1.
Parts of the guitar where strings are placed–
Here are some terms: Tuning Key, Tuning Post, Top Nut, Bridge, Tailpiece. These are the parts of the guitar, the string is attached and stretched over. Not all guitars have tailpieces, which go from the bridge to the underside of the guitar. The main stock is at the top of the guitar neck where the tuning keys or tuning machines are. The steel tuning plate has a hole in it and is attached to the tuning wrench with a gear mechanism. The string winds around the post. The upper nut is the small, slotted part between the machines and the fret plate that lifts and separates each guitar string as it passes the first miss. The bridge is a small high point located at the other end of the string on the surface of the guitar body. On acoustic guitars, it is usually mounted on a bridge piece or wooden plate. This is attached to the face or top of the guitar body near the sound hole of an acoustic guitar. The bridge is generally a piece fixed in place on an acoustic guitar. Some guitars have bridges with adjusting screws. Other guitars have a back piece that is sometimes attached to the bridge or under it on electric body guitars and also on some archtop guitars. Both acoustic and electric steel string guitars have strings attached to the bridge piece or back piece with small lugs on the end of the strings called ball ends.
Ready to change–
The best preparation for changing strings is to gently clean the guitar’s spark board. (It is the flat surface under the strings that your fingers rest on when you play.) It is a thin piece of hardwood mounted on the neck in which the wire blades are placed. Never use water or anything abrasive on the fretboard. Cleaning with a damp cloth is adequate unless the guitar has been neglected.
Before installing new strings, check the tuning machines and wrenches for loose mounting screws, dirt or remnants of old strings. If no strings are attached, the thinning mechanisms must rotate smoothly and easily if in good condition.
You may want to work on the guitar while placing it on a blanket on a table or workbench. Or maybe you prefer to sit in a chair with the bottom of the guitar on the floor between your feet with your neck leaning against you between your knees. This puts the main deck (the area with the tuning keys) right in front of you. (It’s similar to the position you hold a cello in while playing it.) Either way, it can prevent guitar damage from dropping it. The important thing is to be comfortable and not in a hurry in the beginning.
3.
Use the string winding
The string fabric as it is also called is a small plastic hand tool that quickly increases the string changes. It is not necessary but it is useful to save time and skew the strings more easily. (If you do not have one in mind, people have changed guitar strings without them for many generations.)
Note! Always hold the guitar neck with one hand when using the string winder on the Tuning keys.
4.
Bridge Pins– (upper acoustic guitars only)
Bridge sticks are small sticks shaped something like a screw. a decorative dot on top. This is the part you can see when a guitar is tense. To remove these bridge pins, never use pliers or anything that can crack the bridge piece or plate as it is usually made of unpainted hardwood. The string winder has a small hook on the mouth that easily grabs the head of the string pin when it slides down to take remove the pin without scratching or damaging the bridge piece. If the bridge pin gets stuck and needs to be delivered, be very careful not to use too much force. If you find a broken brew pin, replace it. They are inexpensive and can be replaced in sets of six so that they have a matching look. This is just cosmetic.
On a flat top guitar with a round sound hole, you can reach through the hole after the strings have come loose or cut to rock or push up on the bridge pin from below and it will usually come loose.
5.
Remove the strings –
The strings on a six string guitar are numbered 1 to 6. String 1 is the thinnest string and string 6 the thickest. After turning them off, you can use a wire cutter to help remove each string, but only after they have become very loose by turning the machine’s tuners. The mood keys can be easily turned in both directions with the string winder.
Note! Be careful with the straight end of both old and new strings, as they can easily scratch people or objects (and dot your fingers) since the wire core in the string has a lot of tensile strength.
Some people claim that the strings should not be removed at once but left on and removed one at a time, in the following order:
1,6,2,5, 3,4.
Professional guitarists who change strings often do so rarely. (When guitar strings are sometimes broken, it is never in that order.) Luthiers or guitar manufacturers must also remove all strings to make some repairs, so use whichever method you prefer to gently remove the strings.
The most important thing is not to mix up the strings. A new set comes with strings in separate envelopes. When opening a new set, make sure all six are in the set and arrange them in order (thinnest to thickest). They usually come packaged anyway. Some brands list the string by thickness and usually refer to it as ‘Wound’ or ‘Plain’. The thin strings are ordinary steel and the thicker strings are wound with gilded bronze, brass or steel winding depending on whether they are intended for acoustic or electric guitar. Electric guitar strings usually have a steel winding or a wrap and acoustic strings usually have a bronze alloy.
6.
Install the strings
When the guitar is ready to receive the strings, insert the bolt end into the bridge or attach to the back piece. There are several variations of back pieces. Flat top guitars do not have them. Archtop guitars do.
