Hey everyone, I have a quick question

I'm smart enough to go to YouTube and find out how to do lots of this stuff, but I still have 1 question regarding how I should re-string my guitar.

The debate is: should I remove all the strings first, then proceed to put new ones on, or should I remove and replace them one by one?

I'd like to remove all the strings at once, so I can then clean the fretboard and remove the pickguard to inspect the hardware (this will be the first inspection since I bought it, and I bought it used)

I've heard that removing all the strings at once may damage your neck, but how am I going to clean the fretboard and inspect the hardware without removing all the strings first?

Thanks!

I always remove my strings and clean the fretboard, etc. The only suggestion I would have, and I do this when removing and replacing the strings, is to alternate high and low or low and high. This will allow the pressure off and on the neck evenly.

I always remove all my strings first and have never had a problem and I change strings alot.

take them off and clean the fretboard. alternate if you want, I never do, and all my guitar necks are fine.

The neck will bow slightly when the strings are off, but this shouldn't be a problem at all, unless your neck has no truss rod at all.

The truss rod is there to help keep the neck from bowing, and as long as you don't loosen it when you take the strings off, the neck shouldn't move too much.

People get so uptight about this issue, and they seem to only consider the fact that the strings put tension on the neck, and they seem to overlook how a truss rod works.

Change your strings however you want, don't let anybody tell you how to do it. The only time it really makes a difference is if you are changing on an acoustic instrument, cause the string tension is usually greater, and therefore has a greater effect of the neck.

I have been removing all the strings when I do a string change for years. Never a problem.

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

Also remove your pick guard and learn about your guitar. If your gonna play it learn to fix it. Its not hard.

very true. if you learn to fix your guitar, you'll probably enjoy playing it more. its not hard at all to fix most problems that occur to guitars. actually, most people already have most of the tools needed to do all of your common fixes.

It may be frowned upon, but I turn the tuning machines just enough to take all the tension off of all the strings. Grab some wire cutters, and cut all six strings. Remove strings. Clean the guitar up -- the neck and all areas that are hard to access under the strings (headstock, bridge, etc.). I then reattach each string. Lubricate the saddle, nut, and (if applicable) string tree). Then bring the string close to correct pitch. Then on to the next string. Once all strings are done, you need to stretch and tune the strings.

Does any one really care, though?

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

+1






Thats the way I do it...

I take all my strings off and do a detailed cleaning to the neck, nut, headstock, pickguard, and saddles. Plus if I am putting lemmon oil on that day, I do not want it to get too much on the strings if I can help it.

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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 always take all my strings off at once and give everything a good cleaning. The only time I haven't is when I've had floating Floyd Rose tremolo systems and the neck wasn't in need of a cleaning...it was just easier to do it one string at a time and as long as it was the same brand/gauge of strings, everything always went right back to where it was.

But even after speaking to a few guitar techs for some well known players, they do the same thing; just take 'em all off at once. The short amount of time they'll be off isn't going to have an adverse affect on the neck. In the rare instance it does, then the quality of the neck is quite suspect.

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The mind is like a parachute; it doesn't work unless its open-FZ

I don't think it matters too much whether you change one string at a time or all at once. Personally, unless I think the guitar/fingerboard is due for a cleaning, I change one at a time. I hate breaking in a new set of strings, so I'll change one or two strings a day and then play for a while. The whole set gets changed over the course of several days to spread out the break-in period.