Getting right to it, what's your minimum time before a gig or jam session do you change the strings? Surely you don't want to change 20 minutes before a gig. Stings need to stretch, settle, etc. No one wants to be out of tune 20 seconds into every song for an evening. How much time do you allow before an all important event?
Kind of a related thought, I imagine a guitar tech for someone like Eric Clapton must really have to bash the strings between shows on a guitar if Eric comes off the stage and utters a "change the strings, mate!" type of command. He's gonna want the guitar all set for tomorrow night. No new string side effects. Interesting logistics.
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
If you keep tension on the strings the whole time they're winding onto the tuner post, it really helps. If you must rely on it without a day or so to settle in, try tuning up about a full step above the target pitch and tune back down.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
From what I've seen the pros change them before the shows but the techs do it and stretch the strings for them. At the Ted Nugent concert I was at I had a good view of Ted's tech and all during the show he was taking one guitar at a time, dusting it with a new / clean paint brush (I thought I had invented that idea) restringing, strumming and retuning a bunch of times and then polishing and moving on to the next one in line. I would think a day or two would be suficient if you play them and stretch them. Or .. hire Ted's tech. He does nice work. :wink:
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
my minimum was 24 hours. when I was in a gigging band and heavy rehearsals (20hrs per week) I changed my string every sunday as a rule. rehearsals started on tuesdays. I keep tension on the tuning post when winding. I find I get accurate winds; no overlaps. I would play barre chords up and down the neck. make a bunch of bends with each string at different places along the neck. then retune.
I too clean the guitar when restringing. after it is done and tensioned I use a clean cloth to wipe everything. sort of like the crook wiping his prints off the gun.
my guitar sound great at every gig no matter how much I sucked. I never broke a string.
now. no band and no long rehearsals. I change when I hear the string go dull sounding.
I need me one of them guitar techs. About a 25 year old red headed lady will do just fine. :mrgreen:
So, it looks like a day or so, but if you give them a work-out, it's not required. That's good to know.
Thanks guys!
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
Many of the shows that I worked back when I did that sort of thing, I saw (and occasionally helped) the guitar tech re-string in the afternoon of the show. He would yank on the stings and/or play a bunch of heavily bendy scales then re-tune until the guitar seemed to want to stay in tune.
Then a full re-tune of all the guitars right before the show.
The one I was most involved with was helping* Steve Earle's tech (Chip, IIRC) do this. They had a spare instrument for each one that was used on stage (and in each tuning). It took a couple of hours to go thru the whole fleet.
* I was assigned the rag and bottle of guitar polish. And picking up the cut strings off the floor.
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
