how long should strings last?

fjcdt

ok so being a relative noob asfar as the tech side of guitaring goes i have a few questions WRT string life.
1: is 4 months decent life on strings?
Its on my acoustic, i use martin 80/20 bronze xl.
I play this guitar everyday, and i mean everyday even if i can only manage 20min.
2: would the bronze wound strings flatten the frets more than other strings?
I can see some serious wear on the frets where i bend the most, is this as a result of bending?
3: the winding seems to fray off the string, is this caused or aggrevated by the existing wear on the frets or are these just not the best strings?
4: could the frets on my guitar be louzy?
Im not going to keep the guitar if i have to change strings every 3/4 months, like it asmuch as i do the hassle would just mean id stop using it.

MikeM

I change every month on electrics, (try to) every 2 months on acoustics.

Fret wear is probably from where you play most.

Perhaps explain a bit better what you mean about the string fraying?

I doubt the frets would be dodgy.. How much have they worn in how long?

Warren

Frans wrote: ok so being a relative noob asfar as the tech side of guitaring goes i have a few questions WRT string life.
1: is 4 months decent life on strings?
Its on my acoustic, i use martin 80/20 bronze xl.
I play this guitar everyday, and i mean everyday even if i can only manage 20min.
2: would the bronze wound strings flatten the frets more than other strings?
I can see some serious wear on the frets where i bend the most, is this as a result of bending?
3: the winding seems to fray off the string, is this caused or aggrevated by the existing wear on the frets or are these just not the best strings?
4: could the frets on my guitar be louzy?
Im not going to keep the guitar if i have to change strings every 3/4 months, like it asmuch as i do the hassle would just mean id stop using it.

4 months is crazy life. Some guys fit new every other night, the average bedroom guitarist can often get by with 1 or 2 changes a month.

Bronze strings are relatively soft. When you say fret wear, what do you mean? If the winding is fraying, the strings are either crappy or they've just been on too long. Which strings and brand are you using? And on which guitar?

ParadoximA

Well if the only hassle is changing the strings (and not the finances), get a second guitar - you'll be able to go twice as long before changing strings. But then you'll have twice as many strings to change...

Strings will still go bad over time though, whether you're playing them or not, so you'd probably only be extending their life to 6 months max. Wiping them off with a cloth after every time you play will also help them last, but most of us are too lazy. Plus it won't help much with the direct mechanical wear, which seems to be your main problem.

To answer your questions directly:
1. 4 months is pretty good given that you play every day.
2. I donno...
3. That's quite normal, but when that starts happening you're already overdue for a change. This could be happening too early if you play the same things over and over, or only play in one key - anything that'll cause you to play some frets more than others.
4. They could be, but that's probably not the problem here. (Since there probably isn't a problem here).

AlanRatcliffe

If you play regularly, anything more than a month is good. I get about three weeks to a month out of a set.

Of course, it depends on when you consider your strings to be worn out: for me, it's when they lose their tone and start feeling soft. Many players are happy playing them until they break.

Harder string compounds will last longer, but wear frets faster. Fretwire is also a type of bronze. Plain bronze is softer, 80/20 is in the middle and Phosphor bronze is the hardest. If you bend a lot, you will wear your frets faster.

90% of fretwire is all the same compound, so they all have similar wear. While there are harder compounds (the golden coloured bronze or stainless steel) and installation tricks that harden the fretwire, it's rare to find either on any but the best guitars - and even then it's rare.

Keira-WitherKay

yes if you want to only change strings every 3-4 months ..... and you say you play every day ......you being very ambicious .....

i would say if you playing every day and NOT gigging live with the guitar change strings every month or 6 weeks tops...... to keep best tone.......

but if you also doing live GIGs on the guitar then change every week to 10 days to avoid breakage onstage and keep really great tone......
new strings can make a guitar sound hugely better than the same guitar with 3 month old strings

see changing strings as a consumable ,(like changing oil in your car ) which if you don't do it you will eventually suffer from breakages and bad tone

fjcdt

thanks to everyone for the advice.
As far as this goes im more than happy to swop the strings once a month if thats the norm, somehow i had the idea that a good set would last alot longer.
maybe because when i started playing it took forever to wear a set out. But back then it almost took aslong to change chords too.
so its off to the shop (yippee) to get new strings and maybe i'll give the EC set by martin a go.
apperently they have more life.
So with all worries now laid to rest i'll get back to noodling and having fun with the guitar instead of stressing about how long they should last.

Squonk

Frans

There are strings that do last longer, Elixir Nanowebs, most probably get away with 2-3 months playing, but are considerably more expensive

http://www.elixirstrings.com/

StephenG

HUGE coincidence as I was going to make the exact same post this morning...

