Guitar String Myths
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- Опубликовано: 5 ноя 2022
- I often cut my guitar strings. This tends to worry those who believe that you shouldn't remove strings all at once or string tension will negatively effect the guitar.
It doesn't.
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The most stressful part of anything string related is the "DEAR GOD IT MIGHT HIT ME IN THE EYE" feeling that I have, despite that literally never coming anywhere near happening to me. Still, the FEAR IS REAL
I was thinking the same thing
Absolutely. I have a floating tailpiece and I shit bricks when I set the string in the tail and then tighten everything up. I even tape the underside of the saddle in order to save my brain.
Hah, ditto. I enjoy the sound of cutting 'em off (almost like the loud THUNK when you toss something in a dumpster), it's somehow gratifying. But I wait for my eye (or possibly finger) to take a high-E at high speed. No bueno.
Same. I don't think I'll ever get over it.
I got close once while changing strings on my acoustic!
I do loosen the tension a bit on the tuners before I cut the strings. That has nothing to do with considerations about the neck, though. If there's not much tension on the strings, I have more control over what happens with the strings after I cut them. There is no strings potentially flopping around like they do in your intro. I don't like that and I don't want to pay attention to it, so I avoid it in the first place by just loosening the strings a bit before I cut them.
This ^^
Same
Yep, logic
Yeah I don’t like the idea of a string flying anywhere near my face
That has the added benefit of allowing you to pinch the loosened strings together and cut them all with one squeeze of the cutter. It also reduces the risk of scratching the guitar paint with the cutter as you can pull the strings away from the body
My only fear would be the string scratching the finish when it flies off. Otherwise nah, no problem. I take the slack off my strings and then snip them at the twelfth fret so that both sides of the cut string are as big as possible and hard to lose track of if I drop one.
i agree. i think it happens alot and people dont even realize. "where did this scratch come from?" never connecting it to having just changed their strings...
This. I'm not worried about the neck, or about getting hit- but I'm all for minimizing visible marks on the finish as much as possible.
That really SCARES you? Life must be a tough event for you.
@@dan_kay Being a sarcastic bitch online. Life must be boring for you.
@@dan_kay cool guy alert
I work in a guitar shop and I'm telling this to people all the time. "Take all your strings off when restringing" It won't hurt the neck, it's easier to clean and you won't accidentally cut the wrong string off when restringing. I do it to all my guitars and the ones in the shop, even guitars with Floyd Roses and Bigsbys. Never had any issues.
With an FR I’d rather keep tension, I have two heavy duty springs with oversized strings for my tuning and I honestly would just rather keep tension
@@Roodski Even after the explanation that KDH gave?
@@thewickedwizard I should be using 5 springs but with the heavy duty springs I can get away with two for easier trem use. Getting those things back up tension is a chore
@@Roodski you should block both sides of the tremelos when setting up a Floyd Rose anyway much easier
@@chaosclg I just put a wax cap from my weed under the trem. That or a rag. It holds in neutral, slap new strings on and the tension is identical to before. Just gotta stretch the top 3 strings and tune up. I’ve even left my jem jr for 3 days with no strings and a rag holding it in place. Took me 20 minutes to restring and tune. Idk why people find Floyd so hard to do, I find hard tails harder to restring, I put the ball end at the tuner and you can’t do that on most hard tails. Doing this makes it insanely easy to cut and pop into place. I only get 1 wind at most per tuner peg.
I don’t think cutting strings is dangerous to the neck at all, the Floyd rose dive bomb example you used is a really solid point too that should help people realize that guitar necks are built like tanks to be honest. The only thing I do different is detune my strings until they are flop before cutting to prevent them from flinging arround violently and risking the finish on my guitar from getting scratched up.
(Ask me how I know about that).
Great video!
So ... how do you know about that?
"There's a lot like it, but this one is mine"
Nice reference lol
I have an engineering background and have been building cabinets for many years, and have built quite a few guitars. I work with all sorts of materials from all metals (main job) to wood and polymers.
You are absolutely bang on on everything.
Guitar necks are effectively braced with the truss rod counteracting string tension. No air pressure change in cargo compartments will do anything. Humidity is very much mitigated because guitar cases are relatively sealed. Not air tight, but more than enough to slow the ingress of ambient moisture.
