to loosen the strings at all, I usually wipe my strings down after each use and when the cloth has little black lines on it, it's time.

serious? if i did that i would change my strings every day?

i wipe them down every time i finish playing
(i get a small black line frome each treble string).
thats how i make them last 3 weeks or more

but the other guitarist never wipes them down so at the end of his 3 weeks it's not black lines they are brown more like rust