Should I change strings myself or send it in to a shop?

Originally Posted by: schmangeJust do it yourself.
It doesn't take a genius. Check the beginner lessons here... I'm not sure if they're still available without a membership, but it'll walk you right through it.
If not, just use Google and look up 'how to change guitar strings'. You'll probably find hundreds of lessons.
Considering that you'll probably changed your guitar strings a few hundred times in the next 10 years, it's well worth learning it yourself.
While you're at it, study up on setting the intonation as well.

i completely agree with this guy. you wanna know how i first learned how to do it myself? i googled "how to re-string a guitar" and i followed some site step by step. now i do it all myself and save the money and time of a shop.

The first time I changed my bass strings, I decided I better watch the video first (I got a video with it, "Getting Started With Your Fender Bass") and guess what? Every single thing I was gonna do to change them was wrong. Like, don't take off every string, just one at a time. Or, be careful how much you cut (on a bass you cut the strings before they go on). So make sure to watch or read some kind of lesson first, or you might regret it.

Originally Posted by: schmangeYou're only 13 so take some good advice.
Feel free to screw up because that's how you learn.
Everybody messes up the first time they try something so welcome to the club. Heck.. the first time I changed strings I wound them on backwards and didn't know anything about stretching them out so they constantly went out of tune. But the next time I changed them, I read a couple of books on the subject and did a pretty good job.
Now it's just second nature.

I'm going to follow up on this one and say don't be afraid to reread into the process. You'd be surprised at what you can find within the stuff you thought you already knew.

Thanks guys appreciate it :D

you know, i never looked at changing strings this way :eek: i always thought it was easy and when i did it, it was. but i did get a package guitar for my first and it came with a tuner. The only things i got wrong was that i round it on backwards and left all of the string wraped around the machine heads. So it was all un-neat and backwards. But i also got a begginners DVD with my guitar that had all of the basic stuff on it like string changing. thats how i found out that there was a certain way to turn the machine heads. Also, i now have wire cutters and a string winder. (quick and easy) job done :cool:

Would that be an Epiphone package?

Originally Posted by: acapella rapemeWould that be an Epiphone package?

nope its encore *was i got rid of it after a month

i just changed my strings and i did it right..... i hope :confused: when i was putting em on i cut like 5 inches of the the sting off so i had room to wind it up was that a good thing to do??


PLEASE say yes :D

Its not so much a matter of how much string you cut off - its how much string you leave to wrap around the tuner. The high E should have about 5 or 6 full turns on the peg when its tuned to pitch. The low E should wrap around twice. The rest go somewhere between those numbers, depending on the string thickness. The idea is to get just one layer of string wrapped onto the post. If there's not enough string wrapped around the post, it will slip out ot tune. If theres' too much string on there, that can cause slippage too. And it looks gawdawful. After you've done it a few times, you'll get pretty good at knowing how much string length to allow.

Meanwhile, congrats on your first time! :)

Originally Posted by: AkiraI was a bit nervous on my first time but it's great afterwards.

*ahem*

Is that some kind of code?

Originally Posted by: AkiraNo..........

Oh..........