Changing guitar strings question

Okay i have a question when a string breaks or rusts on my electric guitar should i change ONLY the string that broke or all the strings and start off with a new set? Ive been searching around and ive gotten mixed results. What do u think?

i cant 100% say you should or you shouldnt change all the strings. i guess it depeneds on you i guess. i always change all the strings but im really OCD about that kind of thing. i also dont buy strings in bulk and i hate finding sets with a string missing or throwing away 5 brand new strings.

if you havent already tried you might consider buying a few sets in bulk just to try them out. also if your strings are rusty you should change them all cause that rust can sap out your tone.

one last note if your buying strings in bulk figure out which ones you break the most and buy a few extra of those. so you might buy 3Low E 3A 3D 5G 4B 6 high E. (i love bending the G and E so i break those the most.)

i would really hate to throw away 5 strings just because one of them is broke or rusted. I think ill just change them as they break or rust.

My general rule of thumb is that if I have had more than 2 weeks of use, I will change them at the next opportunity I get.. even if they are not broken. However, I can't alway afford new strings every 2 weeks, and sometimes I can't get to a store to buy them that often either.. So it usually ends up about once a month or so.

So.. if you break a single string within 2 weeks of stringing your guitar change the single string.. anything more than a month, change the whole set.Use your judgement for anything in between..

yea i know i need to change them every month or two. Ill just use what u said, 2 weeks if it breaks change just the broken one. 1 month or longer change them all.

Well, if your gigging and a string breaks, you don't have a choice but to just put on a new one. But if its from playing at home, change them all. The only time I break a string is on my Dean with the FR when my strings get too rusty they high e snaps off. The string broke cause it was old and weak, so all the others will be old and weak as well, so you might as well change them.

What if i put new strings on and one week later a string breaks, its not rusted and the others still sound fine,would i just change the broken string or change them all?

If that happens, something is going on with your guitar, or your using really crappy strings. What kinda guitar is it? You might want to get new saddles/bridge piece.

nah that hasnt hapened yet....i dont even have my guitar yet i just wanna make sure i know when to change them and what to do with strings when i get my guitar....its a rouge hh

ScaryJam,

If you have a rusted string, change all of your strings. If you have a broken string, I would suggest, at this level, change all strings only if the strings are more than one month old.

Strings get stale after a period of being exposed to the air. Thus, the sound changes after a while. At your level, you may not notice. The longer you play, the more noticeable it may become. After you can hear the difference between fresh and stale strings, I would suggest the following: if you break a string, change all your strings if the non-broken strings are more than one week old.

Of course, these are just general guidelines. The most important thing is to use your ears and your hands to determine what is best for your situation. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Rich Moulton

I always change them all no matter what (if its a broken string, or a dirty one). The high E is always gona give you the most problems, so thats usually the one your going to need to change the most. The low strings almost never break since they are way more durable. So if you start taking singe strings out of packs, your going to have a bunch of left over larger gauge strings. Might as well throw them all on at once and have a brand new set.

If your in the middle of gig and a string breaks however, changing them all isn't practical, so you want to just change the broken one and be done with it asap.

thx for the help you guys ill try to stick to what you guys guidelines are

i think you can have a try!!!

Thats not a bad question achully, my only advice to that is really depending on the curcumstances. Like for example*

Say I freshly put a new set of string on my guitar and then when I was playing on my guitar later that day I snapped a string. Then I would know for a fact the other strings would be in perfect condition so I would change only the string that snapped. But if I had my string on for 3 months and snapped a string I'd then probably change all the strings, If i could afford to or if i had a spare set.

Also you have to take the quality of the strings into consideration, because if your strings are rusting and you havn't had them on long... It's either you take your guitar scuba - diving or theres somthing up.

If you want advice for string makes, I would advice elixir string but at the down side of paying abit more for your strings. There good quality and last for ages.

So hope all this helps or if it seems like aload of gibberish I hope you enjoyed it :D

Cheers, Jake