How To String An Electric Guitar

Description

Stringing a guitar is a very controversial subject. Everyone has their own
tried and true methods for keeping their guitars in tune. There are also many chapters in many books going into great detail on this very subject. What I'm going to attempt here is to explain, in it's simplest form, how to string a basic electric guitar.

First, I'm going to assume your guitar is clean and adjusted properly.
(There's no point in putting strings on a dirty guitar with a bent neck and
intonation problems). Next, I'm going to assume that you've also made sure your hands are clean and free of oils. (Nothing kills that "new" sound faster than oils eating away at your strings).

Now for the actual stringing. Like I said though, this is just the basics: it is aimed at standard electric guitars. This is aimed at guitars with stock, non-locking tuners, nothing else. No debates over whether to replace one string at a time or remove all the strings at once and start from scratch. Nothing discussed about quality or condition of tuning keys, the shape of the nut and bridge saddle(s), etc.

Removing the old strings

To remove the old strings you can either unwind them off the posts* or slacken them fully before taking a wire cutter to them. With acoustic guitars, the
strings are held onto the bridge by a pin. So, you also have to remove the pin
carefully with a pin puller or a pair of pliers. If the pin is stuck, try
putting your hand in the sound hole and pushing up from inside the guitar.

As a last resort, you can leverage the pin out with a screwdriver but for safety
sake, put down a piece of padding so that you don't damage your guitar.
Dispose of your old strings. If they're still in one piece you can keep them as
emergency extras but personally I'd just toss them out because used strings are
kinda gunky.

*If you have a string winder, great. If not, this is the first of several times in this process that you will wish you had one.

Replacing with new ones

Starting with any string you want, thread the new string through the base of the guitar at the bridge. Thread either from the rear of the guitar through the body on a Strat type, or through the bridge attached to the front of the guitar on a Les Paul type. With acoustics, put the ball of the string into the hole and replace the pin so that it holds the string tightly in place. Be careful that the middle part of the string doesn't get crimped or bent when you are handling it.

Ex. 1

Winding the string around the post

Moving up to the headstock, thread the string through the hole or slot in the
post. You'll want to leave enough slack so that the string winds around this post at least three to six times depending on the gauge (more for unwound
strings). Make a right angle bend in the string where it exits the hole and
wind the string in the correct direction (towards the centre of the headstock; or just look at somebody else's guitar to figure this one out). With slotted posts, make a bend in the string as shown (Ex.1) and hold on tightly.

Ex. 2

With unwound strings, you can now optionally loop it back underneath the string and up against the post, in effect wrapping it against itself (Ex. 2). With wound strings, you can make the first wrap over the string as it comes through the post and then wrap the rest under ( Ex. 3, 4 ). In all cases though, you'll want to make sure the windings go downward, tightly and neatly. Always avoid wrapping strings over themselves multiple times or using so little string that there's nothing to grip with.

Ex. 3

Ex. 4

After you have the string on, you should tune it up. But that is the topic of href="http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=1734">another lesson.