I don't change them as often as others, but I do change them when they feel dirty to me.

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Chet Feathers

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

I change my strings as soon as they lose their brightness,I have found that as strings age they are harder to keep in tune and very hard to keep in proper intonation.Old strings also don't sustain as well as fresh and just sound dead.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I usually change my strings when the tuning becomes a problem which is about every 3 months.

I play at least one of my guitars for at least an hour a day. I usually play a lot longer than that. I usually end up putting new strings on at least once a month on one of my guitars. I guess that averages about once every couple months.

I can definately tell when it is time to change strings. Old strings just sound lifeless to me, not at all as bright as new strings.

Everybody has their own ideas on when it is time to change strings. As for me I just follow my ears and fingers.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

I had intonation problems with my SG, and thought I was going to have to go through setting it back up. I changed the strings and bingo! All better.

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"To Be Is To Do" --Locke
"To Do Is To Be" --Thoreau
"Do Be Do Be Do" --Sinatra

My EB Slinkys can almost make it 2 months.

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08 Fender Highway One Tele-Sunburst
09 Squier Custom Tele II-Blonde
04 Squier Standard Strat Antiqueburst
07 Washburn D10SCE natural with Rosewood backing
Fender Mustang II amp


Experience is the best teacher

Hello Nevin1985,

I like new strings. On my most played guitars
every few weeks. To me they sound and feel
better. Takes about an hour to break em in.

Cheers.

Not that this helps but I just sort of feel when mine need to be changed. Correction, when I think they need to be changed. I personally enjoy doing that stuff so changing strings and tinkering a bit with my guitar is almost therapeutic for me. Its my bonding time with my guitar, my chance to take care of my baby instead of just playing with it.

I once knew a guy (now we're talking back in the 70's) who was so dead set against the sound of new strings he took a new set of strings for his Precision Bass and soaked them in melted butter before installing them. Said he wanted to get a head start on filling the windings with crud. The previous set was rusty else he would not have changed them. I guess the rust was oozing up through the nickel from the steel cores. Now that's old...

The butter thing never quite sat well with me regardless of intentions....

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

I like not to new not to old strings, I dont really fancy the new string sound, it has to much "ting" to it. But the really old ones feel icky ucky on your fingers and you cant really slide that well on them.

Good topic

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riley

If I was on a marathon I could kill a new set in a day. Once I start finding it hard to make a long slide on a note or the luster is gone so are the strings. I also do not like strings the moment they are put on, there is a period where they are just right and that is how I wish they would stay. But as long as you wipe them down you should get good use from a set.

i use new strings like i use clean underwear just like them sounding cristal clear, 3-7 months depending on use, or bran (eb last less, d'addario midterm, rlixir last the longest)

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'when the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace' - James Marshall Hendrix

This is a good thread.

I had old strings on the Strat when I bought, and having nothing to compare them to, I used them for a while. I noticed they weren't even a set. The high E was a ball end and the rest were the original bullets. Then I bought a set of D'Addario 9's and WOW! what a change!

I'll just sort of know when they need it again. When that dead sound starts to come back or tuning gets problematic... either way. Rught now the guitar sounds great!

Strings are too inexpensive to not have new ones when you want them. Why suffer with dullness?

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You're only as strong as
the drinks you pour,
the tables you dance on,
and the friends you roll with.

I leave mine on until I feel them getting a little rough. I don`t wait for them to break, but I don`t rush to change them either.

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Way back in my early youth when I was a poor bass player who couldn't afford new strings when they sounded dull or felt grimy I would take them off, coil them up, place them in a pot of boiling water for about 5 minutes, and put them back on. The skin cels and finger oil dissolves and floats out of the windings. They come out clean and almost new sounding albeit without the ping and sizzle of new ones.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.