A few days ago I finally changed the strings of my Fender acoustic guitar. I’ve never changed the original strings before and played them for almost half a year of which two month were of excessive practicing. After installing the new strings I felt like playing a brand-new guitar. Awesome! From now on I will change my strings more often.
Changing the strings of an acoustic guitar is quite simple:
- Loose the string(s).
- Remove the string(s) from the bridge.
- Uncoil the string(s) from the neck.
- Mount the new string(s) into the bridge.
- Thread the new string(s) through the hole(s) in the peg(s).
- Stretch the new string(s).
- Tune the new string(s).
- Cut off excessive string.
Note: I found several suggestions how to change the strings of a guitar. Some people say that it is better to change only one string at a time to avoid fluctuations of the tension on the neck. On the other hand you will be able to properly clean your dusty neck when all strings have been removed at the same time. I followed the all-in-one approach. I’m very happy with the result and everything sounds well. But maybe I will try the other approach in a few weeks, too.
First I loosened all the strings by turning the tuning pegs. When the strings were completely slackened I removed the strings from the body by pulling out the pins of the bridge. Most of the pins were stuck quite well into the bridge so I used my peg winder to remove them. It is equipped with a special cut-out that can be used to pull out these pins.
Then I uncoiled the loose strings from the pegs at the head of the guitar and started to install the new strings. For each string I plugged the knob end into a pin and then put them both into the appropriate hole of the bridge. For the thicker E and A strings I had to press down the pins a little bit harder.
Next I lined up all the tuning pegs to make the holes face exactly down the neck. I stretched each string over the neck and put it into the appropriate peg hole. With the help of my peg winder I further stretched each string and wrapped it around its pegs a few times.
Note: At this point you should make sure that you’re turning the tuners into the right directions!
When all strings were tightened I tuned the guitar properly. After tuning the strings I pulled and strummed them several times and re-tuned them again.
As I don’t had any pliers available I just arranged the excessive string provisionally around the head of my guitar. The excessive string is definitely annoying and will be removed as soon as possible!
That’s it! Quite easy, huh? I’m really happy that I finally changed the strings and didn’t wait longer for it. Changing your strings is very easy and makes your guitar sound awesome again. In future I will definitely change my strings more often!
Update: I got some pliers and trimmed all the annoying and excessive string. Now everything looks nice again!