How often do you change your strings?

lukedlb

There come those days when I feel quite dispirited by my playing, nothing sounds right, I'm constantly fiddling with my pedal pots in search of a better sound, and god why is my amp sounding lifeless....
It takes me a few days to remember.
It's time to change strings.
But didn't I just change them (3 guitars gets a little confusing)?
My feeling is there is a rough life estimate of strings sounding great and this year I'm going to make an effort to estimate it by restringing all my guitars on new years day. I don't play them all enough unfortunately as one stays in the lounge (played ampless but played most nights while I watch the tv) and the other two get a play maybe twice a week.
My estimate is a month life of that amount of playing but I hope they can reach two months.
I use regular d'addario xl strings. The first two weeks they sound glorious; as the 'tang' in the low strings becomes a woolier bass string, the end is on the cards. In my younger days I actively waited for that moment that the real bass would roll in instead of those awful 'new sounding' strings. My taste and experience has now told me otherwise; after all, a bass guitar can handle those lows well enough.
So, fellow fretters, when do you change yours? And would you recommend a set that retains that twangy newness for longer? They are after all the most underrated yet essential part of your tone. Expect a guitar pick thread soon too.

Stevepage

At the moment my main guitar has Elixir strings. I put them on a week before Halloween, done 2 45 minutes gigs and theyre still sounding fine.

I usually aim for around 2 months if I'm not gigging usually regular D'addarios

Lestratcaster

Depends which guitar it is, on my main teaching guitars (Strat/Tele/Les Paul and an acoustic) at least once every 2 months. Main band guitar could be up to 3 times a month depending how often we play. The remaining ones every 6 months or so.

I use Ernie Balls for electrics and D'addario for acoustics.

Philtre

Only on Christmas day.

Megii

Usually a matter of months between changes if I'm honest - I guess I have fairly noncorrosive hand chemistry, and I do have several guitars that I tend to use which slows the deterioration. 

impmann

I have *very* acidic sweat and rot strings after just one gig.
I used to use daddarios on all my guitars.
However I stuck a set of Elixirs on my Les Paul last January as an experiment. They are still on it! They’ve done a load of gigs plus both the Leicester and Northampton jams. They are a bit... floppy but they still sound bright and I’d probably risk a gig with them if I had to.
I still prefer the sound and feel of normal strings but the Elixirs are incredible value and they aren’t horrible sounding.
 In fact, I’ve grown to like the sound.

Roland

There are a number of factors affecting string life, for example: time under tension, bending and other playing abuse, and sweat and dirt. That’s before you get on to string gauge, alloy, and personal preference about brightness. If I’m playing acoustic or low gain then I like the sound of new strings. If it’s pub rock then I’ll play until the D string windings show signs of wear. In life duration that’s about a month of gigs and rehearsals. 

ToneControl

I use Elixir
Rarely change strings more than every 12 months for any guitar, except maybe my favourite acoustic

lukedlb

impmann said:

I have *very* acidic sweat and rot strings after just one gig.
I used to use daddarios on all my guitars.
However I stuck a set of Elixirs on my Les Paul last January as an experiment. They are still on it! They’ve done a load of gigs plus both the Leicester and Northampton jams. They are a bit... floppy but they still sound bright and I’d probably risk a gig with them if I had to.
I still prefer the sound and feel of normal strings but the Elixirs are incredible value and they aren’t horrible sounding.
 In fact, I’ve grown to like the sound.

Have you tried all the different coatings on the elixirs?

Telejester

d'addario 10.5 - 48 , string changing is such a bore but i try to do it every couple of months.

Sassafras

I've got one guitar, a PRS whose strings I haven't changed for about 8 years and they're fine although I do like fresh strings on my acoustics.
I've never changed strings regularly or often on electrics. Normally when they develop kinks from frets or if they turn black I think they're due a string change.

ICBM

About every 2-5 years depending on how much I play the guitar. Maybe less often.

lukedlb

ICBM said:

About every 2-5 years depending on how much I play the guitar. Maybe less often.

What be the strings that last 2, 5, 8 years?

Fishboy7

I change strings every couple of weeks on my no. 1. 

bluechargeboy

Currently using Elixir Optiweb and they feel MUCH better than the other coatings. Been on two guitars for a few weeks; I am a string killer so I am pleased so far.

Merry Xmas!

Danny1969

I use Rotosounds and they are good for around 20 gigs or so if you clean then after each gig. Great strings 

ICBM

lukedlb said:

ICBM said:

About every 2-5 years depending on how much I play the guitar. Maybe less often.

What be the strings that last 2, 5, 8 years?

D'Addarios or DRs. I've tried some Newtones but they've only been on a few months so I can't say how long they'll last yet, although on the current evidence probably about 20...

kossofffan

Well I've had my Les Paul which is my main player, 74 months and replaced the strings 40 times.
Other guitars much much less.

Jota

Around 6 months with Elixir for the guitars I use most. The others usually last a whole year.
My acoustic gets new strings once a year.

Neill

Even among the pro's there's no consensus, eg I remember Rory Gallagher saying he used new strings for every gig but I recall reading Clapton hardly ever changed the bottom three strings on his guitars, and I've heard of several who claim to prefer the sound of old strings, I think Ry Cooder was one.

markjohnson

I read somewhere that Richie Sambora used to have a tech change his strings for each take in the studio but that sounds pretty exaggerated, maybe it was each day.

I quite like new strings on an electric (ie changed about 1-2 months) but on acoustics I just find it so abrasive, much prefer bedded in, and I always keep one acoustic (an old Martin MIA DX1R) with really dead strings because it's a really useful tone to have  from time to time. Though old streets do get manky - I'd love to know if anyone knows of a brand of strings (not flatwounds) that have the dead tone without the mank.