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when playing the guitar requires a tetanus shot
hah
duck dunn kept the same strings on his classic fender p-bass for decades!..all the hits he played on..same bass and strings
barring breakage...flats will last longer..the thud just gets thuddier
cheers
ps- my real answer is when the intonation starts to get "slippery"..or with roundwounds, when they've lost that snap...
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03-10-2018 07:32 PM
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That pic of dirty hands reminded me of a saying by a Famous Classical Musician: "In all the world, only two kinds of pianos. Those you wash your hands before you play, and those you wash your hands after."
Originally Posted by neatomic
when playing the guitar requires a tetanus shot
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TI flatwounds I change every month. But I play at least 4 gigs a week and teach 6 hours a week. Roundwounds get changed once weekly.
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Thanks for your post, I was beginning to think there was something wrong with me. I also use TI Flats, I play 2-3 hours a day and I change the EBG strings about every month and the whole set on the second month. While I have quite a few guitars, I generally stick with one electric for months at a time until I just want to hear something different or have a new guitar. I don't mind changing strings, I look at it has a time to spend tweaking the setup, cleaning the guitar or fixing loose odds and ends. Originally Posted by jazzjames
As far a bass goes, Victor Wooten for example changes his strings every 6-7 weeks so excluding skin chemistry, a lot of it is ones tonal preference.
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Mine are dead when they break or when the wound strings won't intonate properly .
I like Guitars and strings which do not require the treble knob roll off....
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For me, it's intonation, and usually the high E goes first. I buy singles.
After a while, I'll replace the whole set. When brand new I hear a difference, the lower strings seem brighter, but I have the impression that the brightness quickly subsides. That doesn't bother me.
When you remove the old string, if you've never done this, run your finger along it. You'll probably feel a kink in the string where it touched every fret. That can't be good for intonation.
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Funny, I'd think a guy like our OP, omphalopsychos, who digs a good acoustic archtop ,wouldn't be the kind of guy who's happy with old strings. I totally get the electric folks who leave their strings on forever, that's a totally different kind of thing.
But on my acoustic archtops, and even my '37 ES-150 which is still way more acoustic-y than later ES models, I find that projection, tuning. sustain and tone die out after a couple of full gigs. Especially if I'm playing a lot of rhythm with a big band, I'll notice indentations on the G string where the frets are eating into the wrap. But even if I haven't been thumping the strings that hard, I'll notice a significant fall off after number of hours of play time - the guitars just don't "speak" like they should, and then I know it's time.
How long is that, of course, depends on the guitar and how much heavy gigging I'm doing - my National hasn't really been getting any gig work, aside from a couple of easy acoustic Farmer's Market trio gigs, and so I haven't changed the strings for a couple of months. On my blonde L-5, I'll want to change after several gigs, though if those are with the big band, I might need to do it after a two gigs.
Of course, I'm using relatively inexpensive strings, Martin 80/20 SP's or Martin Retro Monel or D'Addario Pure Nickel, so it's not a huge investment to change strings regularly. I'm sure that if I were spending more, I might not be able to do so as often.
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And on the one hand, I would worry that eating into the wrap prematurely is a sign of improperly crowned frets, but this occurs on any number of guitars I've had, with their frets in a variety of conditions. I think there's something about properly thumping out acoustic rhythm guitar that really pounds the strings. I used to use crazy thick wegen gypsy jazz picks, but a number of years I incrementally slimmed all the way down to 1mm or 1.5mm blue chips, and this seemed to be a bit more musical and less violent. A friend of mine who still sticks with those heavy picks and comes from a old-time music background seems to destroy G strings constantly. Her D and G are often pretty divoted after a gig.
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I change my strings around every 25 hours of playing time. Of course, I play roundwounds, so that changes things. Basically, I change them when the intonation starts going south.
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Originally Posted by campusfive
See now you have me wondering if I just made a bad habit. It all started back when I still had my Eastman. I dreaded putting new strings on it because the thing was so bright. One day I realized I had a practically dead set of Martins, by most people’s standards, and threw them on. Suddenly the guitar had the EQ response I dreamed of. How this habit has carried over to more expensive guitars I can’t explain. I know that it takes me longer to break in strings than others. My hands don’t sweat much when I play, and my sweat isn’t very corrosive.
However I’ve had a number of string revelations in the past week. For one, monels finally sound good to me acoustically because I’ve managed the keep them on long enough to break them in for the first time. I’ve also recently come to appreciate 13 and 17 instead of 14 and 18. I even put phosphor bronze on my Broadway last night. In other words, I don’t know who I am anymore.
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Now YOU have ME wondering. You may remember how I said I can’t seem to stand the sound of bronze strings on my acoustic archtops anymore. Well, I have the same “problem”. My hands don’t swear much and my sweat is not at all corrosive. Maybe it just takes me a long time to break in round wound/bronze strings, so I go for the sound of TI Swings instead. Originally Posted by omphalopsychos
I planning on getting my ‘34 L7’s frets dressed this week and putting Galli flatwound 80/20s on. This will be my first real trial with the Galli strings. I’m hoping for the best.
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Nice. Once my GHS vintage bronze wear out, I'm going to try out the Galli strings on my '34 L7, too. Be prepared for them to start out bright! Give them time to break in. Originally Posted by ThatRhythmMan
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I think what you're trying to say is, "thank you". Ha! Originally Posted by omphalopsychos
One other thing you made me think to consider is how often you're playing them in a group or on a gig, versus mostly playing them around the house. If I were mostly playing them around the house, I could totally see myself digging mellower strings, but the projection I need on a gig is what I've come to expect, so I expect it even outside of a gig.
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flatwounds seem to last forever to me, but rounds I need to change every month or two. I enjoy a fresh set, and if I'm gigging more I'm changing them more.
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The Galli AJF1047 (.010/.047) Bronze 80/20 flat wounds, installed 01/19/18, Originally Posted by omphalopsychos
still sound like new and bright on my Emerald X20.
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