new jessa regarding strings

i have just picked up my guitar from derringers. took it to get new strings as i had no idea what were on there. i could not figure out if they were really expensive or really cheap. dropping off they were not very open about judging the price of my strings just said they were unsuitable for my guitar. the strings they gave me cost $10 and they charged $30 for changing them. Is this standard?? on picking up they told me the strings I had were jazz strings and are priced at like $30 set. I am wondering if maybe they should have looked at the strings and said 'leave them' and maybe charged me for tuning?? does anyone know much about flat wire strings?? jessa

hey jessa,
don't know much about flat wire strings but you will save a lot of money (at least I did) if you learn to restring your own guitar. Christopher Schlegel has good tutorials on basic maintenance to your axe. I know this reply hasn't been helpful but anyway ;-) ;-)

Pricing is a variable, no name is about impossible to price.. A complete set could be under $10 and $30 to install seems a bit high to me..
Definitely learn to restring your own guitar.. D'addreio strings have color coded ball so you don't have trouble figuring what string go where..
If I remember correctly, flat wound string reduce the noise when sliding your fingers up and down the strings..

Originally Posted by: jessaminka7i have just picked up my guitar from derringers. took it to get new strings as i had no idea what were on there. i could not figure out if they were really expensive or really cheap. dropping off they were not very open about judging the price of my strings just said they were unsuitable for my guitar. the strings they gave me cost $10 and they charged $30 for changing them. Is this standard?? on picking up they told me the strings I had were jazz strings and are priced at like $30 set. I am wondering if maybe they should have looked at the strings and said 'leave them' and maybe charged me for tuning?? does anyone know much about flat wire strings?? jessa

In my (humble) opinion, $30 to string a guitar is absolutely ridiculous. There's no way they should be charging that much.

As far as the strings themselves, what brand did they put on? For $10, I'd hope they're Elixirs.

Originally Posted by: jessaminka7i have just picked up my guitar from derringers.

I googled their website and they're selling the same Epiphone SG at almost double the price I paid at andertons here in the UK. Who has always treated me fairly.

Can u take an experienced guitarist with u, so u won't get ripped off next time?

I like Elixirs and $10 is an OK price. For thirty bucks I could learn to like changing strings, too! :D

Bounce around GT for string changing guidance. YouTube has a bunch of good videos on the subject, as well. Most of those show a string change in under ten minutes making that $30 fee a pretty high prorated hourly wage. ;)

yes john it would be good if we were on the other end of that 30bucks. The trouble is we are not :-( lol. The 1st time I got my strings changed by a local guy he charged me 40bucks. so yes the 1st thing I did was learn to change strings. saved a lot of spare cash