string changing frequency on the old six string

[nickp]

i'm breaking strings quite often. so clearly I need to change them more frequently.

I'm rehearsing with the band for about 3 hours a week and practising about 7 hours or so on top of that - so maybe 10 hours a week picking and a strumming.

whaddya recon - a new set every 4 weeks or more often?

this intensive rehearsal and practising is quite new to me - moving to a Jazz 3 pick probably also has an impact as it is a solid lump of plastic. I never thought I was overly brutal with the strings but hey

thanks

nick

[stickyfiddle]

I'd say "whenever you need to". Even gigging or rehearsing once a week on average I still get 6 months or so out of a set of Elixirs.

But if I was on Ernie Balls I'd need to change every fortnight at a minimum

[BlindLemonAde]

Well, I'm teaching 15 or so hours a week, and rehearsing 4 hours... the strings on my teaching guitar have been on for about a year; my gigging guitar has had one change since I bought it in May 2011 (not many gigs, though). D'Addarios, btw.

I think you might have some other sort of problem... where do they break? (and I don't mean "in the rehearsal room...")

[Not_the_DJ]

When they need it.

I've got some big gigs over the next few weeks so I might stick a fresh set on a couple of my guitars. I do that for wedding or party gig, regular pub gigs I might not.

So I can go months on the same set (some guitars have Ernie Balls, others D'addario)

However if one breaks I tend to then change the whole set.

I have got a couple of packs of Elixirs I bought months back, still haven't tried them yet though!

[Grunfeld.]

whaddya recon - a new set every 4 weeks or more often?

Like sticky has said, it's whenever you need to.

I need to change strings every gig so that's once or twice a week. It gets expensive but there's no alternative. I use D'Addarios but every gig I am soaked in sweat, literally as if I'd had a bucket of water chucked over me, and the next day the strings have rusted. Elixirs make no significant difference to whatever I use as the main guitar for the night but they definitely last longer on the guitars I don't use for gigging, or might only use for one song in a gig.

[DLM]

I reckon factors like string gauge, playing style, vibrato bar use, etc. all need considering, too.

I play nines pretty hard, use a boingy bar, and don't reckon I'd get anything out of using Elixirs nowadays (it's been a long time since I used them) because after a good few hours the strings are distorted enough from fret contact to no longer vibrate as nicely as when new. Corrosion just isn't the main factor for me, but other folks with different sweat will have different priorities....

To answer the question directly, I play a set until the strings are so distorted that I can't stand the tuning irregularities, which is often about the time it takes for me to wear through two top E strings if no gigs come up in between. I always want new strings for a gig, with a floating vibrato the risk is otherwise too great.

[PhantomRouge]

It took me seven years to change the strings that came with my acoustic. I reckon they could've lasted longer, but the replacement strings were free, so I changed them anyway, and what a difference they made. I'm all for getting good mileage, but a fresh set can make quite a difference to the overall sound and playability.

[guitarfishbay]

i'm breaking strings quite often. so clearly I need to change them more frequently.

I'm rehearsing with the band for about 3 hours a week and practising about 7 hours or so on top of that - so maybe 10 hours a week picking and a strumming.

whaddya recon - a new set every 4 weeks or more often?

this intensive rehearsal and practising is quite new to me - moving to a Jazz 3 pick probably also has an impact as it is a solid lump of plastic. I never thought I was overly brutal with the strings but hey

thanks

nick

It sounds like you have a problem with your set up. It could be you have a sharp area on your bridge which needs filing down. You've not given specifics of how long strings are lasting but IMO 4 weeks/40 hours play time is not a long time for a set of strings to last before snapping in my experience.

Other factors do come in to play, such as sweat and how clean your hands are before you start playing. However I find that strings go dull and get intonation problems before they snap. If they're snapping before they start having performance issues I'd be inclined to suggest the problem is somewhere on the guitar - likely the bridge, especially if you use a trem.

If you snap a single string I think it is best to change the whole set for continuity of performance/tone, but only if finances allow. If the same string keeps snapping in the same place and not long after it is put on it is almost definitely a problem with the guitar.

[forestelf728749]

Hello guitar friends,

when I was 15/16, and practising for my gcse school band I used to go through strings extremely fast. I soon later found out that the sting saddles on the epiphone tune-o-matic bridge wernt ready for the heavy guage strings I was buying at the time. I very much regret buying heavy gauge stings and even the players that apparently use heavy stings are blatantly using 9-40 gauge in the pictures.
In fact when i was 19 the bridge bolts ripped out of my guitar because I strung my strings with no slack!!!
I have been using light gauge stings ince 2004 and tbh they last as long as you like. maybe, you are attacking the instrument too hard? A common problem for guitarists.

[Viz]

If they're breaking at one of the contact points (ie bridge, nut, tuning head or clamp), then check for sharp jagged finishes there.