How to string the strings on an acoustic guitar. How to string guitar strings . How to string nylon strings on a classical guitar

Hello to all electric guitar lovers. Here you have chosen the strings for your electric guitar, if you have not chosen and do not know how to do this, read this. So you bought a set of new strings, and now the next question is: “How to change the strings on an electric guitar?”. In this article, I will describe in detail the entire process of changing strings, accompanied by photographs.

Changing strings on an electric guitar is a very simple process and does not require the use of special tools, but a beginner may have some difficulties. I will describe to you the process of changing strings on an electric tremolo guitar.

Removing old strings from an electric guitar

Someone advises to bite the strings with wire cutters, someone twists the pegs, completely unwinding the string. I want to say that this is all utter nonsense. Removing old strings can be done very quickly and easily without the use of wire cutters (although they will still come in handy later). And do not twist the pegs until blue in the face. I remove the old strings like this: I sit on a sofa or chair, put the guitar on the floor between my legs so that the pegs are at eye level. And with my left hand I loosen the string a little, after the string has weakened, with my right hand I simply pull off the turns remaining on the peg. The whole process does not take more than a minute.

There is an opinion that in order to avoid curvature of the neck, the strings must be removed in a certain order: sixth, first, fifth, second, fourth, third. I don’t know how justified this is, but my opinion is that it is easier to distort the neck by improper storage of the instrument than by not following the order of removing the strings. When changing strings on a guitar, I advise you to remember this.

After all the strings are removed from the pegs, they must be removed from the guitar body. To do this, push the string inward until it appears from the back of the soundboard. On the back of the guitar, on the deck, there is a plate with holes, each hole gets its own string. And then just take the end that appears and pull it out. Do this with every string.

Electric guitar cleaning

If you have a new guitar and you haven't played it before changing the strings, then you can skip this part and go straight to installing new strings. If you have been playing the guitar for a long time, give this item a little of your time.

After all the old strings are removed and laid aside, inspect the guitar from top to bottom for physical defects. Pay attention to the condition of the frets, pegs, and cars. If visually no defects are detected, you can proceed to cleaning the instrument.

They sell a lot of cleaning products to care for guitars, I did not have such a product. I took the usual mr. Proper for furniture, diluted with water in a ratio of 1:5. And with an ordinary sponge, with light movements, he began to apply a cleaning agent to the surface of the soundboard and neck. Just remember to wring out the sponge before rubbing the guitar, so as not to flood all the insides of your instrument. The sponge should be damp, not wet. With this tool, you can clean the entire guitar from all sides.

Without letting the cleaner dry, I took a soft, clean cloth and wiped the entire guitar dry. I advise you to pay special attention to fret sills, because. on a dark overlay, pollution is poorly visible. Inspect your electric guitar again, this time for excess detergent and drips. If everything is in order, you can proceed to the next step.

If your guitar has an unvarnished neck, such as rosewood, you can clean it with a drop of lemon oil.

Installing new strings

To begin, take the new strings out of the package and arrange them in order from first to last. Then, into the already familiar holes on the back of the deck, you need to thread the strings, just do not confuse where the first string should be, and where the sixth. When winding a string on a fork, it is necessary to keep the string taut, otherwise it will unwind and slip off. This process is more convenient to carry out in a seated position with the guitar between the legs (as when removing old strings).

Beginning guitarists will sooner or later encounter real life, in which they have to change the strings on an acoustic guitar. Most often, of course, this happens at home and lamp, but sometimes you have to do it in the field. So, if you just decided yesterday to become a famous musician, then it’s better to learn a little in advance about how to change the strings correctly and how often.

What are

There are two types of strings: metal and synthetic. The first are made of steel and have a winding, which, in turn, is made of various alloys and wound around the root in different ways. And the second is in most cases nylon.

Roughly speaking, they are purposefully made for certain strings. And it has to do with tension. For example, metal is much stronger than nylon. Consequently, guitars designed to be fitted with steel strings have reinforced necks and rigid bodies. Of course, nylon can be pulled onto such an instrument, but it is unlikely to surprise with sound, since it is much softer than metal. But the reverse situation, when steel strings are placed on a classical guitar intended for synthetics, is better not to try in practice, unless, of course, the goal is to spoil the instrument. A strong tension can simply lead the neck that was not intended for this purpose and tear out the saddle.

