Changing Strings - What do you do and why?

[Phalex]

I'm really looking forward to tinkering with my setup and finding my "feel".

Baby steps! Small tweaks until you find your feel.

 

[AREA]

I do both..

Normaly I change them String to String, but 2-3 Times a Year, I take them all of at Onnce to clean and oil the Fretboard.

 

[G00D+~VIBES]

I'd also add that once you've put the new ones on, rather than trying to jerk on them and play real hard to "break" them in so you can set the intonation, just press firmly right after the saddle i.e. between the saddle and pu. This break angle is essential to getting new intonation. Often people think the string is just stretching and stretching so they keep pulling and pulling, and while they will stretch a little, it is mostly the relaxation of the string into the break angle that keeps changing and giving the impression of stretch. For obvious reasons pulling won't help much or do much good, and it could ruin the string.

 

[stflbn]

Normally string to string just because it makes it easier to tune the string back up to pitch buy ear acoustically without a tuner and then be closer once the full set is on, then play it for a bit, then set intonation/truss rod if it's a different type of strings, etc.

However, i've never had a neck go weird on me because I took all strings off at the same time. The strings would have to off for a long extended time for it to do any damage. In my experience.

 

[Pilgrim]

If you're going to have the strings off for a few days, I'd adjust the truss rod, but for the time it takes to clean and restring, the wood will be OK.

John

There's the complete answer in one sentence.

 

[chadhargis]

Thanks for all the advice.

I just put my strings on, and I decided to go with the one at a time theory so I didn't have a bunch of strings laying around. I used the old strings as a guide to cut the new ones to length.

The strings went on fine, and the neck seemed fine, so I didn't have to adjust it (yet). The action, however, was jacked up (never done anything to to bass since I bought it, so it came that way). It was STUPID high. I mean 2.5x higher than factory specs. Once I set the string height properly, I pressed the strings in front of the saddles as well as up at the nut to make sure they were seated and I played a little while. Then I grabbed my Peterson iStrobotune app and started to intonate. Some of the strings only required only a small adjustment, others quite a bit. The iStrobo tuner app is pretty dang accurate and it's nearly impossible to get the string to 0.0 cents. I got the intonation under 1 cent on all the strings.

I plugged in and started playing. Wow! Just lowering the strings made a huge difference. They are closer to the pickups now which gives a much fuller tone and it's remarkably easier to play now. Before I had issues holding a string down, but now it's like butter, especially with the flats on it.

Again, thanks for all the help. I was a little intimidated to undertake all the adjustments, but it was really very easy. I just took my time (about two hours) and triple checked everything. I even used two tuners (my Peterson strobe and a Korg Chromatic). They agreed, it's spot on.

I'm going to check everything again tomorrow after it hangs in my stand overnight. I'm sure some things will need to be tweaked. If so, I'll just take my time and do it right.

I have always enjoyed spinning wrenches on cars and motorcycles. It's just as fun on basses.

 

[newbold]

I always take them all off and then replace them all. Having them all off gives you the chance to wipe down the fb and also wipe any funk off that is on the body under the strings or around the pickups.

One tip:

Make note of the number of windings on the pegs of your strings before you remove them. The string should wind top to bottom down to the bottom of the peg -- but not overlap.

Like this ("borrowed" pic from Vic) :

So when looking at the old strings, if they are correct you can use them as a guide for your new strings by lining up the ball ends and then clipping them to the same length. If the old install was short or overlapped, adjust accordingly by clipping a little longer or a little shorter.

After a couple of re-strings, you will always have a perfect template to make sure your strings wind perfectly on the pegs.

That's one way to go, but for a more sure string winding, try to leave enough length to have one winding ABOVE the string and then the rest going below, so that the string is pinched between the string and itself and not on the tuner. This will ensure that any failure will be due to the string wearing out and not breaking against hardware. It's not as pretty but it does the trick and the only time I've ever had strings break at the headstock it was because they were installed the conventional way.

Every set I've put on MY way has come off my bass intact, because I wanted to try new strings, NEVER out of necessity.

of course, use the old strings as a template as per the above advice (nice job making it look nice, Chasarms)