Anyone who thinks guitar necks are so fragile can just go to their local hardware store and pick up a 1" x 3" board of hardwood and try to bend it over their knee and see how it responds. Trees figured it out a long time ago 🤙
My method is detune to floppiness, then cut. Now to be clear, I'm not worried about my neck and no, that opening sequence only disturbed me slightly- because I've seen what the end of a whipping steel cable (of any size) can do anything it hits- like say, the nice finish on a guitar. I'm going to get the eventual playing marks and scratches anyway, I'd just prefer not to add a few premature string-end scratches to accelerate the effect. 😁
You could put a cloth/paper towels between your pickups, hold the strings with your left hand and cut with your right if you're afraid to damage your finish.
@@schpeidermann that seems like more effort than just detuning lol
@@firstnamelastname5487 Detuning takes forever. Try it out! Cutting is faster. And putting in a paper towel or a handkerchief is no effort XD. How could that be an effort? Man...XD...
You basically swap a lot of repetitive motion with much simpler ones.
@@schpeidermann different strokes for different folks I guess. Maybe I'll try it lol, if I do I'll update.
Might be hard to write an update after being poked in the eye by a string suddenly being relieved of it's tension and flinging itself towards my face at mach speed but I'll use voice type or something. Just poking fun of course... Unintentional pun.
yes and your eyes protected from over tension snap and whip.
I think for a lot of people the precaution for loosening the strings a bit before cutting is out of fear of the string snapping back and hitting them in the eye.
I think we all been through this at least once to know to avoid this.
more so the paint for me.. floyd rose makes it easy tho i leave the ball end on the tuning peg side and then cut to fit the floyd and poke the end in
"cutting the strings without releasing the tension before will cause the neck to snap!". Well, that myth might have had its roots in the very "authentic" world :-)
I am a bass player, and I have two main basses, one 35 inch scale 5 string and a passive 4 string sting ray. My 5 string gets new strings every month, and the aged strings get saved and handed down to the stingray (the b string is discarded) I like the more dead thump on my passive ray, and If I break a d or g string (I play pretty aggressive slap) I always have several perfectly aged sets on deck. It's a weird system, but it works for me.
I am sort of embarrassed to admit it, but I was one of those people who thought it was no good to relieve all the tension at once before watching this video. The Floyd Rose example was the lightbulb moment for me and I honestly feel silly now.
I mean he's doing it on an Ormsby, if you did this on a lower end guitar you can definitely cause damage, I know this because I have seen it whether this video says otherwise or not
@@chaosclg I think that what you saw was caused by other factors and you perceived it as an issue caused by releiving the string tension. That's more than likely what happened.
@@DustinDollinsShinBone I simply don't agree hahaha
@@chaosclg Science doesn't care if you agree.
What's funny, is now everyone in the comments is agreeing with you, and now the problem is worrying about scratching the finish lol. You can't win KDH!❤️🎸🤟😝🤟
So much logic and reason in this video. I appreciate that.
KDH, u just hit me right in the face.ive been watching your vids for a while now. I especially enjoyed the restring Sunday vids. But every time u cut a string under tension I kringe inside 😬. Todays vid was a treat 👍I get it bro, no difference in tension when using a Floyd. 👀 I totally see that. Cutting under tension is fine..😬..although it's killing me to write that. Just know that this video was a fantastic experience. Just what I needed u to show. U must have gotten a few responses about Cutting strings.
So glad you did this. Keep 'em coming.
Go KDH & Sixstringtv
Your channel is the best I've seen all the others. More restring Sunday.
I'm surprised you never mentioned boiling strings. Back in the day, I used to take strings off, boil them in hot water and then re-use them over and over.
Never done this with guitar strings but I have done this with bass strings and they really do sound new! I was skeptical but now I’m a believer 😅
Tried this with guitar strings and it wasn't worth the effort. Bass strings, however, are a different story.
this is why I dont cut mine, I keep them in case I run out of strings, and break one and quickly need to re string, just seems wasteful of a good back up resource to me
I do now loosen the strings a little bit before cutting on my newest or most cherished guitars. I always agreed with your thinking that the temperature/pressure argument didn't make sense. I got an Epiphone Slash guitar a year or so ago that came all the way from China perfectly in tune and with an incredible set up. I only loosen the strings now so I don't whipped in the eye or put a scratch on the guitar finish. I put a super annoying scratch on the most expensive new guitar I ever purchased one time cutting the strings under tension and was depressed for months every time I looked down at it. Now after years of playing that guitar, it is pretty much naturally relic'd so I don't really care now. But it's kind of like when you get a band-spanking-new car and you're paranoid trying everything to avoid getting your 1st ding on it, but after your 12th parking lot dent, you're way over it.... 😄
Necks are only fragile things that need babied if it's a cheap guitar. Or a Gibson lol
@@RaymondGinn1978 when your guitars are such shit you’ve got to defend yourself.
