Restringing a cheap acoustic guitar

[FattMusiek]

I recently got a Harmony brand guitar as a gift. It's pretty cheap, but I bought new Martin strings to hopefully make it sound decent. How do you pop the pins on the bridge out? If the pins aren't made to come out they're going to be getting a lot hate mail and chicken heads.

Thanks!

 

[crazydoc]

I recently got a Harmony brand guitar as a gift. It's pretty cheap, but I bought new Martin strings to hopefully make it sound decent. How do you pop the pins on the bridge out? If the pins aren't made to come out they're going to be getting a lot hate mail and chicken heads.

Thanks!

People will probably cringe at this, but I fold over a piece of toilet paper 2 or 3 times, place it over the pin I want to get out (having already slacked the string) and then grab it with a pair of needlenose pliers. The TP protects the finish on the pin to some extent.

 

[FattMusiek]

Lost my pliers. Managed to get the low E peg out and put on a fresh new Martin string only for the peg to pop back out of place so now the string is bent. Fuck these cheap Harmony guitars.

 

[hixmix]

If the pins aren't made to come out they're going to be getting a lot hate mail and chicken heads.

Thanks!

Good question

 

[heroics321]

buy a string winder... there's a little notch on almost all of them for this particular task.

 

[Light]

Once all the strings are loose, reach inside and push from the inside. This works particularly well when some dumb shit tries to force them in.

It really takes almost no presure, when you put them back in. The pins are not there to hold the strings down in the top, they are just there to keep the ball ends from slipping laterally. Pushing them into far can crack the bridge, so just don't do it.

Most of the time, I use the same diaganol cutters as I use for cutting strings, and I just grab the pin with the dykes. You just have to be gentle with them. But when they are tough, push from the inside.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[Light]

By the by, there is a great tutorial on Frank Fords Frets.com about changing strings. Look at it, and it will answer all of your questions.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[onlyfingers]

People will probably cringe at this, but I fold over a piece of toilet paper 2 or 3 times, place it over the pin I want to get out (having already slacked the string) and then grab it with a pair of needlenose pliers. The TP protects the finish on the pin to some extent.

Pliers and guitars don't mix, but that's just what I do, except I use regular "slip joint" pliers with the joint slipped, so that the jaws grip opposite each other. I worry less about the pliers slipping that way. I cushion them with a slightly damp dish towel, so the pliers don't leave a mark. (I cushion the pins this each and every time. I took my 12 string to Nolls Guitars in Providence to have the action adjusted and a set-up, and it came back with plier marks on each pin. Haven't been back.)

 

[Dani Pace]

I use the same "inside push" as Light. If the pins are really tight i put a thimble (one of those things a taylor uses to push a needle through tough fabric) on a finger tip. If that don't work I grab the dykes and pull like hell. I do some repair and set up and am surprised at how many people seem to think the pins need to be forced in as far and hard as possible, I think some actually use a hammer and drive them in. By forceing them in too deeply you not only risk cracking the bridge but can enlarge the holes and cause slipage. Rub the pins across a candle ( one wipe on the side opposite the groove) to make the pins easier to remove next time.

 

[ibanezrocks]

I have a cheap acoustic, and I couldn't get the pin for the high e out for the first year, I wish I would have thought of pushing it out from the inside.