21 gigs on set of strings ! how long have you gone on one set ?

Danny1969

I meant to change my strings in early November but it never happened, then Dec was really busy and I kept forgetting. Last night I did yet another gig on the same set of strings and a quick look at my gig diary shows 21 gigs since that last string change. 

How long have you gone ?

Tom_Brookes

I've had my bass strings on since June, I normally do 2 gigs a month on bass, so say 12....they're going to be doing 6 in January before they're changed....at nearly £50 a set I like to get my moneys worth!

Guitar wise, probably never done more than 3 gigs on a set.

Danny1969

Tom_Brookes said:

I've had my bass strings on since June, I normally do 2 gigs a month on bass, so say 12....they're going to be doing 6 in January before they're changed....at nearly £50 a set I like to get my moneys worth!

Guitar wise, probably never done more than 3 gigs on a set.

Lol the bass player in one band I work with has just changed his strings after 7 years which is about 400 gigs or so for him. He would think your strings were essentially  new ! 

stickyfiddle

I was getting 6 months from a set on my SG when my last band were busy. That would've been 2 gigs a month plus a rehearsal on the off weeks. Elixirs Nanos FTW!

DLM

@Danny1969 What brand and gauge are you using?!

I've only ever done two gigs on consecutive nights on one set. D'Addario 9s. They start breaking after about two weeks' use, just rehearsals and private practice.

Danny1969

@DLM

D'addarios from strings direct, the cheapest ones from Strings direct 

I use 10's and do a lot of bends so I'm really surprised they have lasted so long. I always clean the strings after every gig but in the past i wouldn't risk more than 4 or 5 gigs 

Maybe the metal they use now is less prone to rusting ?

PolarityMan

I change mine before every gig but its more to the mankiness build up than breaking them. I only break strings a couple of times a year.

PolarityMan

Also don't gig nearly as much as @Danny1969 ...at that number of gigs youd have to be a millionaire to change strings that frequently!

GavRichList

Pretty sure our bassist did the entirety of Minnaars 4 years around the world on one set, the grubby swine.

Phil_aka_Pip

I used to gig once a week, and usually have a band practice in the middle of the week. I changed my strings every Sunday. In those days I didn't have a lot of guitars. What happens now is that I string 'em all up, then get into playing just one of them. When its strings get knackered (after quite a while, as I'm not gigging much at all these days), I just move on to another guitar. Eventually that's going to lead to another massive stringing up session.

digitalscream

Having just checked the gig history, I did 27 on a set of Elixirs in 2012 (plus rehearsals every week). Only changed them 'cos I swapped some pickups out.

Drew_TNBD

Must be something wrong with my sweat. Two or three gigs and I have to change them, they go right fucking rank!

monquixote

I've had the same Elixirs on my strat for something like 2 years. 

Weirdly they are less dead than the ones that have been on my PRS for 9 months.

ICBM

Years. I think I went at least two years on my main gigging guitar when I was still doing so fairly regularly, plus almost all practices and most home playing - I only used one guitar really. I've just changed the strings on it because I'm going to sell it, and I don't think I've changed them since I last played a gig with it in 2007. And I have played it a fair bit since.

I keep the strings clean and I like the sound of played-in strings. The thing that kills them in the end is usually not dirt, it's indents in the windings over the frets, especially on the 4th string - and then when changing a string the new one sounds too bright, so the whole set needs to go. I've changed broken plain strings without needing to replace the whole set a few times.

I read that Brian May gets the same sort of life out of strings too, so it's not just me!

randomhandclaps

Apparently Bjorn Ulvaeus did two world tours on one set of strings when ABBA were at their peak.

fastboy

Wow, there's some frugal guys amongst us. I tend to use a set of strings on my gigging guitars for 2 gigs tops if they're back to back. 

I buy the D'addario 25 set boxes so they work out pretty cheap and last me long enough. On my kicking round the house strat that's lucky if it sees a set every 2 years! Just broke the high E last week so maybe it's time

Grunfeld

Like @fastboy at most I can get a Friday and Saturday from a set because a couple of days later all the top strings have rusted and the wounds are marked and dull sounding.  And I also buy D'addario in bulk.  (9-46.  For my non-gigging guitars I usually use Elixirs.)

I wonder if sweat varies that much or it's more to do with personal tolerance for rusty strings?

fastboy

Grunfeld said:

Like @fastboy at most I can get a Friday and Saturday from a set because a couple of days later all the top strings have rusted and the wounds are marked and dull sounding.  And I also buy D'addario in bulk.  (9-46.  For my non-gigging guitars I usually use Elixirs.)

I wonder if sweat varies that much or it's more to do with personal tolerance for rusty strings?

I don't think the D'addario's are the most resilient of strings however, I like the sound of fresh and bright strings and at the sort of money you can buy D'addario bulk packs for it just makes sense to me. 

mike_l

Grunfeld said:

I wonder if sweat varies that much or it's more to do with personal tolerance for rusty strings?

Probably a combination of different sweat and rust tolerance.

I don't gig, but find Dean Markley's last ages, I wait until the strings have marks from the frets before changing them.

ICBM

Different sweat probably - I have very dry skin and don't usually sweat a lot - and preference for the sound of played-in strings, which is *not* the same as liking rusty or dirty strings! If they're at all dirty they get cleaned and if they're rusty they get changed.

This is the main reason I don't like like lending my guitars out - I don't want someone else's sweat and dirt on my nicely played-in strings and I don't want to change them if I can help it, since I don't like the sound of brand-new strings.

jpfamps

I don't like really zingy new strings, but equally don't like really dull strings either.

It also seems to me that really new strings are harder to bend; not that I do much string bending these days!

I now tend to use either GHS Boomers or DR Blues, which both seem to be not as bright as say Ernie Balls when new, but don't get dull as quickly.

I sweat a lot at gigs, so I don't like to do more than 3 or 4 max on the same set of strings.

I've now got a guitar with flat wounds on, so we'll see how long I can last with these.