Changing Strings

One of the first things I do with any guitar I buy is change the strings. Old strings will make a guitar sound bad and wont feel nice to play on. They will also cause tuning problems. As a general guide you should probably change the strings on an electric guitar around once every month but this will vary depending on how much you play.

To change your strings you will need a new set of Electric Guitar Strings, String Cutters and to make life easier it’s useful to buy a Guitar Pegwinder. They are cheap and make it much quicker to change your strings.

To change your strings you need to remove your old ones. If your fretboard is dirty you should remove all of the strings and clean it first before fitting a new set of strings. We will look at how to clean the fretboard another time. If you don’t need to clean the fretboard it’s best to change one string at a time. This keeps the guitar more stable.

Using your peg winder turn the machinehead of the sixth string until it is totally slack.

Pull the string through the hole in the machinehead and then through the bridge.

Carefully coil up the old string. Be careful. The ends are often sharp and can cut you. It’s best to put your old strings in the packet your new strings came in before disposing of them.

Pull the new string through the bridge and the hole in the machinehead.

It’s best to pull the string through all the way and then push it back around 2 inches so it gives you some slack to wrap around the machinehead. Bend the string on the side furthest from the nut of the guitar so it doesn’t pull back through.

Take the end of the string and and wrap it clockwise around the machinehead, under itself and then bend it up. When you tune up this will make the string tighten on itself and lock it in place. It should look like the picture below.

Hold the end of the string to keep some tension, take your peg winder and turn the machinehead to tune the string up to pitch.

When the string is in tune you need to stretch it by carefully pulling it away from the neck. Don’t do it too hard or you might damage the string.

Cut off the end of the string and repeat the process with the remaining strings