@@RaymondGinn1978 its hilarious how every single time someone says anything negative about Gibson, there's always one of you losers spewing "CAN'T AFFORD! YOU'RE JEALOUS/POOR!" without fail.
@@RaymondGinn1978 well, at least I don't cover up my inability to play and write, with expensive gear. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 funny how you think I can't afford one. I had one. It was a massive piece of fucking shit. At least I'm not some gullible idiot who believes everything the marketing team tells me lololol
@@RaymondGinn1978 and fund your retirement? I have a 401k like an adult lol
@@RaymondGinn1978 I'm not offended in the slightest because I don't need neither overpriced garbage, nor to insult someone's income level to feel good about myself lol. I feel good about myself because I'm smart enough to value a guitar with my own judgment and not on whether people will think I'm cool or not lol
Hi KDH...!!!
I HAVE a thought for you when trying to show how straight or bowed a guitar neck is, an old luthier trick I learned. Take ANY 36" ( 91cm. ) up to a 48" ( 121cm. ) perfect straight edge... A steel or wooden level, A metal T-square, anything that is perfectly straight and resistant to bending. Place it on the neck edge, or on the frets, although on the frets can cause variations due to some frets being more or less worn out. That method will show you the "hills & valleys" of the neck, or in other words if it is bent or not. This of course is great for seeing status quo of ones neck, especially if the "old eagle eyes" that allow us to see such things have gotten a little askew from age, AND in illustration purposes for your viewing audience. I believe you when you state that the neck is "perfectly straight," others may not... the straight edge just "hamer"s it home. 🤔😉😁
ANYWAY, KEEP ON KEEPING ON BROTHER ROCKER!!!!!!!!!!
PEACE !!!!!!!!!!🤘🏼
Love your channel. You should have much more followers.
Good video. Love a good myth dispelling.
My favourite guitar myth to restring is that Strats are "recording instruments" (yes, Glen, I remember you said it in the last video and you'll never be forgiven 🤣). They can be heavy as hell at gigs in the right hands 🤘
What's wrong with recording with Strats?
@@JeanMarceaux Absolutely nothing. It's the implied "only" that I was joking about. Watch the last video and you'll get it.
What's that got to do with restringing?
@@thewickedwizard It's obviously a play on words! Did I really have to just say that?! 😬
@@JamesWilson01 Yeah, you did.
Excellent points! I stopped taking all the strings off at once because of Floyd Rose issues. Took quite a bit of work to get that thing set up again. My guitar teacher told me to change the strings one at a time to prevent issues with the tremolo getting all out of whack.
I'm only 40 seconds in and REALLY looking forward to the rest of this video.
I'm a guitar player of 30+ years (although I have maybe the skills of a 3 year player, lol) and changing strings has ALWAYS stressed me out!
You have good taste in avatars 😎
@@xtort1220 you too! \m/
For an even quicker job I often saw the neck off and glue a new one on to save cleaning the fretboard too.
In all seriousness I've done it both ways over the years, but always use the trem/whammy bar argument like you mentioned here.
An interesting topic. I enjoyed it. Thanks!
Love this video! It came just in time too, someone talked me into unstringing my guitar because I am not planning to use it in a while, and he told me that the floyed's tension is going to warp my neck if it will stay stringed.
I unwind them a bit before cutting them. I don't want a string flying into my eye! Also, a trick I learnt on Thomann, to restring a Floyd Rose you should put the back plate underneath the trem between the body and the fine tuners. So when you string, the trem is stopped by the back plate blocking it off and keeping tension in the back strings. It make restring and cleaning those things so much easier!
The part with the tremolo is a very good argument!!
