Things About Strings
When to Change Your Guitar Strings
Of all the reasons we may pick up an acoustic guitar and strum it, the most obvious reason is to hear the tones that emanate from it. Each guitar, with different shapes, sizes and tone woods, produces unique tones. But no matter the design of your guitar, one of the easiest ways to bring your guitar back to life is to change your strings often.
Our hands generally have oils, dirt, and sometimes a corrosive aspect to guitar strings that comes from your unique skin PH. The length of time that your strings remain vibrant with the full tonal spectrum they started with varies with the cleanliness of your hands, your own PH level, and the hours of practice you put in over time. For players that either have a more corrosive PH to their skin, play their guitar with dirty hands, or just play daily for well over an hour, a month can easily signal the end of a strings tonal validity. Yet even the occasional player who washes their hands, wipes down the strings after playing, and have non corrosive PH to their skin, will find that changing their guitars strings after playing on them for 6 months will enhance their playing experience.
I find it surprising that many players feel that if the strings are still on the guitar, they must still be performing in a manner they were intended for. On the other end of the spectrum, I have known many players who change them every week. When I played live with my electric guitar I changed them every night! One way to compare is to bring your guitar into your local music store and ask about the newest acoustic guitar string then compare the differences in brightness – you might be surprised. Regardless, new strings are a small investment that will bring a big return in experience.
Happy playing & thank you for supporting the music store in your community!
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