String life

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String life

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dapperdan

Posts: 20
Joined: Mar. 27 2012

String life

Hi all,

I work away two weeks out of the month, so just wondering if I loosen all the strings when I leave, would this improve the life of said strings?

Does anybody have any experience doing this?

cheers,

Dan.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 7 2015 16:17:18

krichards

Posts: 597
Joined: Jan. 14 2007
From: York, England

RE: String life (in reply to dapperdan)

No. I can't think of any reason why it would.

If you're away half the time, your strings must last roughly twice as long anyway.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 7 2015 16:50:40

Richard Jernigan

Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA

RE: String life (in reply to krichards)

quote:

ORIGINAL: krichards

No. I can't think of any reason why it would.

If you're away half the time, your strings must last roughly twice as long anyway.

Well, I can think of a reason loosening the strings might prolong their life, but it's just a thought, no experiment to back it up. Furthermore, I don't keep careful track of how long the strings last, I just change them when they lose their volume and brilliance.

When you put on new strings they stretch a lot at first, then stabilize to the point where they stay in tune for ten minutes or so, as long as the temperature and other conditions are stable.

But when you put the guitar away for the night and take it out the next day the strings, especially the basses, have gone flat by a noticeable amount. This keeps up for quite a while. Eventually the basses pretty much stop stretching overnight. They are within a few cents of standard pitch the next day. In my experience, this is when the basses lose much of their volume and brilliance. I put on new ones.

When I just got back from five weeks of traveling without a guitar, without loosening the strings they were about 50 cents flat (half of a half step) on the two guitars I have played so far.

It seems reasonable that loosening the strings would slow this process.

Like I said, just a thought, no experiments to back it up.

RNJ

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 7 2015 19:54:09

Dudnote

Posts: 1805
Joined: Nov. 13 2007

RE: String life (in reply to Richard Jernigan)

Your idea of loosening makes sense. A luthier once told me it was something of a flamenco guitarists joke that once strings stop going out of tune then it's time to change them.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 6 2016 4:57:07

El Kiko

Posts: 2697
Joined: Jun. 7 2010
From: The South Ireland

RE: String life (in reply to Richard Jernigan)

I dont think it would make any difference , or a difference so small that it would not be worth taking into account ..
strings are also affected by the oils on your fingers ,, some people can kill strings almost straight away others will last longer , it would make more sense to wipe them a bit with a cloth before you leave ..
really ..once you have you strings in and ran in ... theres no magic trick to make them last ...even if you didnt play them at all for a few months you may find them dull upon just leaving them ..
it may also depend on where you live ..temp , humidity etc ...
.
you could try lots of things and get an extra day our of them then ask yourself ...was it really worth it ?

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 6 2016 8:44:25

Ricardo

Posts: 14799
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: String life (in reply to dapperdan)

quote:

ORIGINAL: dapperdan

Hi all,

I work away two weeks out of the month, so just wondering if I loosen all the strings when I leave, would this improve the life of said strings?

Does anybody have any experience doing this?

cheers,

Dan.

If you take a set of dead basses and wind them down to slack, or take em off and put em back on later, you will notice a revived brilliance, but it is short lived. I do this to get through a gig with dead strings. Sometimes it only works for a couple of songs. Trebles are not so affected by this.

In your case I would not bother slacking the strings...perhaps tune the guitar down a half step if you are worried about the guitar but don't worry about the strings.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 6 2016 11:42:03

IraqiOud

Posts: 41
Joined: Apr. 3 2016
From: Iraq, Living in North Carolina

RE: String life (in reply to dapperdan)

The idea of loosening the strings when the instrument is not in use for a while is not meant to preserve the strings but the instrument rather and particularly the fingerboard although I don't know much yet about guitars but that's the case with the Oud and I don't see why it's not the same with the guitar as well.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 6 2016 15:15:39

gerundino63

Posts: 1743
Joined: Jul. 11 2003
From: The Netherlands

RE: String life (in reply to dapperdan)

I am not a guitarbuilder or an authority on this, but wouldn't it be bad stress for your top to get it relaxed and pressured it every two weeks?

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 6 2016 20:19:50