[Perform-talk] Tips for Stringing a Guitar

[blind411]

Dear All,

                On the Music Talk list, there was a recent posts about
guitar strings and how to keep a guitar's tuning more stable, so I thought I
would offer some tips and tricks for stringing a guitar. Some of these are
fairly basic, but when I have taught some of my colleagues these tips, I
realized they were not as common-sense as I thought. Some believe that the
strings should be removed and replaced in a specific order to avoid applying
uneven tension to the neck that could cause it to turn, thus affecting
intonation. I once thought this, but a luthier I trust has told me this is
not so. In fact, he removes all his strings at the beginning of his
restringing process so he can clean the areas under the string span before
restringing. I researched this question and found his assertion accurate. I
have begun doing this, as well, cleaning the fingerboard with each restring.
Here is my process.

 

1.       Remove all the strings from the guitar; 

2.       Clean the finished wood with a dry, soft cloth;

3.       Using a credit card and toothpick, scrape the crevices between the
nut (the part of the neck where the strings cross over at the head of the
guitar) and between each side of the fret wire;

4.       If your fretboard is made of maple, you will likely not perform
this step, as maple is generally finished with lacquer, protecting the
fingerboard from grime and humidity. If your fingerboard is made of maple,
you can skip to the next step; however, if your fingerboard is made of
rosewood or ebony, it is not finished. Lightly buff the fingerboard and
fretwire with fine steel wool (000) and blow the dust away. If you have a
magnetic pickup, you will want to either cover it or wipe it clean after
this step, as it could attract fine particles of steel wool;

5.       Clean the fretboard with mineral oil. Do not use furniture polish,
as it contains chemicals that are not beneficial to unfinished wood;

6.       Using an emory board, lightly smooth out any grooves that may have
been created on the saddle, the protrusion on the bridge at the bottom of
the instrument where your strings cross;

7.       Run a sharpened pencil along each of the grooves in the nut and
blow the dust away. The graphite of the pencil lead helps prevent string
binding that creates the clicking noise you sometimes hear when tuning your
guitar, especially on the wound strings. This is also one of the problems
that cause tuning instability, since playing the guitar will cause slippage
if the string gets locked in the nut; 

8.       Now, let's string the instrument. Slide the ball end of the string
into the bridge. Lick the peg before inserting it into the hole, as this
causes the peg to stick when it dries. Holding the peg down firmly, give the
string a really good tug. Caution: Be careful with the unwound strings, as
this step could cause a very painful cut on your fingers! My personal
preference is to use brass pegs. They have a hole at the top of the peg that
allows the string to follow a more straight line. This offers a little more
tuning stability and the lack of the turn helps prevent string breakage.
There is no need to lick the brass pegs! (grin) If you are using nylon
strings, feed the string through the hole, loop it around the underside of
the long end, and turn it under the bottom of the string, being sure the
tail end crosses the bottom of the bridge sharply and tie it off by slipping
it under the string at the exit point of the bridge. You can avoid slippage
of the unwound strings by turning the string twice before tying it off;

9.       Feed the long end of the string through the tuning peg of the
machine, leaving enough slack to wind the string a few times;

10.   Here is a great tip for maintaining tuning stability: As you feed the
string through the hole, turn the end upward, wrap the string around the
pin, turn the string downward, wrap it again, turn the string back upward
and wrap the string one more time. This is known as "locking the string".
You may want to do this one extra turn for your unwound strings, as they
tend to slip more.

11.   Tighten your string a step or so above the pitch of that string.
Holding the string on the 12th fret, give the string a good tug. This will
help reinforce both the lock of the string and pull it tight against the
bottom peg. This also will stretch the string a little more and create
additional tuning stability. Remember the adage about guitar strings: They
stretch until they break! Keeping your saddle smooth, though, as suggested
above, will minimize string breakage, as most strings break at the saddle.
You may also notice that the "G" is most likely the string that breaks most
frequently in steel strings. This is due to the fact that the core of the
"g" is the smallest gauge, even smaller than the "E". It also gives
guitarist a reason to ask the audience, "Does anyone have a G-string on
them?"  For nylon strings, you can follow a similar procedure for locking
the strings;

12.   Now that the instrument is restrung, you are ready to tune it. During
the first few tunings, you may want to follow the 12th fret stretching
procedure discussed above. One more tip for tuning. Tune stringed
instruments by bringing the pitch well below that desired. Stretch the
string and bring it up to pitch, rather than down. This creates more pitch
stability. Another tip: The Boss TU-80 tuner is a widely available
electronic tuner that is accessible to the blind, as it chirps when pitch is
achieved!

 

        If you have any questions or would like to offer some of your own
tips I would love to hear from you! If anyone wants to write to me off-list,
my music business email address is

 

SwampFox1833 at verizon.net

 

As an explanation of this address, I perform under the stage name "Marion &
Martin". General Francis Marion was known as the Swamp Fox" and Martin
Guitars was established in 1833. I am also interested in and willing to
share recordings, so please keep in touch! I hope to see many of you in
Orlando!

 

Fraternally yours,

Marion Gwizdala