Distinguishing one guitar from another is easy. You need to carefully examine the nut and neck. Nylon is attached to a special stringer, and steel strings are attached to the body of the guitar with additional reinforcement inside the instrument.

Remember that the strings change all at once, even if only one is out of order.

Change of metal strings

So, if after the previous paragraph, you have determined that you are holding an instrument for which metal consumables are suitable and note their complete or partial absence, then you should go through the following steps for installing strings.

Changing nylon strings

And if you have determined that you have a classical guitar, with a complete or partial absence of strings, then in order to be able to play it again, you should take the following steps.

1. As in the previous case, everything starts with the purchase of strings. In this you can read about how to choose the right synthetics.
2. As soon as you have new consumables, you can start. First you need to remove the strings from the acoustic guitar. Gently unwind the pegs until you reach the tip. There is, of course, a more radical way - just cut the strings. But such an approach can not only damage the instrument, but also slightly correct the musician. Or rather cut your hands and possibly other parts of the body. So it's better to choose a slower but safer way.
3. After untwisting, go to the nut and untie the knots, freeing the strings.
4. We clean the tool from dust. You need to wipe everything, both the neck and the body.
5. Now we thread one end of the string into the nut and fix it with a knot. You are lucky if your consumable kit is equipped with special balls at the ends. Then everything is elementary - the seal will not allow the string to leave the instrument. But if not, then you will have to practice a little in knitting the correct knots.
6. When you have succeeded in the previous paragraph, go to the other end of the string. It must be inserted into the hole in the peg. And then - pull and carry out similar processes with other strings. Don't forget to cut off the protruding ends at the very end.
7. In the case of nylon, you can not follow the rule of not overtightening, but even contradict it. Synthetics are several times softer than metal, and it can be painlessly pulled a little more than required.

string shrinkage

Once installed, new strings tend to go out of tune, meaning the tension is loosened and it is necessary to tighten them every day until the process stops. For example, nylon strings can shrink up to a week, so it's not scary to overtighten them.

Guitar tuning

After the strings have been installed on the instrument, the latter should be properly tuned. If you are confident in your 100% hearing, then you can try to do this without the use of additional devices. But if you don't trust yourself or want to be sure that C sounds like C, then you just need to use a tuner. Technology has reached the point that such gadgets appeared in online versions. Just find an application or a special site and tune your instrument through it. Unless, of course, you have a material tuner.

How often do you need to change the strings

You need to change depending on how often you play the instrument. Those musicians who do this often, and do not take care of consumables at all, change them about once every one or two weeks. And others, from the category that it's good if guitars are uncovered every weekend, can go with one set and several months. But it is better not to experiment with the latter. Metal tends to rust, and nylon tends to get upset and turn into ropes. And in any case, the old strings on the instrument can break and damage the musician.

So keep an eye on the life of your consumables and replace them in a timely manner. And we hope that we have explained everything in sufficient detail so that every novice musician can cope with this matter in half an hour.

The time will come, and every beginner who decides to master a musical instrument will have to face the problem changing strings on acoustic guitar. At first glance, everything is quite prosaic, but in practice, many novice guitarists make typical mistakes, sometimes with disastrous consequences. I propose to analyze in more detail all the rules for replacing the old kit with a new one.
Let's start a step-by-step analysis of the whole process.

Removing the old set.

1. First you need to loosen all the pegs, for their convenient rotation, it is advisable to purchase a turntable. The price of such a device is minimal, and the benefits are maximum. We twist the pegs until the strings are completely weakened, until they begin to sag freely.

3. After the strings have been removed from the side of the neck, it is necessary to remove them from under the plugs on the saddle. We will remove the plugs carefully, using a special tool. It is categorically undesirable to do this with pliers or wire cutters, after such a careless attitude, traces of damage may remain on the pins (plugs) or even on the nut. After - we take out the metal string from the hole.

Installing a new kit.

Before putting in a new set, do not forget to wipe the tool in particularly dusty places. Then clean the body and neck with special acoustic guitar care products.

1. Let's start stringing new strings. To begin with, we thread it (with the side where the coil is) into the hole of the lower nut and tightly clamp it with a cork.

2. The next step is to fix the string on the other side, for this we thread it through the hole in the peg, so that the end looks out no more than 7 cm.

3. Holding the tail under tension, we make one turn of the main part of the string around the peg, so that it is on top. Further, with the help of twisting the peg, we make another 1-2 turns, but already from below under the tip.

