Guitar strings are subjected to many conditions that shorten their life, including overstretching the string, wear, and corrosion. Here are a number of suggestions which you can do to increase the life of your strings and improve the tone of your guitar.
Simple Steps to Preserve the Tone of Your Strings
- Right before playing, apply a small (maybe about the size of a dime) drop of hand sanitizer and rub your hands together briskly. The sanitizer will not only kill whatever bacteria are hiding out in your palms but will also evaporate harmful oils which will dull strings. I prefer this to just washing your hands as during handwashing, the water can soften calluses and fingernails — not a good result.
- Do not over-stretch your strings during when you tune — this will shorten the life of the string’s elasticity.
- Periodically, check the condition of the guitar bridge and bridge saddle to avoid breaking a string during the replacement process.
- When you are replacing strings, do not crimp the string at the tuning peg.
- When you’re through playing, wipe the strings with a soft cotton cloth ( an old T-shirt or even a diaper) or a microfiber cloth. Wipe the entire strings, not just the top — wrap your cloth around the string and go up and down the length. You should see the hand grime on your cloth. Or check or a product called The String Cleaner, which cleans and lubricates your strings very efficiently for under fifteen bucks.
- Other commercially available string cleaners are: Ernie Ball’s Wonder Wipes, Fast Fret, Dr. Stringfellow, and Dunlop Ultraglide, to name a few of the most popular. Check your local music store or browse online.
How Often Should Your Strings Be Replaced?
Of course the answer to that depends on a lot of factors including:
- What tone are you looking for (bright or more muted)?
- How often do you play or practice? and for how long?
- What kind of string care do you perform?
If you care for your strings (and your hands before playing), here’s a guide to string life:
(courtesy of Access Rock)
| I play the guitar: | Change your strings every: |
| 2 hours every day | 2 to 3 weeks |
| 30 minutes to 1 hour a day | 1 month to 6 weeks |
| 30 minutes to 1 hour 3 to 5 times a week | 6 weeks to 2 months |
| almost never or never | 2 to 3 months |
And, of course, they should be replaced any time they won’t stay in tune, or you don’t like how they sound. It’s often just a personal choice. Good luck !
Choosing Guitar Strings
Here are the factors you must take in consideration when choosing guitar strings:
String Brands
Choosing a guitar string brand comes down to personal taste. Try out some different brands to find out what brand suits you the most. Some of the more popular brands include:
- D’Addario
- Ernie Ball
- Dean Markley
- Elixir
String Composition
Most strings (electric and acoustic guitar strings) are made by winding a “wrap wire” round a metal wire. The material used for the wrap wire determine how the guitar strings sound like. Materials used include:
- Nickel: Most electric guitar strings are nickel plated steel on a round steel core. Nickel plated give a bright and warm sound and they provide enhanced sustain. Ernie Ball Slinkys, D’Addario EXLs, GHS Boomers, Fender 3250 Super Bullets are all examples of nickel plated strings.
- Stainless Steel: provides a brighter tone but the hardness of the alloy can lead to fret wear over time(D’Addario, Ernie Ball, and Fender all make stainless steel strings)
- Phosphor Bronze: provides a warmer tone, used for acoustic guitar strings (for example: D’Addario Phosphor Bronze)
String Gauge
Guitar strings come in sets and most of the time sets are referenced by the diameter of the first string (for example .009) or the first and the last string (for example .009 – .042). String gauge affects tone and playability of your guitar. A heavy gauge strings will produce a higher volume but will require more hand strength to fret the strings. For beginning guitarists it’s better to use a lighter set at first as they are easier to handle and they won’t give you sore fingers.
An important thing to remember is that when you change to a string set with a different gauge, your guitar neck and intonation need to be readjusted. Heavier strings produce more tension and therefore pull more relief into the guitar neck.
Winding Type:
- Round wound: uses a round wire. This type of winding gives brighter sound, but produce more extra noise
- Flat wound: uses a flat ribbon wire. Flat wound strings are commonly used on fretless bass guitars. The smooth surface of a flat wound string is further enhanced by light abrasive polishing.This gives the strings less resistance and less extra noise because they have a smoother surface, but they produce a duller sound.
Tips to Increase String Life
- Wash your hands before your play your guitar and wipe down your strings with a dry cloth after each use. Doing this helps a great deal to preserve string longevity. Also keep your fret board clean and oiled.
- If you break a lot of strings, look for sharp edges on the bridge, saddle or tuning pegs.
- Sometimes your string gets stuck in the nut slot , especially when tuning down. You can solve this by putting a bit of flake graphite in the nut slot (under the strings) to remove friction so the string can slide more freely. You can easily get flake graphite by scratching the lead of a pencil with a knife.
- Change your strings when they lose their brilliance and intonation. The life span of a guitar string depends heavily on how much you play and on how well you take care of them.
- Don’t replace a single string in a used set when you break a string. The sound of the new string will be completely different compared to the other strings.