Hello there,
After 8 months I finally decided to move on to Grade 2, start to hold myself accountable and begin posting my learning log. Coincidentally, I thought that 8 months is enough for the stock strings and it’s time to change them. I have Yamaha Pacifica 112v, I believe it came with 9-42 strings. I bought a set of Elixir Nanoweb 9-42 strings and put them on yesterday. It went mostly fine, the only thing is that I accidentally tuned low E to E3 instead of E2. Then I used a tuner that shows the actual frequency and fixed that by tuning it to E2 - 82Hz.
Played a couple of hours and it looks like I’ve done everything correctly, strings remain in tune, nothing slips, etc. However, I find the sound of the new low E string to be significantly different from the old one. It’s a bit difficult to describe, but it seems more wobbly and boomy for the lack of better terms.
Now, I might be imagining things or I just got too used to the old lifeless string
In this clip (sorry for the obs watermark, I don’t have a webcam at the moment) the audio is recorded from the external mic
Hi Igor, I’m no expert, but your guitar sounds similar enough to mine that I think you’re fine. But - my strings are not new, is it possible that stretching that E string somehow effectively ages it? Interested to see what others have to say…
It’s really hard for me to tell what’s wrong and whether anything is wrong… I can’t hear anything strange in the unplugged recording, but there’s something weird in the amplified sound.
If you’re not sure, check your guitar’s pickups height. There’s tons of information on the Internet and even here at Justin’s on how a single coil pickup height can adversely affect the string vibrations, especially the low E string. So that may be the culprit. Again-not sure though, that was the first thing that came to my mind.
My 2 cents: first, mute all strings you’re not playing. Then check the pickup height for all 3 pickups. They might be a little higher than needed and affect the resonance of the strings. The manufacturer’s website or the booklet of the guitar (if there is one) should have some indications on this.
Also, when you fret the string at the 12th fret in the 2nd video, the tuner doesn’t show a proper E. This means the intonation is a bit off. Check it for each string and adjust the bridge saddles accordingly. This will ensure that you’re in tune when you play on the higher frets.
Stretching the strings is an alternative to having to tune them after every 5 minutes of playing for a few days. I don’t think it matters much in the great scheme of things. There are pro guitar players who change strings before every show (or their guitar tech does). They obviously don’t have the time to wait for the strings to settle in in a few days, so this is a handy shortcut. If it’s good for the pros, it shouldn’t be a hindrance for amateurs either.
Nothing sounds wrong to me. Some things WILL sound different:
going from very old to new strings - brightens sound
change string type - depends on manufacturer, style, alloy of wound string, etc
changing from uncoated to coated string - will sound duller
significant gague change - depends on which direction you change
since you did the first three, you should expect things to sound a bit different. I am often surprised just changing out 10-week old strings for the same string, but new is always brighter.
The coated strings have always sounded dull to me. So going from stock strings to coated is probably part of what you hear.
I don’t often hear a lot of difference with small gauge changes (9-42 vs 9-46), but large changes (10-46 vs 8-38) are a bit different. This is probably more related to how I play the string than the string vibration. I will be more aggressive on a very heavy string compared to a very light one.
thanks for the suggestions! @Coda@Jozsef yep, looks like that was it. Yamaha recommends 1.5mm under the high E and 2-2.5mm under the low E. I had 1.5mm everywhere. I now wonder why it didn’t annoy me with the old strings…
I’m chasing that intonation for a couple of days now All the other strings are spot on but this one meanders a bit
All the remaining differences probably can be attributed to what @sequences described.
My SG will wander around if the intonation is off. Tunes up ok, but a loud E power chord sounded sour. Took me a couple years to figure that out since I didn’t think to re-check the intonation. It was so far out, I wondered how I had never checked it. Maybe it was just the guitar adjusting to my dry climate over time? It sounded much better once I adjusted it.
As guitars are made of wood, metal and plastic, changes in temperature and humidity inevitably will have an effect on all its parts. Fractions of a millimeter can change the sound. As a rule of thumb, I check the intonation every time I change strings to be on the safe side.
All the other strings are spot on but this one meanders a bit