I just don't like changing guitar strings.

thegummy

gary_mac said:

I seem to be doing it most days of the week, fortunately I quite enjoy it. Must say, not keen on restringing Mandolins though.

Do you work in a shop or have a huge arsenal?

thegummy

merciful-evans said:

HAL9000 said:

Turn it into a labour of love. Set 30 or 40 minutes aside. As well as new  strings, get out the polishing cloths, guitar polish, fretboard conditioner, etc. Put on your favourite album. Then get polishing and restringing. Enjoy.

But that's even more work! 
Fretboard conditioner? Never needed that in 49 years. I'm not about to start now. 

Its just a chore, like personal hygiene or ironing is. It needs doing. Do it and be glad you don't use a 12 string!

Your fretboards must have some serious split ends!

fretmeister

Bass - dead easy.

Fit either Thomastik TI flats or La Bella Deep Talkin' Bass flats and then leave them on.

To quote the legend Ed Friedland "Change your strings every 10 years whether they need it or not!"

Voxman

Duplicate post

Voxman

String changing is a pain in the butt...and it'd not just the physical string change but cleaning the fingerboard and checking/ adjusting the intonation. Sometimes my eyes struggle to find the hole in the stringpost because its so shiny and reflective.  I've now got 13 guitars and even if I'm only playing say 6 or 7 regularly, that's still a fair few although two do have locking machine heads but they are also trem models.

Unless I have to change strings because of a gig, I just try and make sure I'm extending string life and delaying restringing by wiping down/cleaning the strings after each useage. And thereafter it's just about being in the mood to change them, usually over the weekend when I'm not tired or pressured, in front of the TV.   

But I do like a freshly restrung guitar, and it's when you realise the difference it makes to ease of playing and improved and more responsive tone.

rico

Takes about 7 minutes with the locking method on a LP for me. Easy peasy!

Rocker

I changed the strings on my Epi LP today using the method advocated by @ICBM. ; Took the best part of half an hour from start to finish but the strings remained pretty well in tune after the final tweak of the tuning.  The old strings were in a bad state, marked where the frets came into contact etc.  The new strings, Elixir 10s' feel so much better.  Not a task I enjoyed doing but the results were good.  Next guitar to be re-stringed will be the Anderson, which has locking tuners, maybe over the weekend.

fretmeister

Or just get a guitar that uses Double Ball End strings.

5 minute job then.

poopot

Ffs! I once changed a broken string mid song during a gig without the band stopping!... It ain’t that difficult to do chaps!!!!

man up!...

fretfinder

Tenebrous said:

HAL9000 said:

Turn it into a labour of love. Set 30 or 40 minutes aside. As well as new  strings, get out the polishing cloths, guitar polish, fretboard conditioner, etc. Put on your favourite album. Then get polishing and restringing. Enjoy.

This is the secret right here. I love restringing my #1s because it gives me a chance to clean em up a bit, adjust anything if necessary, etc.

I still wouldn't restring a Floyd if my life depended on it, though.

Eh? You can’t have more than one #1 surely?! 

WiresDreamDisasters

I like restringing guitars. It's like meditation.

WiresDreamDisasters

merciful-evans said:

HAL9000 said:

Turn it into a labour of love. Set 30 or 40 minutes aside. As well as new  strings, get out the polishing cloths, guitar polish, fretboard conditioner, etc. Put on your favourite album. Then get polishing and restringing. Enjoy.

But that's even more work! 
Fretboard conditioner? Never needed that in 49 years. I'm not about to start now. 

Its just a chore, like personal hygiene or ironing is. It needs doing. Do it and be glad you don't use a 12 string!

Chores are optional.

scarry67

Try a string change on a Rickenbacker 12 string and then you’ll know what suffering is

scrumhalf

Fretboard conditioner?

Why take two bottles wth when you put on new strings? I just change and go. (This will be lost on anyone under, ooh, thirty).

WiresDreamDisasters

Rocker doesn't change underwear either.

carlos

String changes on a headless take 5 minutes, I swear. Thread string through bridge, thread through locking nut, lock, tune. That's it times six.

thegummy

carlos said:

String changes on a headless take 5 minutes, I swear. Thread string through bridge, thread through locking nut, lock, tune. That's it times six.

With locking tuners on a normal guitar the only extra step is snipping off the excess string.

Has the added benefit of not being sick in your mouth every time you look at the guitar :P 

axisus

I don't like doing it and I don't like the zing of new strings. I only change single strings when they break as a general rule. A new set can be years apart!

Bridgehouse said:

Nor me. I dread it when the ten year anniversary comes around and I have to change my bass strings 

I have 5 basses (I think!). They all have either the set they came with or the set that I first put on as I like light strings. Oldest is 24 years.

ToneControl

axisus said:

I don't like doing it and I don't like the zing of new strings. I only change single strings when they break as a general rule. A new set can be years apart!

Bridgehouse said:

Nor me. I dread it when the ten year anniversary comes around and I have to change my bass strings 

I have 5 basses (I think!). They all have either the set they came with or the set that I first put on as I like light strings. Oldest is 24 years.

Surely my tapewounds will outlast me?

Litterick

I find the old, worn-out, strings start sounding better as soon as I buy a new set.