i recently tried to restring my electric and i failed miserably. i broke a bunch of em and just did it plain wrong, despite me researching some and trying to do the loop end thing. i have a tune o matic, so the bridge part is easy. the headstock part and the amount of slack and winding is wat messed me up. i looked at frets.com and saw how he stringed a steel string (which is close to an electric). any other site or tips u have??? thx
There are lots of places on the net with instructions on stringing a guitar so just search on "guitar stringing".
Or, you can try the following.
Remove 1 string at a time.
Leave the tuner set with the hole through it parallel with the nut (in other words, the hole pointing left to right).
Run the string through the tailpiece and over the bridge.
Now run the string over the nut and from the inside of the headstock put the string through the hole so it is pointing away from the head and pull it snug.
Now pull the string back thru the hole about two inches for the wound strings and about an inch for the small strings.
Whichever side you are on bend the string toward the top of the head then back around the tuner, bring it under the string then bend it up.
Now slowly take up the tension by turning the tuner so the string is winding on the inside of the head and the string is under the previous wind.
When it gets a little tension then start watching your electronic tuner until it is in tune. Once it is in tune grab the string at the 12th fret and pull it up to set the string on the tuner then bring it up to tune again.
Be real carefull when tuning since it is real easy to pass its tuned point and snap it.
Repeat for the other strings.
First time is the toughest :!:
wow. that was pretty good. i liked the whole tuner facing parallel and the amount of slack necessary. thats really what screwed me over, the slack part. any other tips???
Check out the d'adarrio website for a little movie that shows you how.
its interesting to note how in that little movie, if u watch closely, the guy takes the nonexcess string and loops this around the post. in other words, i always thought that youre supposed to take from the piece of excess string thats to be cut later and loop that under and around to secure the string in place. do u guys understand?? look at the string change lesson on this site for the pics then look at the movie to see the differences.
There are two trains of thought. 1) Loop it around and back under the string so the wind presses down on it and 2) just put it through the post and bend it up and make sure you have 3 winds on the post.
I like option 1 since it guarantees pulling the strings tight on the post but either way actually works. I do my electrics with option 1 and acoustics with option 2 since I tend to play the electric harder. Option 2 looks prettier since there is no lump caused by the loop back.
