String change problem

Hi,
the A string was broken, so I decided to change it. I tuned the guitar but the sound of this string seems ferrous and not good, I don’t know how to explain. I followed a tutorial to do this and I think I did the right things. The string I chose is a D’Addario Light Gauge .012-0.53 Phosphor bronze EJ16. Any tips?

So a picture speaks a thousand words normally so if you can share a picture that would be good. As long as you replaced the broken string with an A string and that the gauge was the same as the other strings (so were the previous strings 12s?) then all should be good.

Assuming you’ve checked with a tuner and it say’s it’s tuned to A all should be good…however if not and you’re not sure if you’ve got the same gauge it’s probably worth replacing all of the other strings as well. A new string will sound quite different to old ones (depending on how long they’ve been on). If they’ve been on for a while it’s good practice to replace the whole set.

Hi Skuilla
Follow Justin’s tutorial and you can’t really go wrong.

@Richard_close2u
There doesn’t seem to be a section for guitar maintenance. Perhaps we need one ?

My humble advise is to always replace all the strings when replacing one. Unless you break a string every week, maybe restringing only one is an option if you do.
But overall I would restring the whole guitar. I guess tension is different between old and new strings.

When I put new strings on, I always use an app on my phone to get the direction of the correct tuning. It gives me a bigger scale and better direction of where I am at tuning. If that is somehow in place, I switch over to my clip-on tuner to do the fine-tuning.

Hi Gordon - there is … I have moved this to Gear → Accessories
:slight_smile:

Ok Richard you’re the boss, but gear - accessories doesn’t shout out maintenance to me.

Gotcha Gordon … you were meaning in general, not this specific thread.
I think @LievenDV has been tagged on this a few days ago.

Hi there!

At the moment, the same type of D’Addario EJ16 strings are on my acoustic guitar. I find it makes a lot more finger noise (when I move my fingers on the strings) than the Elixir ones, so I’ll switch to some other option next time.

As for changing only 1 string, it indeed may lead to it sound much brighter and newer than the rest of your 5 strings. You’ll be better off by changing the whole lot at the same time.

5 posts were split to a new topic: Where to post Guitar Maintenance questions

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Hi,
thanks for all the replies.
Unfortunately, I followed tutorials on internet but not the Justin guitar one, my bad.
I watched the video and I m not sure I put the ball of the string correctly. Can I save the whole thing or is better buy a new set of strings?

It’s worth a try. Just be careful not to jab your fingers on the twisty bit that was wrapped round the peg!:smiley:
Strings are one of the cheaper elements of learning guitar so if you can’t salvage the string it’s not a big deal.

If you loosen it enough, without taking it off the tuner peg, you can pull the pin and take the ball end out of the pin hole. Then just reset it properly. Unwind the tuner a lot though, almost all the way and be careful not to scratch you guitar. But it is easier than taking it all the way out of the tuner and fiddling to get a short string wound back up.

You can also just take the whole thing off if you feel more comfortable, I just like to not handle the sharp end and twisted loose sharp string ends also can scratch a guitar.

Hi,
I tried and retried, I don’t know if are the string or something else but I am not sure about my work. I don’t know if the balls are in the right positions. Sometimes I put the ball before then the pin I pull but nothing happens. However, I changed all the strings, I send an audio, can you say me if the sound is good? I don’t like too much the thick E.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I8VJGPwfOTcggPJKqCLJbquXlqCjzgyU/view?usp=sharing

The strings sound good to me. I think you’re ok.