Whether you’re a guitar virtuoso or a beginner, learning how to restring your instrument can be a valuable skill. While an expensive electric guitar will need restringing more regularly than an acoustic guitar, restringing a guitar is crucial to ensure good sound quality. Before you play your love an original ballad or you jam out, be sure to keep your strings in tune and maintained.
Changing strings is an uncomplicated operation that every guitarist needs to understand: and yet, many amateur guitarists still find trouble in this process. Many of them go to the neighboring guitar shop and pay to change them. Actually, this is not required because it is straightforward to change them, and it needs no time at all once you get a proper hang of it. After reading this article, you will be able to change them in no time. So let’s begin.
First of all, even if you apparently know that already, let’s recall what each string’s notes really are.
- the first one is low E,
- the second one is A,
- the third is D,
- fourth is G,
- fifth is B and
- sixth is high E.
There should be a symbol on the various strings to know where you should place every string: if there is no sign, the sequence goes from the extreme thickest string to the relatively thinnest.
Now that we know each string’s position, let’s understand how to insert them inside the guitar. First, let’s begin with my favorite acoustic guitars, as they are normally more challenging to replace the strings.
- Cut off the old strings with a clean pair of scissors, then remove them from the guitar. I recommend you to first clean the frets throughout and bridge of your guitar, as it will enhance its performance in the future.
- We will now explore how to insert one string: once you know how to do that on one, you can do that again on the others to finish the job. Insert the string in the right-hand part of your guitar, if you are right-handed (there is a hole in it through which the string should carefully pass).
- Then turn around the strings to make a knot at least 4 or 5 times to ensure the string does not immediately loosen up.
- Don’t forget to cut up the excess string coming out from the right end.
- Next, take the left-hand section of the string and move it across the guitar and the frets, and the bridge, and inject it into the hole in the knobs at the left hand of your guitar. Be sure not to insert it inside the wrong hole (I sound so wrong).
- Make a light knot and begin turning the knob until the string tenses up. Do not tense it up way too much, or else it can sadly break.
- Next, you just need to repeat the method with the five other strings. Cut out the extra strings and begin tuning the other strings. You can use a guitar tuning device, a piano or even just ear if you are seasoned enough.
The work is done. You have replaced your strings on your acoustic guitar successfully! It wasn’t that difficult, right?
For electric guitar, the process is more straightforward. Electric guitar strings have a small ball at the tip that enables you to insert them in the right-hand part of the guitar without making any knot. Just slowly slide them in and do as outlined above for the guitar’s head.
