How to Change Acoustic Strings

If you are here, you are well on your way to giving your guitar new life! Grab a pack of your favorite guitar strings, put on your patience hat, and we'll get right into changing your strings! If you want to learn a little more about guitar strings before you purchase a set, See Guitar Strings Overview. Have an electric guitar? Learn how to change electric guitar strings

There are different methods of changing guitar strings out there, but following these steps can help reduce breakage and increase string life. If you're an advanced player, try the Locking Method.

1. Position your guitar

Lay your guitar on a flat soft surface such as a carpeted floor. If you don't have a flat carpeted area, lay something soft down where you plan to put your guitar such as a towel or a soft cloth.

It is best to replace your strings one at a time in order to keep the tension on the neck relatively the same. On many acoustic guitars, a plastic piece rests on top of the bridge area. If you replace your strings one at a time, you will prevent this piece from falling out.

2. Remove the old string from the tuning-head

Starting with the low E-string, take a plastic string-winder and slip it over the tuner-head (machinehead) on the headstock. Turn the string-winder to quickly slacken the string and remove it from the tuner's string-post. Be careful not to scratch the finish on the headstock. A pair of needle-nose pliers can sometimes be handy when removing the string from the post. Be careful not to injure yourself with the end of the string. It may have a sharp edge from when it was previously cut.

3. Remove the string from the peg at the bridge

If you have an acoustic guitar, you probably have little plastic pegs holding the strings in place at the bridge. You can use the built-in peg remover on the string winder to gently pull the peg up from the bridge and remove the string. Note: I prefer not to use a string-winder to remove the pegs because I've found the plastic on string-winders to be too thick to slip underneath the peg. I actually damaged the bridge on one of my guitars by trying to force the plastic underneath the peg! Now I use a dulled pair of wire-cutters to remove the pegs (see photo).

Let's put your fresh strings on! Take the string out of the paper packet and unravel it (it's probably wound around itself in a circle). You'll notice one end has a ball at the end of it.

4. Attach the new string at the bridge

Drop the ball end of the string down through the hole in the bridge where the peg was. Insert the peg back into the hole, making sure the groove in the peg hugs the string that is coming out of the hole. With one finger pressing down on the peg, pull the string up with the other hand until it 'catches' the peg and can't come out any further. Later, after you attach the string to the post and are tightening up the tension on the string, you may need to put your finger on the peg again as you are tightening until the tension causes it to become snug. Be aware that sometimes when you are tightening a string, it will pull the peg back up a little. Putting your finger on the peg as you tighten the string initially will help it 'stick' and from then on, you should be good to go.

At the headstock, turn the tuning head so that the hole in the post is parallel to the nut (the nut is the piece that fits across the beginning of the neck that has grooves in it and holds the strings).

When you thread the string across the groove in the nut, you may be wondering which way to wrap the string around the post. As a general rule, you should place the string on the inside edge of the post - the side that is the farthest away from the edge of the headstock.

Attach the string to the string post:

With the string on the inside of the string-post, pull it tight and wind the string around the string-post towards the outside of the edge of the headstock, one full turn. Think 'up and over' as you wrap the string around the string-post. Once you've wrapped it around once, thread it through the string-post hole. NOTE: For the plain strings (the ones that don't have a winding around them G, B, E) wrap them around the post 3-4 times before putting them through the hole.

Pull the string tight after you get it through the other side of the hole. Make a right angle in the string at the point it emerges from the hole bending it slightly down. This will prevent your strings from unwinding and slipping. Now you're ready to tighten it up.

Turn the tuning head gradually making the string tighter. Keep an eye on the peg holding the other end of the string in place at the bridge. If it starts to slide up, push down on it with your finger as you continue to tighten the string up. At this point, you can tune the string up to the proper note with an electronic tuner. I prefer to tighten the strings up to a point where they're not longer loose, but not necessarily up to pitch at this point. I change all the strings, stretch them quite a bit, and then tune them up to pitch.

After you put the strings on, you'll have some left over string on each string-post (I call them whiskers). Clip off the whiskers as close to the posts as possible with your wire-cutters. Never leave them on since they can be dangerous.

Changing your strings: Locking Method

The difference between the basic method and locking method involves just the string-post.

Remove the old string and attach the new one to the bridge using the same method as described previously.

Lay the string down the neck towards the headstock. Poke the end of the string through the hole in the string-post that is on the inside of the post (the hole closest to the centre of the headstock). The string should come out the other side moving towards the outside edge of the headstock of your guitar. Leave a little slack in your string this time.

Now take the string and bend it towards the center of the headstock around the post guiding it under the part of the string that is entering the post on the other side. As soon as you have the string on the other side and underneath itself, pull it tight and bend it upwards at a right angle.

Now grab your string-winder and wind the string around the post. Make sure the string is wrapping downwards towards the base of the post with the post turning towards the outside edge of the headstock (not towards the center of the headstock). Try to keep it neat to avoid string overlap. See how you are winding the string over the part of the string you bent upwards? You are locking the string in place.