As I have always heard, and as Alan and Keira and others have said, you should change your strings regularly "too maintain the best tone"..... some 'pro's' changing weekly when they gig..

BUT... and this is a big BUT................ if tone is very subject to the listener, who can say that the tone from older strings is "wrong"... ? ? ?

as mentioned elsewhere, i got a guitar back from being set up yesterday with brand new shiny strings on it.. I bought it not long ago, 2nd hand with older strings on it.. they were not rusty or anything, but for sure not new.. and i simply LOVED the tone from the guitar...

amps and all were tuned into the tone i want from the guitar with those strings........ now, with new strings, 'that' tone is gone.. I do not want to start fiddling with the amp settings, so will wait until the strings are worn in some more... to see if the tone comes back.

so really, barring bits of rust and dust flying off old strings, why cant one keep them on and get the tone you want from old strings as opposed to new ones, is it wrong???

obviously this applies to electric guitars only, as acoustics with old strings will get better sound from a wet shoelace across the sound hole, than strings older than 2 months or so.

Squonk

Also depends how you play the acoustic.

It suits me to change once a month because the strings do become a bit dull.

I do a lot of hammerons, tapping and quite a bit of a percussive technique that most probably lowers the life of the strings.

It doesn't sound awful after a month, but there is not much of a ring or response. When I put on a new set it's like playing on a new guitar ?

FruitarGeek

now if jack white where involved in this convo he would probably tell you to buy the cheapest strings. Give them to a sweaty wannabe teenager guitarist, and after a month he would claim them back to put no. Point of story... Sound is subjecive. If you want that old fart sound when you play, then who are we to stop you ?

[deleted]

Squonk wrote: Frans

There are strings that do last longer, Elixir Nanowebs, most probably get away with 2-3 months playing, but are considerably more expensive

http://www.elixirstrings.com/

Thats long for Elixirs.. I love Elixirs, but I play them moeg... maybe a 2 weeks and they in pieces... I blame Monte Montgomery... ?

I change strings every month, coated, or non-coated...
electrics, every month coated, or non-coated...

ParadoximA

Squonk wrote: Frans

There are strings that do last longer, Elixir Nanowebs, most probably get away with 2-3 months playing, but are considerably more expensive

http://www.elixirstrings.com/

I just went to the site, and noticed for the first time that those string packs look just like condom packs (you can't tell how big the box is on the site) - the artist endorsements get a whole new meaning ? :-[

"I don't have to change them all the time and they still sound fantastic."
"They feel really great, and still sound really good after a bunch of shows."
"I love their playability. Your fingers just glide along."
"I don't have to fight to slide on or pluck the strings."

<Runs away and hides>

flatfourfan

I swap about every 3 months, but then again, I split the playing between 3 guitars......

Keira-WitherKay

StephenG wrote: HUGE coincidence as I was going to make the exact same post this morning...

As I have always heard, and as Alan and Keira and others have said, you should change your strings regularly "too maintain the best tone"..... some 'pro's' changing weekly when they gig..

BUT... and this is a big BUT................ if tone is very subject to the listener, who can say that the tone from older strings is "wrong"... ? ? ?

as mentioned elsewhere, i got a guitar back from being set up yesterday with brand new shiny strings on it.. I bought it not long ago, 2nd hand with older strings on it.. they were not rusty or anything, but for sure not new.. and i simply LOVED the tone from the guitar...

amps and all were tuned into the tone i want from the guitar with those strings........ now, with new strings, 'that' tone is gone.. I do not want to start fiddling with the amp settings, so will wait until the strings are worn in some more... to see if the tone comes back.

so really, barring bits of rust and dust flying off old strings, why cant one keep them on and get the tone you want from old strings as opposed to new ones, is it wrong???

obviously this applies to electric guitars only, as acoustics with old strings will get better sound from a wet shoelace across the sound hole, than strings older than 2 months or so.

well in reply to stephans post , yes tone is personal..... and if you like the sound of worn out strings thats definitely no problem cos lets be honest it's your sound ..........

however and i can only speak from my personal experience.......... so again it's coming from the pro muso position ............where to me as i use 9's on my tele the risk of older strings is they can break and also that they lose their "sparkle" and i also find older strings seem to sound like they need their intonation set ....... (i have no scientific proof that old strings lose intonation...i'm not too technical ....but it sound to me that newer strings are better with intonation maybe it;'s just psycosymatic ? )

but personally (and each to their own here) i like the tone of 2 day old strings the best ....if i ever do a studio session i always replace the strings 48hrs before the session ....... strings right after they put on new are still too unstable and overly bright .......

