On a splurge one day on vacation, I bought a cheap guitar (Epiphone dot). I really liked it and it quickly became my main axe. I bought the guitar on 11/07/01, still have the receipt.
After I had owned the guitar for a year, it still had the original strings on it. They were getting tired, but I thought I'd do a little experiment and see how long they would last. I decided not to change them until one broke.
On 12/04/07, last night, I finally broke a string. A little quick math - I would estimate
6 years 1 month = 6 * 52 + 4 weeks = 316 weeks
316 weeks * 10 hours per week = 3160 hours of play (very roughly)
Not bad for 10's on my main axe! And that's a conservative estimate. Must have something to do with the short scale length. The guitar itself is showing fret wear.
I don't recommend this experiment and I'll never do it again. Do not try this at home.
On the other end of the scale, last year I got a Strat XII (Japan, I like it a lot too). The original strings lasted less than 3 hours. Oh well, if a guitar's going to come with a defective part, better it's the strings than something else.
I love using old strings. If I wanted jangle I'd buy a tele :wink: :mrgreen:
(Actually I'm leaning towards changing fairly often on main guitar - never gonna change my mind on the grungy one though, I love the tone too much :))
PS: Neztok, that 'strings are too old to stay in tune' thing is something they get past if you leave them long enough, in my experience. They're like people: irritatingly energetic when they're young, malfunctioning slightly when they're middle aged and wise and mellowed out nicely when they're old :mrgreen:
I completely agree, once strings have passed that dodgy middle period and are pretty damn gunky, they have a really smooth tone. No inconsistencies and often a thicker less bright tone.
However, even though the 9s that came with my guitar were still standing good, I restrung it with 10s. Fortunately it still sounds very good. :)
"Today is what it means to be young..."
(Radiohead, RHCP, Jimi Hendrix - the big 3)
I don't have an intonation adjustment on that guitar anyway (must get around to replacing the bridge sometime :roll:), and my strings oxidise and go grey, but I keep em clean of gunk. I don't see why you couldn't adjust the setup even if they were coated in a year's worth of finger-cheese?
Leaving strings on till they break is a time-honored tradition that's been followed by many accomplished players.
I just leave mine on till they get to that skanky, crusty middle-aged state, usually. Then I let them retire.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
You guys are joking, right? :shock: :shock: :shock:
You HAVE to be joking. Ok I'm laughing. :lol: :lol: :lol:
I've got to believe you're joking. The only alternative is that the lot of you couldn't recognize the sound of a properly intonated guitar if it jumped up and bit you on the nose. :cry: :cry: :cry:
Playing guitar and never playing for others is like studying medicine and never working in a clinic.
You got any sound clips? I'd love to hear what they sounded like.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
I changed my strings twice in one day last week... :)
(The D'Addario's just didn't sound right! So I went back to Ernie Ball.)
As a rule I change my strings every 2 or 3 months as a matter of course. :shock:
I am using nickel strings for the first time in ages on my Les Paul and I'm noticing pretty severe corrosion already, they've only been on 3 weeks! Might end up going back to stainless steel ones at this rate. :?
Rob
If something's not worth doing it's worth forgetting about.
Epiphone Les Paul Std - Yamaha Pacifica 112XJ - Takamine EG340SC - Taylor Baby - Grainger Hammerhead 50 - Grainger Valve Five
http://www.youtube.com/yashicamatonline
But, but what if the setup got messed up in 6 years (No - that would never happen to a Epiphone Dot,) how would you set the intonation with cootie thickened strings?
Intonation? We're talking Epiphone here...
I just leave mine on till they get to that skanky, crusty middle-aged state, usually. Then I let them retire.
You should've seen the crust on those hard-to-reach areas on the guitar after I took the strings off. It was kinda spooky to think that that little patch of guitar has NEVER been cleaned before. But listening to too much ZZ Top has lowered my personal hygiene standards over time, or so I have been told. I wish I could retire at middle age.
You got any sound clips? I'd love to hear what they sounded like.
If you're feeling brave, you can hear their last performance on the SSG clip I just uploaded. I used the epi for the rhythm part, bridge pickup. I have some fairly recent classical guitar clips floating around somewhere as well.
Too late for me to retire at middle age. I doubt I'll make it to 104.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
I have a guitar that i played on a year ago that's about 20 years old, it's a classic tokai.
in the begining of it's life the strings were changed once every 6 monthes or so but after 9 years of playing my mother stopped playing so often and left the strings there... the guitar's strings have not been changed in 11 years (!!!) and when i picked it up from under the bad (a year ago) it had the same strings that were put on in 1996... i started playing and they sounded... really well, different from the bright sound of new ones... it was a mellow, gentle sound. really good for some of the classical songs i play and really bad for others but it had... a personality :D
lately when the guitar turned 20 i changed the strings to a new set of remirez's.... very nice strings i highly recommend them for classic guitars.
3,000+ hours of funk on those strings and fretboard. You're brave for sure.
"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."
