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It took me several years to get to the point where I could do it without leaving slack in the resulting loops, and it was always a challenge to remove old strings from the tuners, as they would often break at the post, leaving sharp little rings of string stuck in the holes, which had to be picked out with pliers.
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No matter how i adjust action strings always touch 1st fret free#
When I was first taught to change strings, I was shown a somewhat complicated technique that involved tucking the free end of the string underneath the first turn of wrap on the tuner post, to lock it against slippage. In the case of tailpiece-equipped guitars, double check each string’s anchor point before you bring the string up to tension, as it’s easier for those ball ends to slip out during installation. Pull up on the string until you feel the ball seat firmly against the bridge plate (underside of the top) and then press the pin more tightly into place. Place the string ball into its hole, and insert the pin loosely. It’s important to make sure that the ball ends are correctly anchored-in typical pin-style bridges, it’s possible for the ball ends to dangle below the bridge plate and rattle, causing mystery buzzes. Partly to avoid losing the pins, and partly for simple convenience, I like to anchor all the strings in the bridge or tailpiece first, before winding them onto the posts. This allows me to replace the bridge in the exact same place during restringing. I place one small piece on each side of the archtop bridge, with a small pencil mark aligned to the front edge. I use a small piece of masking tape, which I de-tack by first sticking it to my shirt before putting it on the guitar top.
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On archtop guitars, the bridge is always held in place by tension alone, so when restringing one, be careful to take note of the bridge position so it can be placed back in the correct spot. These tiny parts can be maddeningly hard to find underneath a couch, which is why I always recommend working on a clean table. It’s quite common for many parts on the guitar to be held in place by string tension alone-the bridge pins, saddle, nut, and tuner bushings (the small metal sleeves around the tuner posts) are often loose on older guitars, and can simply fall off the guitar when the strings are removed. In hopes of making this process easier and more fun, this article will present some basic information about restringing, as well as a few helpful tips that I’ve learned the hard way.Ī frequent and easy mistake is to accidentally lose parts during restringing. I’ve pricked my fingers on enough razor-sharp, rusty string ends to warrant dozens of tetanus shots, and I’ve frequently spent more time getting the remnants of old strings off the instrument than it has taken to put a whole set of new ones on.Ī surprising number of my clients, many of whom have played for decades, are still reluctant to change their strings themselves, often for fear that they might do something wrong that could damage their instrument. In my life as a guitar maker and repair tech, I’ve encountered every conceivable approach to stringing-from the merely ineffective to the truly insane. No matter how varied and unique each of us may be, from our tone and touch to our gear preferences, all guitarists have one thing in common: we eventually need to change our strings. From the January/February 2021 issue of Acoustic Guitar | By Martin Keith