I love the editing of the video ❤
I typically loosen string before cutting strictly as a SAFETY measure, just so the string isn't whipping back and plucking your eye out. As far as floating terms, I STRONGLY recommend trying to shim the term at somewhere near the resting position you want it to be, because you may find that returning your tremolo to the 'zero' position you want could be very challenging, keeping some tension on the trem springs seems to help this. I could go into a scientific discussion of springs at rest storing potential energy and the time that it takes to expend that, but I won't.
You got it brother, good stuff
Only reason I detune the strings before cutting them is that I don’t like the sharp ends flying around, out of fear that they might poke me or scratch the instrument. I’m a bass player however, so cutting bass strings is a tad more violent. The reason for detuning a guitar before transporting it is mostly down to the risk of the case getting dropped, and the impact getting transferred into the head stock, thus breaking it off if the impact puts pressure on it in the same direction as the tension from the strings. Les Pauls are particularly prone to this due to how the headstock is set up on LPs.
I've flown many times with my Fender Strat in the hold and recently sent my Gibson Firebird by sea freight where it was 'in transit' for around 8 weeks. I've never detuned my guitars and they've always turned up just fine.
Great video dispelling a few myths....and Fender should know better than spreading fear although maybe it's more of a 'covering their arses' sorta statement as opposed to a factual one.
I wasn't aware cutting them was frowned upon. I've never not cut my strings, it saves time
I detune a whole step for acoustic transport and long term storage.
I loosen slightly before cutting the strings off. I also remove all strings every time and clean the fretboard, nooks, crannies, and neck joint/pickup rings.
I usually wind down the strings a few turns, then clip the strings. I have a healthy fear of metal strings popping into my eyes.
Once I cut the strings and one entered my nose 💀
@@seabass3373 yea, one hit my cheek, then I got paranoid about my eyes.
I once had a piece of wire from a fence I was fixing shoot up my nose and caused a bad nosebleed. Could’ve been so much worse. Wire under tension is dangerous. Wear eye protection.
I think the cutting off string myth stems from older archtop guitars, i've experienced one where i needed to adjust the neck more than it needed to begin with, due to the humidity it's been in. Cutting the strings off it self doesn't really do much as you stated correctly. The owner asked me to do it quickly while he was waiting in the shop, i did not have the time to have the archtop to aclimatise to our workshop. End result, a little crack near the body joint from what i assume is the rapid release of the tension since the archtop had been in a very humid environment.
Violins also get messed up if you cut all of the strings.
I have similarly acidic sweat, and recently tried Elixir strings. Gosh, it’s great not seeing strings start to erode within the first hour of playing and them actually sounding and feeling fresh for quite a while!
I think the whole cutting your strings myth, along with quite a few other guitar myths originated from luthiers wanting to scare people away from fixing their own guitars back in the 60's and 70's. So that way they (the luthiers) could get the work for themselves lol
Because only luthiers can loosen strings?
@@joesharpe7685 🤦🏼♂️
Whilst I agree with everything you have said, the only reason I don't cut my strings, is, they do occasionally scratch the finish, which I do admit is a odd thought when you consider most of my guitars are between 37 and 25 years old and therefore are road worn.
That DID stress me out, but not because of the neck. I was like, "If that's under tension it's gonna whip around and scratch the body." Also there was a moment where it looked like your cutters might not quite be sharp enough or have enough leverage. That was also stressful.
I have a scar from when I cut all the strings at once while it was tuned higher than e standard so now with all of my guitars with trem bars I just pull the bar down like a quarter to half a way down
Ex Tour Manager with mid-sized rock band back in the 00s here. When we were flying, all our guitars were travelling in the cargo hold (when you're checking in 25 flight cases, carry on not an option lol) so in that case the techs always loosened the strings on the guitars as a precaution. I'm not 100% sure it was necessary but with the temperature drop at altitude in the hold, it was just a precaution. As to the shows where we did carry on with gig bags only, it was never an issue we ever thought about as they'd be with us in a pressurised cabin. Like a lot of people have mentioned, I do slack off the strings slightly before cutting them off as it's just a habit more than anything. Never thought about damaging the neck though - more a case of avoiding a pinging string flying into my face lol 😎
I think you have something there about temperature change. Particularly if it goes below freezing. I had an Ibanez in a storage unit all winter once, and the neck had broken at the scarf joint. I'm still not 100% sure how it happened, but I've always suspected it was caused by below freezing temp.
