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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 3:07 pm
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ratboy wrote:
I can understand not leaving a guitar unstrung for a long (or short) period of time. But it does not take long to take em all of clean your fretboard and restring. I would be interested in learning how many guitars were damaged because of not restringing 1 string at a time. C'mon. :roll:


Oh I see - you guys are talking about leaving it unstrung for a long time.. Ah I misread it! Thanks!

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Post subject: Re: Can you leave the strings off your guitar?
Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 7:27 pm
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ics1974 wrote:
I broke a string while messing around. It will be a couple of days before I can get new strings. Is it safe to have the rest of the strings off the guitar for a couple of days or will this be bad for the neck?


It's always best to have new strings on your guitar and that it is kept in tune. As the guitar ages moisture is expended from the wood and the string tension actually conditions the wood. This goes for all stringed made of wood from chellos, violins to even sitars.

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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:29 am
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This has been an eye opening subject


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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:49 am
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I've always changed all the strings at the same time; total time usually takes no more than 10 to 15 minutes, and that includes cleaning the fretboard. Never had a problem. :D

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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 8:20 am
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There are a couple of additional issues that come to mind:

1) If you take all the strings off, you'll need to remove the back plate as the access hole(s) in the backplate won't align with the holes in the trem block. If you remove one string at a time, the holes in the backplate should remain in alignment with the holes in the trem block.

Also...

2) When removing strings, either one-by-one or all in one go, follow this order to lessen stress on the neck: 1,6,2,5,3,4.


Last edited by Strataholic on Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 8:35 am
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I wouldn't for a long period of time. When changing my strings, I do take all of them off. This allows me to give the fingerboard a good cleaning, which I think is important.


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Post subject: Re: Can you leave the strings off your guitar?
Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:17 am
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ics1974 wrote:
I broke a string while messing around. It will be a couple of days before I can get new strings. Is it safe to have the rest of the strings off the guitar for a couple of days or will this be bad for the neck?


Yes you can leave (all) strings off. Necks are stored sometimes for weeks
and months before ending on a body. But there is no reason leaving your
guitar stringless.

Peter


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Post subject: Re: Can you leave the strings off your guitar?
Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:30 am
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manabu108 wrote:
It's always best to have new strings on your guitar and that it is kept in tune. As the guitar ages moisture is expended from the wood and the string tension actually conditions the wood. This goes for all stringed made of wood from chellos, violins to even sitars.


This above is most certainly an interesting point.

For my two cents worth, in the short term I think there's really no need to be paranoid about it. We shouldn't be too precious about our guitars. They can take a bit of mistreatment. Especially the naughty ones. They deserve it. And particularly if you've got a rosewood fingerboard, you gotta clean that thing, man. Your miff finger grime gets in the pores and there's not much you can do once it's comfy in there.[/i]

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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:59 pm
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Strataholic wrote:
There are a couple of additional issues that come to mind:

1) If you take all the strings off, you'll need to remove tha back plate as the access hole(s) in the backplate won't align with the holes in the trem block. If you remove one string at a time, the holes in the backplate should remain in alignment with the holes in the trem block.

Also...

2) When removing strings, either one-by-one or all in one go, follow this order to lessen stress on the neck: 1,6,2,5,3,4.


I forgot all about the hole's alignment issue with all of the string off. Thanks for reminding this fuzzy brain. I too follow that string order you specified. That was the factory recommended process specified when I bought my Ovation way back in the stone ages. I've followed it since.

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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:22 pm
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Let's also consider the opposite. Tuning your guitar to pitch and then not playing it for months or years on end... I think this is even worse!


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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 5:01 pm
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Strataholic wrote:
Let's also consider the opposite. Tuning your guitar to pitch and then not playing it for months or years on end... I think this is even worse!


That's the difference between a collector and a musician. A collector can afford to do that. Real musicians need to play their instrument in order to eat and have a place to sleep :lol:

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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 5:46 pm
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manabu108 wrote:
Strataholic wrote:
Let's also consider the opposite. Tuning your guitar to pitch and then not playing it for months or years on end... I think this is even worse!


That's the difference between a collector and a musician. A collector can afford to do that. Real musicians need to play their instrument in order to eat and have a place to sleep :lol:



With all due respect, I'm not sure I agree with your definition of a "real musician". Some of the best musicians I've ever known have had no sense of how to make any money with their music... even when they were gigging!

No offense, but I really can't accept your statement concerning collectors either. Look at all the gorgeous collections in this forum alone! I know you've read the threads; these collectors play ALL their guitars!!

No problem though, I know where you're coming from. You get these rich cats that spend a bazillion bucks and buy up all the cool vintage pieces and then lock them away in a vault... crimes against the working musician!! We know who the real guitar lovers are... US poor guys, real musicians or otherwise!


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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:23 pm
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I take all the strings off, clean, and polish the whole guitar everytime I change 'em. I love a shiny guitar.

Incidentaly, I've found myself without strings for days, since the local music store closed a few years ago. Almost all of my guitars have sat without strings at one time or another. I don't like it when it happens, but they always seem to act the same when I get 'em strung up again.

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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:52 pm
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Strataholic wrote:
manabu108 wrote:
Strataholic wrote:
Let's also consider the opposite. Tuning your guitar to pitch and then not playing it for months or years on end... I think this is even worse!


That's the difference between a collector and a musician. A collector can afford to do that. Real musicians need to play their instrument in order to eat and have a place to sleep :lol:



With all due respect, I'm not sure I agree with your definition of a "real musician". Some of the best musicians I've ever known have had no sense of how to make any money with their music... even when they were gigging!

No offense, but I really can't accept your statement concerning collectors either. Look at all the gorgeous collections in this forum alone! I know you've read the threads; these collectors play ALL their guitars!!

No problem though, I know where you're coming from. You get these rich cats that spend a bazillion bucks and buy up all the cool vintage pieces and then lock them away in a vault... crimes against the working musician!! We know who the real guitar lovers are... US poor guys, real musicians or otherwise!


I guess my veiw was a bit extreme but it was meant in jest hence the laughing face. I'll tread more lightly.

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Post subject:
Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:59 am
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manabu108 wrote:
Strataholic wrote:
manabu108 wrote:
Strataholic wrote:
Let's also consider the opposite. Tuning your guitar to pitch and then not playing it for months or years on end... I think this is even worse!


That's the difference between a collector and a musician. A collector can afford to do that. Real musicians need to play their instrument in order to eat and have a place to sleep :lol:



With all due respect, I'm not sure I agree with your definition of a "real musician". Some of the best musicians I've ever known have had no sense of how to make any money with their music... even when they were gigging!

No offense, but I really can't accept your statement concerning collectors either. Look at all the gorgeous collections in this forum alone! I know you've read the threads; these collectors play ALL their guitars!!

No problem though, I know where you're coming from. You get these rich cats that spend a bazillion bucks and buy up all the cool vintage pieces and then lock them away in a vault... crimes against the working musician!! We know who the real guitar lovers are... US poor guys, real musicians or otherwise!


I guess my veiw was a bit extreme but it was meant in jest hence the laughing face. I'll tread more lightly.


No worry man! I saw your LOL after I wrote my bit and suddenly felt that I was moving in the wrong direction but left it anyway - my bad!


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