General Music Chat

Cool man, you are selling string stretcher. Good luck.

I love fresh strings with about a half hour break in before the get played. When done right, and balanced tuning is employed, [ neck tension is balanced to the amount of pressure exerted by each individual string]. Finger pressure needed will be increased because of fresh tensile strength but so will the equality and quality in over tones to get the guitar to ring as one musical instrument. Furthermore it eliminates string breakage fear while one is playing live.

I always pull the new string from the 12 fret the middle as far as I can to make sure it is not nicked at the saddle or manufacturing defect , check for jamming at the neck and keep bringing the string up to the tension I will be working it at. I do this 3 strings at a time to make the tuning range and neck and neck tension in normal parameters.

Then I play the heck out of the guit for 10 or 15 minutes do some micro tuning and if the axe doesn't get banged around in transit, it SHOULD stay in perfect tuning for at least 3 or 4 hours. I call those the golden hours.

After that string wear from frets ,finger dirt, and loss of tensile strength cause strings to wear out. Some blues players love old strings, Ask me why next time.

Any way Good luck.

Some blues players love old strings, Ask me why next time.

Any way Good luck.

okay - why?

I put off changing my strings til they are nearly un-playable (as defined by me) cause they're expensive. I buy 10 packs at a time, but try to make that pack last and use the good strings for recording should that actually happen in my rather complex home schedule.

Um, strings are less than $4 a set here. What are they, $20 in Cali? There are cheaper hobbies you could look into. Just sayin'.

OK because strings that have lost there new tensile strength are easier to bend. That finger grit that develops from worn strings is easier to grab a string and bend it, new strings are slippery. Also when you stretch out a strings life it tends to develop wear patterns caused by frets. When you tune up to account for those wear patterns it causes some cool overtones pertinent to the favorite keys being played in. Sometimes it contributes to a real blues sound.

The biggest draw back to using old strings is possible breakage at the wrong time. I only have one guitar to play live, fresh strings set up right won't break and if the temperature change is not tremendous, tuning should be stable for the show. I don't see any top groups stopping in between songs to tune.

Um, strings are less than $4 a set here. What are they, $20 in Cali? There are cheaper hobbies you could look into. Just sayin'.

They're about 6 here, give or take. Send me some cash - mine is tied up paying my kids' college tuition.

Um, strings are less than $4 a set here. What are they, $20 in Cali? There are cheaper hobbies you could look into. Just sayin'.

No Jimmy, you get a price break cause you are just up the road from "Steel City" Ha Ha.

Some hand made strings for violins etc can be very expensive.

OK because strings that have lost there new tensile strength are easier to bend. That finger grit that develops from worn strings is easier to grab a string and bend it, new strings are slippery. Also when you stretch out a strings life it tends to develop wear patterns caused by frets. When you tune up to account for those wear patterns it causes some cool overtones pertinent to the favorite keys being played in. Sometimes it contributes to a real blues sound.

The biggest draw back to using old strings is possible breakage at the wrong time. I only have one guitar to play live, fresh strings set up right won't break and if the temperature change is not tremendous, tuning should be stable for the show. I don't see any top groups stopping in between songs to tune.

ah, very interesting!

Great a Cali and Michi going head to head over string prices and all I was trying to do was explain why I don't need a string bender.

Glen

Always fascinated by trivia - I never could figure why people'd want old strings. I remember reading an interview with the Doors' guitarist and thought huh?

Great piece of info.

Sometimes I regret our relatively short lifespans because I really am interested in well, all of it!

thanks
Talbot

Great a Cali and Michi going head to head over string prices and all I was trying to do was explain why I don't need a string bender.

besides NY, I think Cali is the next most expensive place to live - tax wise. I think the minimum wage required for a family of 3 to get by in the Bay Area is like 70K/year I'd move, but timing's not right with all the kids in school n stuff. I'm kind of stuck here in the armpit of the West. Sure you don't need a string bender? Maybe I can make a little on the side sellinem.

No Jimmy, you get a price break cause you are just up the road from "Steel City" Ha Ha.

Not sure what Steel City means, but I use GHS strings, made in in the city where they used to make Gibsons.

Great a Cali and Michi going head to head over string prices and all I was trying to do was explain why I don't need a string bender.

besides NY, I think Cali is the next most expensive place to live - tax wise. I think the minimum wage required for a family of 3 to get by in the Bay Area is like 70K/year I'd move, but timing's not right with all the kids in school n stuff. I'm kind of stuck here in the armpit of the West. Sure you don't need a string bender? Maybe I can make a little on the side sellinem.

As pure capitalist that Philby despises, Bless you and good luck!

No Jimmy, you get a price break cause you are just up the road from "Steel City" Ha Ha.

Not sure what Steel City means, but I use GHS strings, made in in the city where they used to make Gibsons.

Just funnin' Jimmy, you live just north of PA where all the steel production happened long time ago. I'm sure many great songs were played from some of that steel.

The reason I've kept my bottom three strings on a little longer after changing strings at times was because I liked the sound, and the ease of playing them. It's true, new strings don't have the grip that old ones do. Plus, you don't have to work them in to stay in tune either. I didn't know that a lot of Blues players did this, but I can see why they would. I'm starting to gather a lot of lower E strings as of lately.

I live just north of PA? Did they move it to Toledo?

And we still make steel here, in a little place they call the Rouge Foundry http://fordmotorhistory.com/factories/r ... oundry.php

Now if you had said Steal City that would have been funny.