@@user-ellievator Good point, because temperatures can drop to subzero at the altitudes airliners fly at, and the cargo hold is unpressurized. Although this is not too big a problem as some airliners actually do control the hold temperature, there are controls for it in the cockpit in the same spot as the cabin temperature control. I believe actually most common airliners do this but I doubt they heat it up to a comfortable temperature, more or less just to keep cargo from freezing because you can't just freeze people's cargo.
When re-stringing my guitar (which happens once in a blue moon) I take the strange "pleasure" of changing each string one by one. I don't think my sweat is so acidic so I keep the old ones, even if they are close to useless.
Regardless I use fast-fret and similar string-cleaning products a lot. I don't know if you have covered this topic in one of your videos.
Thank you for the info
I just unwind them enough to be able to pinch them all together and cut them all at once. I’ve just always done it that way. I’ve also watched my guitar fall headstock first into multiple objects and it’s still going strong.
It's not a Gibson, is it? Haha!
@@aprilkurtz1589 exactly ;)
@@withinthrall1445 My SG was thrown out of a second floor window by an angry teen(original owner) when the kid's dad told him to turn it down, lol 😆. The headstock got broken on the diagonal. The second owner duct taped the headstock back together, which didn't work well. He had it for almost thirty years, and gave it to me. I got it about 25 years ago, and had it properly repaired. I've been playing it ever since. It's a road dog, but that's ok. Those old P-90s sound sweet.
@@aprilkurtz1589 what a brilliant use of logic on that kids part lol. But hey you definitely won at the end there. I recently repaired an old aria pro ii I found at a pawnshop for $40. Had a fracture on the neck but nothing glue and clamps wouldn’t fix. Had a real Floyd in it instead of a licensed for a special and I wasn’t passing that up for $40 lmao
@@withinthrall1445 LOL! I think the kid was 16 or 17. That was a nice buy for $40! It's amazing that when done right, the glue joint is stronger than the wood around it. I accidentally parked my car on the SG and nothing broke!
i do loosen them slightly they tend to fly vast distances on hard tails such as tune o matic with stopbar, last time i cut them with tension i found the first and 6th string from narnia.
As a general rule I loosen the strings to keep them from putting my eye out before I cut them. I remove all the strings a the same time and polish the frets, clean the fretboard ETC.
I have taken to de-tuning my Journey overhead about a whole step when I take the neck off, as it tends to go sharp when I put the neck back on. All my guitars are tuned down a half step for storage. Do they need it? Maybe so, maybe no, but it's not like I don't have the thirty seconds to do it and it can't hurt to play it on the safe side.
I unwind my strings because I find it pleasurable, not because I think it's the best method. Whenever I have to change strings, I'm not counting my minutes or need to be the most efficient at it, I just take it as part of the hobby and enjoy it. Having fun is quite good, you know? A lot of people forget this.
Totally agree with everything you said. I have a vintage bass that needs a truss rod adjustment every few months (that neck moves enough that it deserves to have a sweatband on it). You wouldn't believe how strong the neck is. I don't baby it, it gets taken places, moved between extreme temperatures. And the neck is fine, every 3 months I look at it and turn the truss rod one way or the other and thats it. I don't believe a pressure change could cause a crack or anything even close to a warp.
Have flown from the UK to Brazil and back multiple times, pretty drastic temp and humidity changes, all of the guitars that have done those trips are still fine
I agree that it doesn't hurt to cut them, but I unwound them due it being easier to dispose of them after. I coil them up after use when I throw them away.
A friend of mine had the best quote ever regarding guitar setup:
No matter how much you want it to be just a guitar, it wants to be pieces of wood and metal that are subject to the elements.
Nice guitar, thanks for demystify it
Ben Crowe of Crimson Custom Guitars argues that cutting strings while they're under tension might
(1) damage the tuners, or
(2) cause the suddenly loose strings to fly in random directions, which could lead to them striking and damaging the finish on the body.
I've never worried about the tension on the neck, but I have been impaled by a few strings before.
I'm a touring musician and guitar tech. I've flown guitars dozens, probably hundreds of times. Mostly there's no problem leaving a guitar in tune, however I have seen a couple of problems. One time an SG headstock came off mid flight, difficult to know if that was cabin pressure or baggage handlers. The other time, all four strings were snapped on a bass. That can't be baggage handlers, also that was on a Gatwick to Guernsey flight about 25mins. Maybe the quick up and down, caused it? But that is a real fear, doesn't happen often but can happen.
