Re-Stringing Questions

I think this is one of those questions that pop up from time to time - like "Is it better to tune my 12-string down a semitone or two" - where what was right 30, maybe even 20 years ago doesn't apply today. Better technology, better design, better materials etc....

I can remember the last time I DID take all the strings off at once, a couple of years ago - wanted to give my acoustic a good clean. When I put the strings back on, I thought I'd tune them by ear, see how close I got. Got them all in tune, left them for a while, re-tuned and tried 'em. About a semi-tone flat all across the board - so my ear wasn't as good as I thought it was!

I'm going to change the strings on the Tele today - think I will take 'em all off and give that fretboard a good clean. Thanks, Greg!

:D :D :D

Vic

Wanna talk excessive stress on the neck? then read the latest Guitar Player cover story on Brad Paisley. there's a bit in there about his Tele trem technique.
Is he doing the thing where you push down against the guitar body and up on the neck with the lower bout anchored against your body? I've done that a lot. Heard one guy say a Danelectro "blew up" in his hands while he was doing that. That'd make an impression on an audience.

Is he doing the thing where you push down against the guitar body and up on the neck with the lower bout anchored against your body? I've done that a lot. Heard one guy say a Danelectro "blew up" in his hands while he was doing that. That'd make an impression on an audience.

it's neck bending of some sort, but the specifics weren't clearly described. I've done the pull-back-on-the-neck trick to do a raise-the-pitch bend or vibrato. that works esp well with a one-way truss rod system (Tele, Dano, many others), and is going against string tension (easy on the guitar ... to a point), so the neck is being flexed back to unstrung "at rest" position. my impression was that Paisley pushes on the back of the neck to make the string tension lower and drop the pitch (or maybe it's a nice, shimmery push-pull?) that's not only flexing wood, but def working against the truss rod, as well as adding stress to the neck-body joint. the interviewer mentioned that Slash used to do the same until his guitar "blew up" or exploded. I would have thought that would be a LP ... but maybe that's the Dano story?

Exactly. That's what I'm talking about, bending the neck forward to lower the pitch.

This subject has been up for debate many times. I've never tried taking them all off at the same time. Here's an article I found.
First thing to remember, do NOT remove all six strings at the same time. The guitar neck is designed to withstand the tension of the strings and if all of the tension is removed for any significant amount of time you could damage your guitar.

Also, there are some guitars that are literally held together by the string tension. I remember reading a story about a guy who had recently gotten hired as a guitar tech for the Ramones. Wanting to make a good impression on Johnny Ramone he decided to restring his guitar for him right before the show. He removed all six strings and Johnny's Mosrite guitar literally fell apart in his hands. The string tension held the whole guitar together! What's worse, the bridge of the guitar bounced across the floor and fell down the air conditioning duct.

If I remember the story correctly, they spent quite some time using a coat hanger and chewing gum trying to rescue the bridge from the duct. He retrieved it and managed to keep his job, living to restring the guitar another day. But not all six strings at once!

But I digress. Some people work in pairs of strings at a time, I prefer to work on individual strings. You will quickly decide what works best for you. Use this article as a guideline to get you up to speed quickly.

This subject has been up for debate many times. I've never tried taking them all off at the same time. Here's an article I found.
First thing to remember, do NOT remove all six strings at the same time. The guitar neck is designed to withstand the tension of the strings and if all of the tension is removed for any significant amount of time you could damage your guitar.

no link to the article. but the neck-damage-tension argument is pure tripe. whoever wrote this misinformation either simply does not know what (s)he is talking about or was dealing with a very unusual situation, and has mistakenly generalized that to all guitars. many of us here work on guitars, taking them apart for extended periods of time -- no issues. how do think companies such as Warmoth and Stew-Mac store unattached necks they stock for sale? they certainly do not store them under tension (and the truss rod is probably "relaxed.") same is true for companies that manufacture guitars. claiming that complete destringing of a guitar may damage the neck not only fails the common sense test, but the experiences of many "skilled in the art."
Also, there are some guitars that are literally held together by the string tension. I remember reading a story about a guy who had recently gotten hired as a guitar tech for the Ramones. Wanting to make a good impression on Johnny Ramone he decided to restring his guitar for him right before the show. He removed all six strings and Johnny's Mosrite guitar literally fell apart in his hands. The string tension held the whole guitar together! What's worse, the bridge of the guitar bounced across the floor and fell down the air conditioning duct.

no mystery here. we covered this above. several times

Makes a lot of sense what you're saying here gnease. I've been playing guitar for a long long time but have always had someone do my setups and any other work that's needed on my guitars. Sometimes it's hard to know who to believe about these things when there's so many different opinions and they all claim to be right. I just restrung my guitars for my next show, but when I restring the next time I will try taking all the strings off and see what happens. The neck could use a good cleaning anyway. This is one of the reasons I joined the forum. Thanks for your input.

It's also frustrating that you sometimes see guitar companies repeat old wives' tales.

people used to say "it must be true, because I <insert choice a or b>!" a) read it in the newspaper b) saw it on TV

... and we all laugh at those statements now. unfortunately, "I saw/read it on the web." often means even less. or worse, there is inadvertent misinfo mixed in with very good info in legit-looking pieces (e.g., that article on pick-ups that's resurfaced -- so good in some respects, yet filled with conjecture-stated-as-fact). yeah, frustrating and cached forever or until the last Google and Yahoo servers bite the dust.

but forgetting all that and going OT...
axissupersport: do you own a Music Man Axis Super Sport? and if so, 'buckers or the MM P90s with active hum canceling?

Yes I have a Supersport with Humbuckers and I love it.

nice gutar -- one of my wants is an Axis SS with the P90s. but I already have waaay too many guitar at the moment.

I already have waaay too many guitar at the moment.

Ummm.. I don't think I've seen that phrase before.

Certainly not with your name attached :lol:

I've got no place to keep them anymore, plus also have a mando, bass, banjo, violin, glissentar, soon-to-be-fininshed lapsteel and a bunch of Lee Oscars vying for attention. and then there's that day job professional thing... it's getting a little over the top.

Gnease...noticed you've got a mando. So, okay, I've had a hankerin' to get one after all this time.

Any ideas???

Cat

I'm taking a break from working on my soon-to-be-refinished lapsteel. :D