how long should strings last?

AlanRatcliffe

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

Try a pure nickel set. They are more expensive, but last longer, feel softer underhand (underfinger? ?) and are far easier on the frets. Ernie Ball, D'Addario, Pyramid, Snake Oil (when you can get them - Dean Farley is probably the most knowledgeable person on string technology, but the worst at filling orders) - all make nickel sets. When you hear older guys saying new guitar's frets don't last the way they used to, it's not the frets that have changed, it's the strings.

Keira-WitherKay

StephenG wrote
Keira WitherKay wrote

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 ??

2 things ..

as for your comment on throwing money at new strings ............. if you buy strings in bulk as in by say 10 sets at a time or by the box .....you can get huge savings from stores often they do you a favour and give you just above cost ..obviously you must ask /beg /plead ? so buying 3 sets individually at full price will equate to about 5 sets a discounted price .....

and as for the amount i play well , thats a lot ? and i also always practise on my gig guitar so it's on same set of strings ......so it gets an average of about 4 -5 hr's of play a day every day and if i'm doing hectic gigs it';s often 6- 7 hours .so yes with you saying you play about at 20 min a day you'll be able to leave em on for 6 weeks where i change every week and prob still get the same tone/intonation out of a set ...........as i do ........

Bob-Dubery

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 think 4 months for those strings is extreme. I grant that some people like the tone of old strings, but there's more to it than that.

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?

Old strings will have lots of accumulated grime and may have rusted a little. That stuff is like rubbing compound to your frets. Do you wipe your strings down after playing? That will reduce, but not eliminate, the grime build up.

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?

Martin are decent quaility strings, so this is odd. Possibly age related. How long does it take for the strings to get to this condition?

4: could the frets on my guitar be louzy?

Possibly, but so lousy they damage the strings? Where on the strings does this damage occur? At the nut? At the bridge? Over a specific fret?

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.

You have to change strings on guitars. Full stop. 3 to 4 months is very infrequent really. If you want to reduce the frequency with which you change strings then use a good quality coated string (personally I'd recommend Elixir annoweb, but there are other options). The coating substantially reduces the build up of grime between the windings.

Old strings also lose elasticity and if grime builds up they may not vibrate consistently which means they may create tuning or intonation problems. IMO unless you're using coated strings you don't do yourself many favours by using a set for 4 months opn a guitar you play ever day.

StephenG

Alan Ratcliffe wrote
StephenG wrote thanks Alan - on the darker sounding - what would you suggest then ?
Try a pure nickel set. They are more expensive, but last longer, feel softer underhand (underfinger? ?) and are far easier on the frets. Ernie Ball, D'Addario, Pyramid, Snake Oil (when you can get them - Dean Farley is probably the most knowledgeable person on string technology, but the worst at filling orders) - all make nickel sets. When you hear older guys saying new guitar's frets don't last the way they used to, it's not the frets that have changed, it's the strings.

thanks Alan - will look for the pure nickel.
i definitley need as soft as possible under the fingers.

Squonk

Alan Ratcliffe wrote
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.

This is my cue to change strings although it's timed for the end of the month, so I just replace them anyway.

If you dabble with alternate tunings and capoing, you find that older strings are hugely unreliable. I played at TJ's one night and couldn't get the Guitar in tune, even mentioned to Bob that my guitar needs a service. Changed the strings and before you can say Takamine, everything was lovely jubbly again.

PeachyDragon

Wow... every 10 days?
I might be nut, but I'm a qualified musician who studied and plays live... and I don't
bother with it too much. I just always take a backup guitar to a gig.
Some players like Brian May don't change their strings till they break...
Okay, Brian plays 8 gauge strings so I'm thinking he breaks them regularly
at gigs anyhow... he has a few backup guitars of course.
I ALWAYS change strings before a recording session of course!

MikeM

Just changed strings. I forget just how much of a difference it can make. My #1 is an inherently bright guitar, was sounding really dark. Changed strings and whammo, gone from sounding like an Epi to the best LP I've ever played again ?

DonRoos

Just found some Ernie Ball Tungsten strings for my electric. Hopefully they will last quite long but I will probably need to re-fret with each string change ?

I am quite light on strings and the previous set have been on for over a year but I only play the electric 1/10th of what I play the accoustic. But having said that, I still have on the set the guitar came with over a year ago. ?

psyx

Well... I have found D'addrio EXP's to last quite long on acoustics and of course Elixer Nanowebs are my favourite electric guitar strings because they last almost twice as long as most other strings and their nice and smooth ?

FruitarGeek

I remember a techie at Paul Bothners told me that new strings last for about a solid 30hours. Meaning, you can get a good 30hours worth of playing on a set before they need changing. That applies to roundwound. I wonder what the equivalent is for flatwound. Hmmm

killafo

So this is just a lazy post, a.k.a i haven't read all the replies.....but i skimmed through some.

I personally change them every month, for 2 main reasons

1) I live in durban!!! Rust = bad
2) And becuase of reason 1), i can hear the tone slipping away.

Its that plain and simple.

If my post is out of context, ignore, ?.

EttieneB

This is good!!
Ive actually tried not to break the strings on my strat to see what would happen and how long they will last! Offcoarse if after u play i found by just rubbing of the sweat or applying some fastfret or any good stringcleaner the chime doesnt go that far away! The strings im using is just a normal Ernie Ball 10-52!
Im on almost three months now and since about a week ago the sound got very dull to my liking! So i think doing a good setup every two months or so would be fine if u are only playing at home, but if u play constantly i think the best is to play it by ear and figure out what suits u the best!

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