I hate to be selfish but......

[Dom Franco]

I hate to be selfish but every time I let someone else play one of my guitars the strings go dead instantly.

I can play my guitar every day for several weeks and the strings
stay bright and live. I guess some people have acid/sweaty hands and kill strings with one touch!

What a Bummer Man!

Dom

[bdbdbuck]

For me,I guess it's just a matter of how often and how much I play. My fingers are not too greasy, although in an effirt to make my strings last a little longer, I wash my hands before I play. But they usually only last a couple of weeks. I cannot stand dead strings! At the first hint of dullness, I change those puppies.


bd

[Richard Monroe]

6-10 hours of play and they're gone-Richie

[Mastabeta 57]

friends will come over and play my guitars and a week later the strings are rusted! i now buy the coated elixars and i like the way they feel and sound.

[64Firebird]

I change my strings every time I want to record or before a gig. I have found that nickle strings will last me a lot longer.

[zer0sig]

most of my friends have rusted strings regularly. not me-i wash my hands before and after playing (after just so i don't have to smell the steel on my fingers later-yay OCD/SID!), and i always try to remember to use GHS fast fret on the strings after playing (i'm probably starting to sound like an ad for fast fret now-sorry about that-it just happens to solve the ages-old how to maintain string life qustion for me). now my strings are at least decent-sounding, and clean feeling, until i break one. then i either just swap it out (which i can get away with, buying strings in bulk, and having generally clean strings-i'll probably do a full set-swap next time i pop the winding on a string) or do the whole set. as rare as whole-set swaps are needing to be now, i might as well re-oil/clean my fretboard when i do it, too.

[Richard Monroe]

I don't think my issue has anything to do with skin oil or corrosion, and or any of that stuff. Basically, I play The Who, and a lot of similar heavy rhythym. Full chords with heavy strumming on a set of 9's or 10's for 6 hours, and they're dead! They don't live long enough to corrode, or break, or anything else, they just become dull and lose sustain and high end sparkle. Coated strings won't help this, and neither will fast fret, or washing your hands, or anything else. I'd like to know how often Pete Townsend changes his strings, and what strings he uses. Anybody have a clue?-Richie

[JR#97]

nobody plays my guitars but me. my strings are eternal. they have never been changed. they've resurrected themselves many times.

[Cyrokk]

I change my strings before I record, which is like around once every two months. My strings don't go dead so much as they rust and lose their intonation.

[LocusLarsen]

I think Pete Townsend uses Osh Kosh Bagosh because they are so durable and......er...nevermind.

[Even]

No touchy the guitars! Everytime some random clown touches one, a string breaks or he reefs on the tremolo like its an engine hoist. Not that strings are all that pricey (5-10 a set) but I have 15 guitars, two of witch are 12 strings and it adds up.

[zer0sig]

richard,
i beat on my strings prettty hard-i usually break the heavy e string, and i'm doing alright on strings, but on the other hand, maybe i just don't mind a slightly broken-in sound.

[Bass Freak]

i normally play bass, those strings take a beating and keep on working. but i borrowed my cousins electric silvertone....i swear those strings havent been changed in a year...and they are eating my fingers and they sound like crap and they wont stay in tune...so i think i need to go buy some...

freak

[charger]

I am the string killer. My sweat is like sulfuric acid. My one guitar that has a maple fretboard looks twenty years older than it is. Although I find that the less I play live, the less I sweat on my strings...

On the plus side, I hardly ever have to wait for a broken string to change strings.

[Aaron Cheney]

I put new strings on before a gig, but I NEVER put new strings on before I record. When it comes to electric guitar, I would rather record with dead strings that new strings. Acoustic and bass, though, are another story...

Aaron
http://www.voodoovibe.com

This situation seems to vary for me over the year. Like in the summer i kill them quick from playing alot and snapping them or from sweat getting them too grimmy. I've been paying attention to this lately.

[coplinger]

My sweat not only corrodes my strings, it corrodes all the hardware as well. Even with me washing my hands before I play, my strings only last for 2 nights of playing. I recently bought a new guitar. In a month or 2, all the hardware on the body had begun to rust & the gold plating on the pickups was coming off. This despite the fact I always wipe it down after play & keep it in a case.

[Dom Franco]

WoW! I played in a band with a guy like you once......


I don't know what else you can do but change strings often!

Dom

[64Firebird]

Originally posted by coplinger
My sweat not only corrodes my strings, it corrodes all the hardware as well. Even with me washing my hands before I play, my strings only last for 2 nights of playing. I recently bought a new guitar. In a month or 2, all the hardware on the body had begun to rust & the gold plating on the pickups was coming off. This despite the fact I always wipe it down after play & keep it in a case.

I know of one player that sweats so much it was screwing with the electronics in his guitars. He now covers everything in plastic wrap under the pickguard.

[bullyhill]

I string my Wolfgang backwards and if a string breaks ai just unwind a little more and I'm back in buisiness.

I change them when playing out if they are real old

[Flames]

For some while ago I read in the local newspaper about a guy who really had a problem about his hand sweat. He went thru a kind of surgery where they cut a specific nerv accessing thru the underarm.
For some it seems to be really bad.

[zer0sig]

i seem to recall some kind of pads being sold that supposedly cut down on sweat output wherever they were used.

[lesterpaul]

i read where EVH takes his strings off and boils them to clean them off ,thats been awhile since i read that .......i also read kurt kirkwood of th meat puppets changed his between "every"take ,i dont see how he could keep them from slipping and stretching ....seems a little excessive to me on both accounts

[Kelly5150]

I use extra lights on my air guitar, and they never wear out...

[bdbdbuck]

Quoting Bullyhill:

"I string my wolfgang backwards and if a string breaks I just unwind a little more and I'm back in business"








Come again???

bd