I cut the strings off unless the guitar has a wraparound bridge and even in that case a folded up polishing cloth can allow one to do so. I just got finished with upgrades on an epiphone sg special and I replaced the bridge with one that is intonatable, new nut, tuners,pickups and electronics and I learned that as i went
Cutting them off is just faster and better when using an Evertune or Floyd. Also stops you from having to drag bent string ends over the saddles on the bridge.
Before cutting the strings, I block the trem in neutral position (a piece of wood or a stack of play cards), then polish the frets, cleanup the fretboard, then put new strings one.
I don't really kill strings quickly, I will usually eventually pop an e or B just from bending and then I change the whole set. Temperature certainly does effect guitars/string tension, I have guitars with locking tuners and if left unplayed I find they are almost always in tune until the season changes. I also have a kids scale fender and it is literally never in tune ever (because the tuners are trash).
I will cut my strings but I won't leave them off for any extended period and won't turn the truss rod more than a couple of 1/4 cranks without giving it some time to settle. When I ship guitars I just tune them to Eb standard, this way there is nice even tension while they make their trip but it is reduced to account for any gain of tension in shipping.
loves yae man keep rockin
Loved the video. People will believe the darndest things just simply because so and so said it. Is there anything wrong with releasing the tension before cutting the strings? Nope. But, like you said, there's really no problem either way. I have never saved a string in my life and don't plan on it. I'm 56 and have been through a lot with my guitars. Most of mine have Floyd Rose tremelos and I especially loved the example you gave of going from full to none to full tension. Duh! Maybe if we clear up enough myths, these fly by night products we "have" to have will go away from us not buying them or "Buying" into the myth...
When I break a string on my floyd guitar near the bridge and don't have any extras, or want to save money or don't have time to go to town to get new ones, I cut the string where it snapped and put that into the bridge, I leave a bit of extra string after the tuners for that reason.
I left my G&L Invader in the case for 10 years with no strings. Finally strung it up, simple truss rod adjustment, and it plays perfectly.
It's six of one half dozen of the other. If you replace them one at a time there seems the guitar seems to settle down quicker after the string change. But if you take them off all at once then you can give a instrument a decent clean! I'll go one way or the other way depending on how much time I have.
However, I like to keep my old strings as they are kind of getting a bit pricey now. One advantage of this is that if you break a sting on a guitar where the set is getting on a bit then that re-used string matches the tone of the other strings better and since it is already broken in it's tuning becomes more stable much faster. They still require a little stretching, but not nearly as much. This is typically putting it back on the instrument it came from so string length is never an issue.
That is not always the case though. If I break a string on one of my fixed bridge axes then what is left can be fitted to a Floyd Rose equipped instrument when it breaks a string! I should say this is mainly with the wound strings. I am not so keen on reusing the unwound ones. The wound strings are usually the ones that get beaten up playing metal style rhythms. I hardly ever break the high strings, though it does happen.
I don't change my strings very often. That's mainly because these days I do mostly recording projects and seldom play live. The main motivation for me in string changing was always to avoid one breaking while on stage. I dislike changing them for recording. I much prefer having the stable pitch of a well played in string over the fresh tone of a new set.
I agree it wont damage the neck, but truss rods exist for a reason and tension is a thing.
I also agree regarding recording, new strings for recording is one of the most overrated notions in the Guitar world IMO, i'd rather have a settled instrument than a bright one, plus amps/sims have treble and presence controls
I'm really just used to saving strings when I had no money and because I used to do some experiments (such as converting an acoustic guitar to a bass and an octave mandolin) so it would save me to have some strings I won't mind abusing rather than a trip to the store for fresh ones.
Some guitars do it some guitars don't I've had a Squier Strat and I live in New England and when the weather changes the neck does a little jig and I have to adjust for it it's just a little turn of the truss rod and it goes back to where it was I've mostly noticed it when the weather went from cold to hot
I usually detune a bit so the strings snap less (though I don't always, I cut the strings at full tension on a guitar last night). I find that I can also get the cutter under the strings easier if I detune, since I can just lift them away from the body. I do prefer to take them all off. My acoustic has a floating bridge (archtop body), so I never take them all off, or the bridge will just fall over. And sometimes I don't want to mess with the stop bar on my V (it needs a cleaning, so I will next time).
