Changing strings

Guitar should be changed every week if you can and if you play a lot and how much you value your new string tone. Now for a bass its a different story since with steel prices like they are I just spent 70bucks stringing my 2 bases... *GOD MY WALLET!!!!* Change them as often as you can afford. Theyre like underwear, you can Get Away with wearing an old pair...and only you will know... but in time it does get uncomfortable hehe. While you can go a year with bass strings... the longest I like going is 3 weeks or a month.

I would change them when they look/sound/feel dirty. If you wipe them down after you play, you can get pretty long life out of them.

You don't want to know how long my Elixirs have been installed, but I can easily say they were worth the extra money.

Laz

If you wipe them down after you play, you can get pretty long life out of them.Laz

With just a clean cloth/ rag?

And that brings up another point, should I wipe the neck down with old english (wood polish not malt liqueur. unless that has some benefits as well) every time I change the strings?

A clean, dry cloth; every once in a while I cut an old cotton t-shirt into squares and leave those around on the desk, put them in the cases, etc.

I don't play as obsessively as I used to - just when recording - so I sometimes leave a set of strings on for 1-2 years. When I was gigging a lot it was every 6 months or so. Wiping the strings down adds to longevity as others have said above.

I don't really use anything on the fretboard; lemon oil once every couple of years, but before I heard of treating the board a few years back (lots of people say you MUST do it!), I never, ever oiled the board, and things were fine. 'Common Knowledge/Practice' changes every so often, but I don't let it get to me :)

Sometimes if the fretboard looks grubby between string changes, I thread a piece of cloth between the strings and fretboard, hold the ends and sorta 'saw' it back and forth parallel to the frets - like polishing a shoe (if anyone does that anymore) and it cleans up nice. For the back of the neck I just wipe the fingerprints off with the same cloth. If it's humid, and there's lots of hand and forearm prints on the rest of the guitar or bass, I spritz on a tiny bit of that Dunlop polish and wipe everything clean again.

Hope this helps :)

Much appreciated. Thanks folks.

I don't recommend this practice, but I have been using the same strings since I started playing in January 2001. Before that, the band's previous bass player had used the set for several years. So they're about 10 years old.

They still sound pretty good and knowledgable people have been impressed with my bass's tone. It is a vintage MusicMan Stingray though and they're famous (notorious) for being pretty trebly (jangly). Using old strings probably tones down the jangle a bit. I always reduce the high end quite a bit when playing too.

I should change them, but I'm lazy and it's been so long since I changed strings that I'm no longer sure I know how.

That makes me feel much better about my 9 month-old bass strings!

Ditto, hbriem, for my leccy guitar strings. I change them when they break, 'cause I don't like jangle. They're perfect for my from about 1 month to about 3 months old, but even after 3 months they're still better than new :)

If you wipe them down after you play, you can get pretty long life out of them.Laz

With just a clean cloth/ rag?

And that brings up another point, should I wipe the neck down with old english (wood polish not malt liqueur. unless that has some benefits as well) every time I change the strings?

I think that depends on the fretboard wood. I would never add anything to ebony, but if rosewood or other woods tend to dry out, you might use a wood oil (not polish).

-Laz

I finally changed the strings on my Peavey Fury IV. I have had the guitar for a year and a half or two without changing the strings. They did not seem so bad, but I knew it would be good to change them. Then I got a new bass the other day with really new strings and could not stand the huge difference. So, I changed the strings on the Peavey to Rotosound 45-105 Flatwounds Jazz Bass 77's. It sounds really different (as in really good).

Well I guess I should change mine soon ( it's been 1 1/2 years) anyone got any suggestions :?: I'm thinking about flat wounds, any thoughts :?: --the dog

BTW I have a cheap washburn bass XB 102, It gets the job done, I use it mainly for recording :D

I love the Rotosound flats, especially for recording. They don't have that 'zing' that you wind up dialing out of the mix anyhow; I've got them on a Turser Beatle and a Squier P-Bass Special.

The flats, I find, sound much better than just turning the tone knob down with rounds.

I know my strings are getting on the old side... they're just so expensive. You can replace guitar strings any old time, but bass strings cost a pretty penny. Fortunately, they last longer than guitar strings. My jazz bass strings are about a year old, and my P-bass... well, we won't get into that. It's my school's bass, and the strings haven't been changed since before the previous bassist graduated. It still sounds good!

Is $12 - $15 that much for a set of roundwound bass strings? If you only change them once a year that's only .03 - .04 cents a day. If that is too much, then you need to just get a job or something. You can get some flatwounds for $17 - $20. For the increased playability, it is really worth it!