New Strings

Levi · Unread post by **Levi** » Mon Dec 16, 2002 6:29 pm

Hey I understand that you need to restring your guitar every once in awhile, but how often? One of my friends says he does his every 3 or 4 weeks, and I've had the same set on my Ovation since I bought it about 15 months ago...

My sister just gave me this Martin DX1 outta the blue yesterday so I don't really care about restringing my extremely inferior Ovation now, but I'd really like to take care of this Martin, so how often should I be restringing it?

ticohans · Unread post by **ticohans** » Mon Dec 16, 2002 6:43 pm

levi, it depends on a LOT of things. The first is how often you play the guitar. The more you play it, the more you should restring it. The second thing is how corrosive your hands are. Mine perspire a lot, and I eat through strings more quickly than most, thus I have to replace them more often. The final thing is how little tone you can stand from the strings on your guitar. Having old strings on isn't bad for the guitar, it's just that the sound you get won't be nearly as good. I personally play a lot, have corrosive hands, and am very picky about the sound. I'd like to change my strings once a week, but don't quite do that. Usually it's more like once every 2 weeks, if that. Sometimes though, I'll have strings that just last longer because I play less while they're on or something, so they don't require to be changed right away. Really, just listen to your guitar, and when the sound is really dead and dull, you'll know it's time for new strings. Almost all strings have a period when you first put them on when they are especially bright and metallic that usually lasts for an hour or so of playing. After this, they mellow out some, but are still good and bright. It's when this secondary brightness fades that you want to change strings. If you go with elixers or other coated strings, you can go for months without changing, depending on your style, as they hold their tone longer.

Xoosh · Unread post by **Xoosh** » Mon Dec 16, 2002 8:03 pm

Stay away from elixers, they muddy the sound of the martin guitar to the point of absurdity. I'd actually stick with Martin acoustic lights. Unless you get the action lowered and setup stay away from mediums... however mediums on a martin are well worth the slightly extra expense. I play mediums on my d15 and havent gone back to lights. I get extra tone, beautiful bass... however it cost me $100 or so to get the action fixed and the rods adjusted to take the medium string pull on the neck.

/x

olkskoolpik · Unread post by **olkskoolpik** » Mon Dec 16, 2002 11:40 pm

I read in the luther college tab book that i have that dave uses d'addario lights.

CPTino3001 · Unread post by **CPTino3001** » Mon Dec 16, 2002 11:53 pm

I personally like the D'Addario lights myself...oh and I restring about once a month...

montiac · Unread post by **montiac** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 4:36 am

i've been into the Martin lights and i try real hard to restring mine about once a month. my hands get real oily and sweaty as well, and i play all the time, so strings don't last too long for me. sometimes i'm just too lazy to change 'em though, heh 8)

PilotC150 · Unread post by **PilotC150** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 6:18 am

I use Elixirs on my old crappy Montana, and just put them on my 5 day old Takamine. Although I completely respect Xoosh's comment about not putting them on Martin's. Although I don't know from personal experience, I'm sure he knows what he's talking about. I just don't like when people say "Don't use elixirs, they suck". At least he gives reasoning.

We'll just have to let time tell how they sound on the Tak. I wasn't impressed with the factory D'Addario's that were on the guitar, since the way they are coated it caused more squeaking than with Elixirs. I do tons of slides so I wanted as little squeak as possible.

gcom007 · Unread post by **gcom007** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 10:23 am

personally, I only use D'addario EJ16's which are the light acoustics...I don't like Elixir's at all on any guitar...I have them on my 12-string only because I don't play it often and I want it to sound half-way descent when I do. As for how often...I play a lot, so I liked to change once a week or so, but now I'm poor so I find myself changing once every 3-4 weeks, and I hate it...but I'd say every 2-3 weeks for most people...maybe 4.

tomek322 · Unread post by **tomek322** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 12:10 pm

I have now tried most of the coated strings... so ill throw in my two cents... I love d'addario lights, but i guess the combination of all those (play, body chamistry and such) I make them sound dull in like 2 days and am broke so i play coated cause they do sound better longer to me. I tried the more coated elixers(not sure if nanowebs or poly, read the box says more coated better for sliding on the back... I absolutly hated them... the coating with the combination of body heat leaves this gunk on my fingers, plus the tone is not for me... next time your in a guitar store play a taylor for like 20 minutes and you will know what i mean... i have the martin extended life on right now... these are alright as far as tone, the coating is no where near as gunky as the elixers... but i prefer the daddario sound so i must say that their coated strings are the best IMO... i didn't have the gunk problem with the daddario exp's and the sound was the closest to the daddario phosphorous bronze... the best comparison i have is that, with the coated you will not have that super bright first hour of sound(mentioned above)... but they sound like regular strings do after that hour for a very long time... tone is very subjective so i say try all the different ones one by one and find what you like...

if you are set on non-coated strings and are tight for cash try these... i have never tried them but read reviews and some people love them and others really said they were OK... no one said they sucked... 12 dollars gets you something like 5 sets and its free shipping...
http://www.webstrings.com/portland.html

ticohans · Unread post by **ticohans** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 12:38 pm

Or you can buy the D'addario strings in bulk from http://www.samusic.com

$47.50 gets you 10 sets of the phosphor bronze (1 set costs $4.75) and shipping is free.

They also have EXP's in bulk and cheap, as well as Elixers, both the poly web and nano web. Nano web's have less coating and feel and play closer to non-coated strings. And lastly, they also have John Pearse strings, and if you haven't played them before, let me say that they're awesome. REALLY good sound due to use of high quality materials. Many pros think they're the best around.

gcom007 · Unread post by **gcom007** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 1:16 pm

ticohans wrote:Or you can buy the D'addario strings in bulk from http://www.samusic.com

$47.50 gets you 10 sets of the phosphor bronze (1 set costs $4.75) and shipping is free.

They also have EXP's in bulk and cheap, as well as Elixers, both the poly web and nano web. Nano web's have less coating and feel and play closer to non-coated strings. And lastly, they also have John Pearse strings, and if you haven't played them before, let me say that they're awesome. REALLY good sound due to use of high quality materials. Many pros think they're the best around.

sweet! I'm ordering some! Do you know where I could buy even more for cheaper? I'm probably going away next semester to a school where it's going to be hard to get strings so it'd be nice to get 20 or 25 especially if I could get a better deal...

ticohans · Unread post by **ticohans** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 2:05 pm

that's the cheapest I've seen them for. everything on that site is the cheapest i've seen it for. i know i plug these guys a lot, and i don't work for them or anything. it's just one hell of a guitar shop with phenomenal prices and sevice.

waffle_house_jam · Unread post by **waffle_house_jam** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 6:08 pm

i personally prefer d'addario meduims, which ive been using on my takemine for like 3 years now. i change strings about once every month or so, just because im really lazy and dont want to buy strings all the time.

ticohans · Unread post by **ticohans** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 7:09 pm

the "best strings" out there usually depend on what type of guitar you have. if you have a bigger body, mediums are most likely to sound best. if you have a smaller body, light strings are most likely to sound best. if you have a pretty sensitive topwood, light strings are most likely to sound best. if you have a louder topwood, medium strings are most likely to sound best. if you use a lot of drop tunings, medium strings are most likely to sound best.

grock · Unread post by **grock** » Mon Jan 20, 2003 2:02 pm

Use the bluegrass guages...light tops/medium bottoms...it's the best of both worlds...

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