My Strats have 'top-loading' machine heads (which I prefer). I loosen all the strings until I can pull the wrapped portion off the pegs, then cut so I can pull them through the vibrato block. It just makes sense.
I saw a video when Kiesel (still Carvin than), we’re fixing Jason Becker’s guitars, and the tech put pressure on the strings around the 12 fret (like a capo) and sliced all the strings, so that’s how I do everything really.
I always loosen them a bit then cut. Or on an acoustic or Floyd rose where I can loosen the ball end side of the string I’ll just detune and then unwrap from there
I don’t cut the strings at full tension, I loosen them a bit before I cut them, but that’s so the strings don’t snap and fly around, I have cut my hands from that and also had a snapped string fly close to my face- so my concern is my safety
I don’t reuse them as there is a reason I am changing them.
When I was young with one or two guitars I use to save and reuse strings, after a while I would end up with BAGS (12x12) zip lock bags of used strings with dangerous pointy bits all throughout with some stuffed in packages with sharp syringe like metal poking out, at some point, it was hard, but I just tossed them all out and never looked back, and I like my necks to feel like wood not goo.
Agree with everything this man says. On the other hand, why not err on the safe side? And take some of the pressure off before you cut? Yes the neck CAN take it, but I can't think of a reason to not loosen the strings a few turns before I cut them.
Thanks for a thoughtful vid!
It’s only been recently that I saw videos about how “fragile” guitar necks are. It’s nice to see this realistic video.
Regarding guitars on planes...
Temperatures might differ somewhat, but pressures are always the same in cargoholds as the passenger cabin.
The floors aren't made to maintain a pressure difference.
They also get the same dry air from the air conditioning packs, so there won't be much moisture there either.
I loosen all of my guitar strings at once and cut them all off at once. I do that mainly so it doesn’t snap quickly and hurt the finish of the guitar or me. I don’t keep any of my used guitar strings. I used to determine the guitar if I was shipping one but now the thinking seems to have changed and then it’s better to leave it tuned. The last one that I sold the buyer was happy because when they got to guitar it was almost perfectly in tune.
I usually loosen them up quite a bit before cutting them. I just always felt like it was the "right way". I also got to admit your sweat doing that to your strings, is pretty wild. I've never seen anything like that before.
It also happen to me after maybe 1 - 2 months of playing everyday on the same strings
I'm the same. Even when I'm wiping them several times per day, my elixir strings won't last more than 2 months, which is still twice or thrice the amount non-coated strings last for me
I can play the same strings for years. Literally. Yes, they loose some zing but they stay shiny. Whereas I know a guy who, if I let him play one of my guitars for an hour or two, will destroy them. I take it out of the case a week or two later and the strings are f&cked. All rusted.
Happens to me too, need to change strings every 4 weeks depending on how much I play and if I think about to wipe the strings after each session. Wiping them makes them last like: 2 weeks longer, but usually I forget and they look like this kind of shit after 4 weeks. Wiping them still blackens them but they keep their sound a bit longer and they don't crust up too much, but after 6 weeks they're definitely gone. I also live in a very humid sea climate (the Netherlands, roughly same climate as UK) so this doesn't help either. Especially in autumn they're gone so fast. Late spring / summer they seem to last a bit longer though.
you're so right about every single point!
I personally prefer restringing one string at a time because I find it more conveniant for tuning (especially since I only have one guitar with a hardtail), but whenever I wanna clean the fretboard I take off all the strings.
I have the same experience when flying with guitars or shipping guitars online. Many guitars I have right now were ordered from Germany and Japan and they arrived set up perfectly and in tune, no issues at all
I think the pressure change argument is BS. But moisture does affect wood. That's well known. When wood gets wetter it's more prone to warp and it's good practice to not put too much stress on it. You might be able to compensate with the truss rod but sometimes it's not only going into more relief it backbow but in some rare cases it can twist. Not by much but it can affect playability. And classical guitars don't have truss rods mind you. So it's just good practice.
