How To Change Guitar Strings

Sooner or later it will be time to change the strings on your guitar. In this session we'll pass along some handy hints to make the job easier and to help you get the best performance from your instrument. Now I would like to share with you a really great way of tying your strings to the machine head post. If you do it like this, you'll spend more time playing the guitar and less time turning it. At this stage I haven't cut the string. You'll notice they'll give you a lot of extra string length and it's a good idea to just change one string at time. That way, you would be able to keep the tension on the neck of the guitar, and you won't have any trouble with the neck ruling.

So I am taking the string and I am threading it through the machine head post. I'm just threading it all the way through and I want to leave enough slack in the string to make up this. I just want to make up this underneath the string and that will give me a rough idea of how much slack I need. Now here's the trick. If I take the string and come back around underneath the string, I'll just do that again. I have got the string, I haven't cut it yet. I am coming back under it so and now what I am going to do is pull back string there up tight against the post.

Now why I am doing that is, when I start winding the string around, it will envelop itself against the post. I still haven't cut the string and I won't cut the string until I have got it right up to pitch. The all idea is particularly on the way on strings and if I cut the string, the outside winding will fray. I don't want it to fray all the way down the string length. If it does fray, it will only fray down to the point where the string is locked against itself on the string post. Let's take a close at what I have done.

Let's run through that process again. Because I am restringing the string six, notice how I am brining the string on the inside of the post. I have threaded the string through the post and now I am going around and under the string, so right on the underside of the string, I am now pulling the string uptight so it's locking against the machine head post. When I start winding the string on, you'll see that the string is locking itself against the machine head post. This means, when I cut the string here, it will only fray down to this point of the string.

Now as I am winding the string on, I am keeping my thumb on the string, because I want the string to wind down to the front of the head of the guitar. I'll get about two or three winds, and that's all I need.


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