We do this in order to fix the strings with a minimum number of turns, so we create a kind of knot that will not allow them to slip out.

It's important to know.

1) It is forbidden to bite the strings when they are under tension! During this process, a bitten string can hit you, at best, on your hands. In addition, sudden changes in tension can damage the guitar neck.
2) A large number of turns harms the tuning pegs. We do no more than 4 on the first, and no more than 2 on the sixth.
3) When the string begins to create tension, we reduce the speed of the torsion of the peg, otherwise the pin may fly out.
4) In no case do we tune new strings immediately to the necessary sounds, otherwise they may break. We pull on a tone, or even two less (in case the caliber is less than “tens”), wait 15-20 minutes and finish building.
5) The first few days the strings will still be actively pulled, so get ready for constant adjustments.
6) If this is the first time for you, do not rush to cut off the “extra” string with wire cutters, there is a possibility that it will slip out in case of poor winding. Leave the tips for 1-2 days, the cut string is very difficult to re-stretch.
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Sooner or later, any guitarist is faced with the need to replace old strings with new ones (we wrote about the signs by which you can determine that the strings should be changed in the article:). But not everyone, and especially a beginner, knows how to do it correctly, so in this article we will talk about this, although not a difficult, but very important process.

Changing strings on an electric guitar

How to remove old strings

The easiest way is to first loosen the tension of the strings, in order to avoid injury, bite them with wire cutters, then remove the remnants from the typewriter and pegs. The method is more complicated, first you need to twist the old strings from the pegs, you can do it quickly with the help of such a turntable (we talked about it and other accessories useful for the guitarist in this article:).

How to install new strings

Before installing new strings, make sure that you put them in the correct order, usually each envelope from the package is marked with the number of a particular string, but if there is no such marking, and this also happens, you will have to select the strings by eye, and it’s better to do it in advance and not in the process, so as not to spoil the kit.

It is best to set the strings not in order, but in the sequence 1-6, 2-5, 3-4. Such an installation will make the tension force of the strings on the fingerboard symmetrical and uniform, which in turn will positively affect the state of the neck and minimize the possibility of violation of its geometry.

Setting the strings in the bridge primarily depends on its design, if with a tom, a hadtrail and a classic Strat tremolo you can simply thread the strings through the bridge, then with a floyd, caler, etc. everything is not so simple and the string will still have to be fixed in the typewriter using special keys.

After installing the strings in the bridge, you should pass the string through the hole in the tuning rod, however, there are nuances, such as the number of turns, because if there are a lot of them with the system, there will be problems, the optimal number is 2-4 turns on the strings without a braid and no more than 2 -x turns on braided strings.
For a more secure fixation of the string in the peg, you can install it as follows:

However, such manipulations are often unnecessary and, of course, on instruments with lock pegs or top locks, such an installation will not bring any benefit.

Changing strings on an acoustic western guitar

How to remove old strings

There are also two ways here: the first, with the help of wire cutters, is simply to bite the strings and remove the remnants from the pegs and the bridge, and the second is also to loosen the tension of the strings using the turntable for the pegs, and use it to remove the buttons holding the strings in the bridge:

However, if you do not have such a device, you can remove the locking buttons with improvised means, for example, with a coin.

How to install new strings

Installing new strings on a western guitar is very similar to the procedure described above with an electric guitar, in the same way you should set the sequence of strings, make no more than 2-4 turns on the strings without a braid and no more than 2 turns on the strings with a braid and fix on the tuner string.

However, the installation of the string in the bridge is very specific, first you need to place the string in one of the holes in the bridge, close the button and press it well so that it does not squeeze out when the string is pulled.

Changing strings on an acoustic classical guitar

How to remove old strings

The easiest way is to simply loosen the tension of the strings, cut them and carefully untie the knots on the pegs and bridge, you can of course untie them without cutting, but this method will take more time and effort.

How to install new strings

To begin with, before installing, make sure the order of the strings is correct. Then thread the string through the hole in the bridge and carefully make a knot as shown in the picture:

Make sure that the knot is tight and does not fall apart.
Then thread the strings into the pegs, starting with the first and, according to the diagram in the figure, make a knot:

Again, keep an eye on the density of the knot and do not forget that 4, 5 and 6 strings are wound in the opposite direction from 1, 2 and 3.

