Hi! I have a question that's a little different. I've been teaching myself how to play guitar, and have been coming along fairly well. This afternoon I was tuning it, and my 4th string popped of of the little knob that holds it tight. Is there any way I can fix this? The string is still intact, not damaged at all, I just don't know how to fix this...Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Katie
You say that the string "popped of of the little knob that holds it tight" so I'm assuming that you have a steel-string acoustic guitar, not a spanish classical.
The end of the string that pooped out should have a little ball on the end of it. You can just put this end back into the hole it came out of, and push the "pin" than holds in it back into it firmly (you'll do this every time you replace the strings).
This has happened to me once when fitting new strings, and it seemed to work just fine - however, it may have popped out due to too much tension being needed to keep it in tune: perhaps you need new strings?
How long have you had the same strings? Time between replacing strings varies for each player, but anything over a month (maybe 6 weeks) of playing and serious players might suggest looking at replacing them - I'm sure some people around here change them almost every week!
I replace strings about every 4 weeks or so, depending on how much I've played.
Pete
ETD - Formerly "10141748 - Reincarnate"
I've only been playing for about three weeks, and i have no idea how old the strings are. The guitar isn't mine, it's borrowed. And my strings don't have any balls...
What guitar do you have? (make, model)? Can you get a photo of the bridge (where the string came out) and post it?
It could be that the ball snapped off the string, and thats why it came out.
Pete
ETD - Formerly "10141748 - Reincarnate"
You'll need to unwind or detune that string at the headstock a few turns before inserting it back into the bridge. Then just push the bridge pin (the little knob) back in.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
To me it sounds like the string let go at the headstock end if there are no little balls at the end. If this is the case there should be a little hole in the metal thing that holds the string, its sort of like threading a needle and then turning it tight. Check out http://www.frets.com for info on stringing a guitar. An idea might be to take it to the person you borrowed it from and let him/her show you how to do what needs to be done.
When they say ball, it is probably not really a ball but a ring, either way, it's basically a solid piece of something that is larger than the string itself, if it ain't there, you just have to get a new string.
is an image of some strings where you can see what most strings look like on the end (I haven't seen any that don't look that way but I think that's because I haven't seen enough guitar strings yet).