Electric guitars sometimes have a hole that goes through the body under the bridge and the strings are inserted from the back. Before removing The old strings observe how they are attached and follow the reverse procedure with the new strings.
7.
Attach the string
Insert the first end of the string ball first into a suitable hole for that string. On a Fender type, the electric fixed body inserts the smooth end of the cord from the back. (The ‘ball’ is usually a small black or bronze colored metal ring around which the string is twisted.) Message When you remove the bridge pin, it has a groove along one side. With the new string inserted, turn the pin to point the slotted side toward the guitar’s spark or neck and push the string into the hole to anchor the new string. Repeat the same process with all strings.
Be patient and attentive as you go through this step. guitar, insert the string into the appropriate setting key entry. The post has a small hole for the string. (Be careful not to stroke your finger with the sled or ‘whip the end’ of the strings when attaching them to the tuning settings.)
Pull the string through, but not all the way. (By pulling all the way and tightening it, it will break a heavy, sore string very quickly.)
Note! On guitars with bridge pins and guitar string holes on the back, it is possible to install ALL the strings into the guitar body before you start setting the installation steps.
8.
Swing the string
Leave a little slack for the string to tighten the post. On the elongated strands you may wish to wind one, turn the machine in different ways than on the heavier wound strands. (See step 9) With the guitar holder and the end of the new string in one hand, turn the machine receiver several turns with the string tap. Continue turning as needed until the string is close to full tension.
9.
True upward
You can tension the strings up to higher tension as fast or as slow as you want. If you pull the end of the string at a right angle away from the machine post when it twists, it keeps the string tight as it wraps around the post.
Note! Right side strands always go around with the knob clockwise (to the right over the top of the pin when you meet the head). In other words, when looking at the guitar from the front, the strings on the right should all be wound RIGHT-WARD on the machine poles on the right. Strings on the left should be wound in the mirror image LEFT-WARD.
(Fender-type electric guitars have six IN LINE machines on one side of the main shaft. All are wound in the same direction, around the post clockwise. Two of the strings on these types of main bearings will have ‘string trees’ to pull the string away from the top nut towards This feature is due to the fact that the head layer is not angled at an angle from the top note as in previous guitar designs.)
10.
Put on the new strings–
If you pull the end of the string firmly as it winds around the post, it will begin to pass over itself as it becomes. On regular strings, you may want to let this end pass under the string the first time and then over. This allows the smooth steel string to lock around the post, and after stretching it becomes easier to adjust. This is optional. Otherwise, just let the string pass over itself as it winds around. Pulling on the string end when it winds around the tuning plate allows the string to sit nicely together and sit around the pole without any kinks or ties. If the string does not sit the way you want, you can just turn the tuning key to loosen the string and it will come back on when it tightens around the post. Doing 2 to 3 turns is sufficient for all strings. The thicker strings take up more space on the post as they gain around it and are more brittle, so it is useful to pull them through a little more before winding up to full tension. This will prevent them from trying to meander around the post too many times. try to strike up a heavy string and loosen it and pull it through more and wind it again several times’ until you get it so you want as long as you do not kink the string. If you accidentally kink it, do not panic. Install it anyway. If the winding or winding does not fail, it will work fine.
11.
Check the ball end as you go–
Sometimes the pins on an acoustic flat top guitar usually start to pull up out of the bridge hole when you take the string tension up to pitch. Hold them firmly with one hand when aligning the string with the other. It can be easier to do without a string wrapper. Do not panic if you hear a string lock coming loose from the bridge pin inside the guitar body when you tighten it. The ball end catches on the foot of the pin which caused it to push upwards.
This is a good time to make sure that the groove in each brew pin is oriented towards the neck of the instrument before tuning. Once the strings are attached, you can start setting them close to the correct pitch
12.
Swing to pitch –
In general, it is best to set ‘up to a distance’ on string instruments as this sits in the string as it winds around the pole. With the tongs of the guitar machine as soon as the strings are installed, retuning is easy. A final step after installing new strings is to stretch the string gently but vigorously to the side several times at about the twelfth row, or halfway between the top nut and the bridge. After doing so, sue to correct again. Doing this two or three times will stop new strings from stretching and they will then hold song.
The following is optional:
When you are done, install the new strings and have stretched, tune d and reset them to correct the pitch so you can complete the installation by trimming the strings. Using a needle-pliers, shrink the end of the new string at a right angle about three-quarters of an inch from the post. Using a wire cutter, cut the string off on the side of the crimp AWAY from the post. Turn the short, crimped end of the string towards the face of the head. This prevents the freshly cut new strings from hanging on hands, clothes, etc.
The best way to keep a guitar that sounds best is to change strings regularly. By following the steps in this article, you will be able to do just that.
Source:danspela.com