and for times when i work lots of gigs ....... like i did at sun city when i did 8-9 gigs a week plus rehearsals for 9 months ... ..i would find if i changed strings every week i'd never break a string onstage and the tone and intonation sounded great to my liking ........... cos a broken string when you pro is a major issue...... i used to always carry 2 guitars because of that but now i find if i change strings religeously every week i never (or lets say reduce breaking strings to about 1 in 100 chance of snapping a string) so i don't need a 2nd guitar ( but always carry a few sets of new strings cos one can nevere say never) but i found if i played a lot and left strings on for 2 weeks the risk of a break rose dramatically to say 1 in 20 so that risk is not worth it for someone gigging

but like i said when i started this post ...each to his/her own tastes

ParadoximA

I once tried out a set of Ernie Balls that had some or other special layer over them to help extend the life of the strings - they were horrible, they didn't even last a couple of hours before they started to break apart and sound horrible. Maybe I just got a bad batch.

I've always thought that on a Strat strings sound best after only a few hours play, and on guitars with humbuckers it takes a lot more time for the tone to suit my ears.

StephenG

Keira WitherKay wrote:
well in reply to stephans post , yes tone is personal..... and if you like the sound of worn out strings thats definitely no problem cos lets be honest it's your sound ..........

however and i can only speak from my personal experience.......... so again it's coming from the pro muso position ............where to me as i use 9's on my tele the risk of older strings is they can break and also that they lose their "sparkle" and i also find older strings seem to sound like they need their intonation set ....... (i have no scientific proof that old strings lose intonation...i'm not too technical ....but it sound to me that newer strings are better with intonation maybe it;'s just psycosymatic ? )

but personally (and each to their own here) i like the tone of 2 day old strings the best ....if i ever do a studio session i always replace the strings 48hrs before the session ....... strings right after they put on new are still too unstable and overly bright .......

thanks for the observation and advise there Keira - -i will give it 48hours before judging it any furrther, as for sure right now its way too overly bright sounding..

and as unscientific as you may be on the intonation, there could be something behind your thinking there... as the new strings I have on now, being the same gauge as the old ones, are A LOT harder to bend and stiffer than the older strings... the older strings were much easier to bend and felt more "loose".. which could create an intonation problem as you suggest, I would imagine..

tough one i guess... throw money at new strings on a regular basis... or dial in an older tone...? ? if I am only getting in 20 - 30 minutes daily - what would that equal too in terms of your pro time on the strings??? maybe a month for me is a week for you ??

AlanRatcliffe

StephenG wrote: BUT... and this is a big BUT................ if tone is very subject to the listener, who can say that the tone from older strings is "wrong"... ? ? ?

It's far more than just tone though... strings stretch unevenly, tension goes down, and the frets wear flat spots on the windings. Upshot is that the strings vibrate unevenly and throw in odd harmonics, intonation goes out and tuning becomes unreliable.

So if you want a darker tone, then rather get a set of strings that are darker sounding in the first place. If you really like duller sounding strings, try some flatwounds - they last longer anyway and do not wear the frets as fast.

with new strings, 'that' tone is gone.. I do not want to start fiddling with the amp settings, so will wait until the strings are worn in some more... to see if the tone comes back.

Could be a lot of things though: make/gauge of string; action; pickup height; even truss rod adjustment - all can affect the tone.

StephenG

Alan Ratcliffe wrote:
StephenG wrote: BUT... and this is a big BUT................ if tone is very subject to the listener, who can say that the tone from older strings is "wrong"... ? ? ?
It's far more than just tone though... strings stretch unevenly, tension goes down, and the frets wear flat spots on the windings. Upshot is that the strings vibrate unevenly and throw in odd harmonics, intonation goes out and tuning becomes unreliable.

So if you want a darker tone, then rather get a set of strings that are darker sounding in the first place. If you really like duller sounding strings, try some flatwounds - they last longer anyway and do not wear the frets as fast.

with new strings, 'that' tone is gone.. I do not want to start fiddling with the amp settings, so will wait until the strings are worn in some more... to see if the tone comes back.
Could be a lot of things though: make/gauge of string; action; pickup height; even truss rod adjustment - all can affect the tone.

thanks Alan - on the darker sounding - what would you suggest then ?

i currently use Fender NPS 250R - which i like once the shine wears off.

[deleted]

StephenG wrote: on the darker sounding - what would you suggest then ?

Roll of the tone a bit and change the settings on your amp ?
Why get new strings?

Or are we talking unplugged acoustic here?
Never read back far enough ?