Changing strings on a bass guitar

How to remove old strings

Due to the fact that cutting or biting the strings on a bass guitar is a rather complicated and time-consuming task, the easiest way is to simply loosen the tension of the strings with the help of tuning pegs, do not forget about the turntable, it will be much faster.

You need to loosen the tension in the following order 1-4-3-2, so the force acting on the neck is relatively evenly distributed and the chance that you will break the geometry of the neck will be close to zero.
Then you should remove the strings from the holes of the pegs and the bridge.

How to install new strings

First of all, before installing, you need to make sure that the order of the strings is correct. Then thread the strings through the holes in the bridge, depending on the design, the strings can also pass through the body.
It is worth noting the fact that the strings on bass guitars are often inserted directly into the tuning pole:

To correctly insert the string there, you should attach it to the peg imitating tension, retreat 1.5-2 centimeters to the top and cut off the end of the string, this will be easy, since the strings at the end of the bass guitar are usually much narrower. The strings should be placed in the same order as the strings were removed 1-4-3-2.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to say that, depending on the instrument, the force acting on the strings can reach up to 100 kilograms, as a result of which, in order to avoid injuries when replacing, you need to be very careful and not apply excessive force, especially when tensioning new strings.

Every beginner guitarist sooner or later wonders how to change the strings on the guitar? They are usually changed when the sound loses its brightness and (or) they no longer hold the line. If one string is broken, then it is better to change everything, because the sound of the new one will be different from the rest. Amateur guitarists usually change them every three months, professionals - at least once a month. To determine when this time has come, you need to listen to the sound of the guitar - old strings sound muffled.

If the same string is constantly breaking, and the playing style is not aggressive, then you should check all the places where it comes into contact with the guitar for smoothness. If the guitar is often out of tune, it may be that the guitar strings are set incorrectly. Eliminate irregularities and only then proceed with the installation.

Before you change the strings on the guitar, you must, of course, decide what type you need them. The choice of strings depends on what style you will play. For picking or playing with tremolo, vibrato and fast passages, nylon ones are better suited. When playing with a fight, when you need the sound of all six strings at the same time, the more sonorous metal ones win.

So, let's consider the process itself, how to change the strings on a guitar. To do this, it is desirable, but not necessary, to have: side cutters, a polishing cloth, a turntable for tuning pegs. Cutters are needed to cut off the excess part of the string, since the shorter it is, the less upset it is. The turntable greatly speeds up the process of stretching.

While stringing the string, periodically pull it away from the neck, as a guitar with stretched strings will not be out of tune for a long time. Do not remove all the old strings at once, change them one by one to avoid problems with the truss rod. Remove them carefully so as not to damage the body of the guitar.

After you thread the string through the hole in the bridge, thread it through the hole in the tuning machine, leave a little extra for winding, and cut off the rest with wire cutters. The stock should be enough for 2-3 turns. Bend 1-2 cm of the end of the string and start winding it, twisting the peg and lifting it up perpendicular to the fingerboard. The string around the peg should organize a certain kind of lock. Thus, she, as it were, pinches herself.

Start with the thinnest string, gradually moving to the bass. All pegs must be turned in the same direction, so that later when tuning the guitar you do not get confused. The extreme strings are pulled on the pegs closest to the deck, 2 and 5 - on the middle pegs, 3 and 4 - on the far ones. Do not make sudden movements when pulling the string, so as not to break it completely. Remember that by knowing how to change guitar strings correctly, you will avoid many problems.

Setting strings on an electric guitar is a bit different than setting strings on an acoustic guitar. The main difference is that in order to put the strings through the bridge, you need to remove the back cover of the guitar with a screwdriver.

Now let's move on to tuning the guitar. This should not be done with particular accuracy, since the strings (especially nylon ones) tend to stretch, this process lasts about two days. Tuning new nylon strings at first turns into flour: if you tune bass strings, thin ones get out of tune, and vice versa. But all this is temporary. It is necessary after each approximate tuning to let the guitar lie down, periodically adjusting it. To use either an electronic tuner or a tuning fork.

An excellent assistant in this matter can be the Internet, where you can find many video tutorials that help inexperienced and novice guitarists change strings.

A fashionable trend in the world of music has become playing the guitar, in which the strings glow, it is the neon strings that give the guitar a special chic, especially in a dimly lit room. Such strings glow under the action of ultraviolet light, it looks very impressive, so if you perform on stage, then this is exactly what you need.