Replace Your Electric Guitar Strings
Edited by Alexander Avdeev, Eng
Hello, dear VisiHow viewers! This is Alex. Guitar strings are prone to breaking and collecting dust over time. Sometimes, you might require to replace a string or several strings on a guitar. To do so, you must know the gauge of the set installed on the guitar and the gauge of the new set. If they differ, then you might need serious modifications such as filing or filling the grooves at the nut or at the bridge. Let us assume that the new string set matches the previous one.
Steps
- 1We dispose of the first string in the set to use on the six-string guitar because we ought to match the previous thickness (or gauge) of the strings. The set is "Ernie Ball 7-string Regular Slinky".For the tutorial, a 7-string set is picked.
- 2There will be strings labelledWe should open the package.
- 0.056 (the 6th string);
- 0.046 (the 5th string);
- 0.036 (the 4th string);
- 0.026 (the 3rd string);
- 0.017 (the 2nd string);
- 0.013 (the 1st string).
- 3We might have a guitar with a fixed bridge and a headstock where all of the pins and pegs are on one side.We check the guitar configuration.
- 4We turn the turning pegs on the peghead in the direction to loosen the string.Let us replace the 6th string.
- 5We pull the coils off and take the end of the string out.
- 6We straighten the string.
- 7We push it out of the back of the body until you see the ball.We have to push the string out of the bridge.
- 8We pull the whole string out.
- 9We unpack the 6th string and straighten it out.
- 10We turn the guitar over.
- 11The end of the string that has no ball should come in first. The string should go through the bridge.We direct the string must into the corresponding hole.
- 12We stretch the string across the fretboard.
- 13We put the string into the groove and direct it under any metal parts at the headstock (if there are any).
- 14We make 2-3 windings around the pin counterclockwise.
- 15We put the end of the string into the hole.
- 16As we do it, we keep all the coils under the poking end and the string in the bridge and nut grooves.We turn the peghead tuner counterclockwise to tighten the string.
- 17It is recommended to replace the strings in the following order: 6,1,5,2,4, and 3.We repeat the same for all the other strings if needed.
- 18In this case, we do the following: we turn the peghead tuner (for example, of the 5th string) to loosen the string.We might have a guitar with a floating bridge and a peghead with three tuning pegs on each side.
- 19We push the end of the string out and pull the coils off.
- 20With a hex key, we remove the locking nut that holds the 5th and 6th strings.
- 21We straighten the string.
- 22If not, we might want to use the whammy bar to lift the whole bridge and pull the string out. In this case this is not required.We push it out of the bridge and check if the ball end can come out.
- 23We take the 5th string.
- 24We might need a whammy bar again.We push the string into the tube end of the bridge.
- 25We pull the string through the hole and across the neck.
- 26The string must rest at the bottom of the groove with no gaps below the string. If the nut has a gap, we either find a smaller gauge of the string or file the groove.We put the string into the groove of the nut.
- 27We turn the string around the pin 2-3 times.
- 28We pull the end of the string above the coils through the hole.
- 29We place the removed nut back, but we do not tighten its screw.
- 30We tighten the string to our desired tuning.
- 31We lock the replaced string by using the hex key at the locking nut.
- 32In this video, a guitar has all of its strings removed. Then, it is recommended to replace the strings in the following order: 3,4,2,5,1, and 6.We might have a guitar with no strings.
- 33We take the 3rd string.
- 34The string will go through the body.We locate the corresponding hole on the back of the guitar and put in the end of the string.
- 35We pull the string through the bridge.
- 36We put the string in the nut grooves and under any metal parts at the headstock.
- 37We make several clockwise windings around the pin. 2-3 windings are enough.In this case, the 3rd string is the upper row of pins on the peghead if we look at the guitar above with the headstock facing left.
- 38We pull the end of the string through the hole.
- 39We tighten the string by turning the tuning peg on the peghead.
- 40Now, we unpack the 4th string.
- 41We may wind the peg counterclockwise or clockwise. In this video, it is winded counterclockwise.The 4th string goes into the lower row and into the leftmost pin.
- 42The 2nd string goes into the upper row and into the middle pin.
- 43We may choose to wind it counterclockwise.The 5th string goes into the lower row and into the middle pin.
- 44The 1st string goes into the upper row and into the right pin.
- 45The 6th string goes into the lower row and into the right pin
That is it! Your guitar should shine and resound with new strings! Please leave your comments in the section below. Thank you for watching VisiHow!
Video: Replace Your Electric Guitar Strings
If you have problems with any of the steps in this article, please ask a question for more help, or post in the comments section below.
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Categories : Music
Recent edits by: Alexander Avdeev
