Well I have made an executive decision I am going to change the strings on my acoustic myself, but not just yet. Another executive decision I have made is to put away all my 0.46 picks and move onto 0.6. So going to give a month or so getting used to the thicker picks, before changing.
I got the guitar in July last year, had it set up by a Luthier in November and changed strings at the same time from 12’s to 11’s. So it is more than 6 months, which Justin sort of indicates is about as long as you should leave it. Can I tell the difference to when they were new, to be honest, no, but might when I put the new ones on.
Michael
I changed to 0.6 orange Tortex at the time Justin recommended to change to thicker picks in one of his lessons. I’m not sure, when that was. First it was a little weired, but I got used to them very quickly. The orange Tortex is a very versatile Pick and it’s my main pick on acoustic. Sure, you will get used to them in no time!
but once you’ve heard the difference, you’ll hear it the next time. Also, your ears get more sensible to tone, at least my ears, and you will hear them loose their sound gradually.
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Andrea @Helen0609
I have had a couple of false starts trying to move up the pick thickness with using them both at the same time, which is why I have put them away so I couldn’t do that. I do have the orange tortex, which is my intended destination, but they are a little stiffer than than the Jim Dunlop nylon, so I will move on when I feel happy with the JD ones.
Here’s me thinking the poor playing was just me and not strings!!!
Michael
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Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! 
. It is hard to believe, but I have only now (during Grade 3 studies) conquered my irrational fear of changing the strings on my two acoustic guitars. I finally watched this lesson and learned that my fear of changing acoustic guitar strings is a result of my ignorance. I thought the procedure for inserting the pegs was to place the end of the peg on the ball at the end of the string as you insert the string into the holes near the bridge and push down. As you can imagine, that resulted in a lot of occurrences of the peg popping loose and the string flying out. Justin’s suggestion to kink the string near the ball before inserting in the hole near the bridge and then inserting the pin is a brilliant solution to my personal problem. I also was uncertain of how much slack to leave in the string when attaching to the tuning posts and Justin also made that very clear. Now I have changed my strings on my Taylor GS-mini and look forward to changing the strings on my Martin acoustic.
I did get an inexpensive peg puller when I bought the strings. I also had problems with the thin B and E strings and had to hold my thumb or finger on top of the peg to prevent the first loop from popping up and off the tuning post. Otherwise it was a great experience with Justin’s help.
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Hi Steve, congratulations on your first string change 
! I can so much relate to this.
After about 9 months of playing the high E string broke. But I was so afraid of changing strings, that I decided to play on another guitar, which I had borrowed from my son-in-law 
.
Finally, after some weeks, I watched Justins video lesson and gave it a try. With success . I wish you lots of fun with your new sound experience 
.
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The easy way to remove stiff pegs without scratching or damaging the bridge is to push them out from inside the guitar. Put your hand into the sound hole holding a coin on the end of your fingers. Use the flat face of the coin to push the peg up and out whilst pulling it with the fingers of the other hand.
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Gordon, thanks for the suggestion. That is an interesting way to remove the pegs when changing strings. It might not be practical on every acoustic guitar. I think it would be impossible on an Ovation Celebrity Elite. On my Martin I would have to put my hand in the sound hole up to my wrist to reach the bridge, so I’ll stick with the standard method.
Ovations have pin less bridges so no need to pull pins. Gordon also has a Martin D28 do his advice is sound. I’ve had to do it a couple of times on my Gibson when changing string when the humidity was above average and the Rosewood bridge swelled a little making the pins pretty tight. Works like a charm,
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Rick, I didn’t know that. I just based my opinion on pictures of the Ovation guitar. I should have enlarged the picture to get a better look. I thought it had dark pins. 
I still will use my pin puller, but happy that the method worked for you.
My spouse and I decided it was time to learn how to change our own strings. This video was easy to follow and very helpful. Our strings may not look like a luthier put them on, but they are on properly. And no one got their eye poked out. 
I am sure the next re stringing will go a bit easier.
I think I will wear a pair of thin gloves to protect my hands when pulling on the strings.
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Quick question on string change, there seems to be two schools of thought - a couple of strings at a time or the whole lot at once. I don’t see any real issue with doing the whole lot as in Justin’s video, but has anyone had a not so good experience as a caveat on this?
I always remove all the old strings so I can easily clean and oil the fretboard.
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@malreid
The first time I changed the strings on my Gibson SG I took off all the strings and whilst cleaning the body and fretboard etc. the bridge fell off. I didn’t realise it was a loose bridge and could be lifted off. Fortunately it didn’t fall far so no damage was done.
Now when I change strings on that guitar I loosen but leave the 4th string on to hold everything in place. This still leaves plenty space to clean things. After I’ve replaced a couple of the other strings I remove and replace the 4th string.
I suspect however you’re asking the question with regard to the change in tension to the neck when you take all the strings off. I haven’t heard of anyone having an issue with this. Guitars are s lot tougher than you think.
The video that Taylor has on YouTube recommends taking them all off. It’s only a problem if you leave your guitar without strings for a long time and don’t back off the truss rod.
As far as the bridge coming off, I do the string changes on both the acoustic and the electric with the guitar laying flat on a pad and neck support I got from Music Nomad.
Spot on, cheers.
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Thank you so much Justin for showing me how to change steel strings on my acoustic electric. I’ve looked at instructions on YouTube many times, but they always seemed so complicated. You are such a good teacher on all fronts! So much so I’m going to give it a go on my Taylor 314ce. Merry Xmas!
First time changing strings on an acoustic. Used to nylon. For some reason had a real problem with the pegs. Some especially on the thicker strings had a hard time getting the peg to even insert (I did watch the video and put a bend in the string first). Some just pushed up. I think once I started winding the strings they began to grasp the nut in the string and hold, although one peg is still raised but cannot be pushed down and on the 1st string when winding the peg kept loosening so more winding necessary in order to grasp. Any thoughts or suggestions?
Leslie @lesliepatten
Some questions
Is it realy an acoustic guitar rather than classical
Were the strings you are replacing steel or nylon
Why put nylon strings on
From what you say sounds as though you are replacing steel with nylon and therefore the slots in the nut are likely to be too narrow. Widening the slots is a bit drastic but can be done, but not easy to reverse.
Michael
PS Welcome to the community
If there are pegs holding the strings in place on the bridge, it’s a “usual” acoustic guitar. The strings on classical guitars are knotted to the bridge (like this).
The pegs holding the strings in place have a groove in them in which the strings are supposed to sit. Also be careful not to leave too long a slack on the peg-end of the strings, otherwise they might pull the peg out as they get caught by the tip of the peg (within the guitar body).
If I remember correctly, in the video Justin mentions that as the strings are tightened, the pegs might pop out a little bit. In this case push them back before continuing with tightening the strings. You can also keep on pushing them gently but firmly with one hand while turning the tuners with the other. Also, the thinner strings, the more windings you need to make.
Here’s another video on how to change strings on an acoustic guitar: How to String an Acoustic Guitar - StewMac
Thanks. Yes. its a Baby Taylor acoustic. I’m just not used to pegs as I always played on a classical so this was my first time changing steel strings. I watched the video as I did the changing.
I didn’t notice any grooves on the pegs. Didn’t hear Justin refer to that either. He just said bend the string, pop it into the hole and push the peg in. He made it look easy. I was able to string the guitar and as the string tightened the pegs held better, BUT for next time, should I be aligning some groove with the string and does it matter which way the “nut” at the end of the string is facing?