@@EbonyPope does putting silca gel in the case help or does it hurt it even further? Next time I fly (with a hardtail guitar) I'll try detuning and see if I get any difference
@@Mr.Goldbar Not to my knowledge. Silica Gel is there to bind excess moisture. It also depends on what kind of finish your guitar has. I guess guitars with Polyurethane finishes aren't all that sensitive because they are mostly sealed off except for the pickup cavities of course. There are many factors. On the contrary in very dry climates you should keep your guitar in a case to along with a humidifier. Do you know what fret sprout is? It's when the wood gets dry and the fret ends start poking your fingers because the wood got so dry that it contracted much more than the metal frets. Or it can lead to cracks in the soundboard but this is mostly an acoustic guitar problem too. I wouldn't obsess over it but it's good to keep an eye on your moisture levels. Especially if it's an instrument you want to keep for life. There are also many other tips. I got them from a luthier with an absolute excellent RUclips channel with a very soothing voice and entertaining humor. Take a look at the channel "twoodfrd". He makes excellent content and you'll even learn how to fix a thing or two on your guitar yourself.
I been playing for 40 years and have always cut my strings off . I do unwind them a bit since I had some stick into my hands several times !! Other then that once restrung the 100's of Guitars I have owned played fine and had new strings which is always nice .
My thing is I like to save the old strings especially the high E and b which break more often and they’re great for other projects back in the day “70’s” we would boil the strings to bring them back and save money on new ones so take the small amount of time undo the strings and coil them back up
You can tell when your strings are all done if you like to use them for a long time when you run your finger up and down the D string you can feel the bumps and if you look really close usually the wrap is broken at each fret but you should change him when the tone gets dull don't wait till they fall apart
So the question is, does the same go for an acoustic guitar since you typically will not have as hard of woods used in the neck, and the body is not as dense?
I would be more worried about one of those cut strings scratching the fretboard or finish when it snaps under tension. Also I use Floyd rose on my guitars, if I just cut the E string it's going to transfer all that tension to other strings, not that it matters but for those reasons I prefer to detune all the strings before cutting them
Cut them, don't keep them, don't detune for air travel. Your point about the Floyd is spot on.
I have a floating floyd and I cut all my strings. A bunched up sock in the pull-back cavity keeps it nicely from falling back.
I save used strings to have spares if anything breaks, so I don't cut them.
I also find new strings sound better than old ones acoustically but not so different once through the aggressive low pass filters that are magnetic pick-ups and guitar amplifiers. A piezo through a hi-fi would be a different story but when I see people put "brand new strings" through humbuckers and some valve distortion (real or modelled), I wonder a little.
What happenes to the truss rod cavities on a dual action rod when you cut all at once? maybe, just maybe something
I unwind it from the locking tuners, cut them, then pull them through the body. I have an aversion to cutting things under tension. Not because of the neck but just to be safe as a habit.
Hey KDH, great video! Question: you mentioned that you like coated strings. I use Elixer Optiwebs exclusively on my electrics and Nanoweb on my acoustic. Would you ever do a video about coated strings?
I use Elixir Polywebs, and broke a string for the first time in FOUR years last week. First time it's ever happened. Strings lasting four years is pretty good though.
Once they're on they stay clean and don't ever rust or get dirty.
4:30 I just want to add up an information on Fenders
I work in a music store in EU and almost all the american fenders arrive perfectly in tune.
made in mexico and japan and squiers usually arrived detuned
Changing strings on my guitars with floating trems always stresses me.
Seems pretty straightforward, if cutting the strings screwed with the neck, then what good is a Floyd Rose? It's still a good idea to at least detune slightly, so the strings dont whip around, hurt you or damage the finish on the guitar.
My only argument against cutting them in the middle like that, or cutting them at all, is having to deal with 2 pieces per string. I prefer just unlocking the tuners, slipping the strings off and then wrapping them all up into a circular shape like as if they were in a string pack and tossing them away. Makes the clean up process much neater.
Cuttin em isn’t a problem to me but I do loosen them up some first. I have a powered string winder on my bench so it only takes a few seconds. Snipping them at full tension probably isn’t a problem and having all of them off at the same time is common practice for me as well.
As for my habits, I do loosen my strings, but then cut them down the center while I can get a hand around them to keep them from floppin' about. Basically for all the reasons you said.
i agree with you totally... tho i do take tension off when cutting...
just a habit i guess...
I cut all six at the same time. String through tele, locking tuners. I don't use polish or cleaning stuff. Every once in a while I'll do a deeper clean and get rid of all the sweat and dead skin. I also change out rusted screws on occasion because of my crazy acidity. BTW, I bought a cheap Ibanez and the strings went black.