*A common question asked by Customers we hear is “Can you save the strings? I just installed them..” our reply is “Fresh is Best, but if one of them breaks while we are doing our adjustments and Setup – we are going to replace the whole set”.
The customer who thinks they are saving themselves money are kidding themselves, as once we resecure their previously installed strings all bets are off as to how soon they will break at the tuning pegs or over the saddle – strings are pretty much kinked after being tuned up and they do not like being repeatedly loosened and tightened or even being reinstalled and tuned up much after being fitted the first time.
To add insult to injury the customer’s installation of the strings can sometimes be part of the reason for any tuning hassles they may be having. Your Tech has their own way of installing strings for the best results in tuning stability. Ask them and they will show you how!
We notice that Strings stretch rather quickly and they wear (develop little indentations on the strings underside) from being pushed against frets after only a few of minutes of playing time. After a week or so the Strings keep wearing and keep stretching to keep in tune, the wear marks move slightly forward towards the Nut and past the centre of the frets (Worn frets make it even worse) and make for some nasty overtones and double dissonant notes. It’s almost impossible to set intonation accurately on a set of used/played strings.
Pure NIckel strings wear/stretch the quickest, Bronze and Phosphor Bronze Acoustic Strings ear and stretch fairly quickly too. Nickel Plated Steel strings wear/stretches take a little longer, Cobalt Steel and Stainless strings wear a little slower, they still will soon stretch and because they are made of “tougher alloys” they will also wear your frets out a bit quicker too. “Coated” or “Long Play” type Strings just wear through the coating and then wear and stretch the same as every other Nickel Steel or Bronze Acoustic String out there.
That being said, many customers bring their preferred brand and gauge of fresh strings with them when they request work which is great and we encourage it!
Most Instrument Repair Workshops have assorted brands and gauges on hand if customers don’t have strings to supply for their Service/Repairs needed.
In Fact – We Guarantee that you will have a better playing Instrument when you have genuine quality brand strings installed during a Service/Setup/Fretwork – especially after the Instrument has been Setup for those particular Brand and Gauges!
Also on the Subject of String Brand and Gauges – If you’ve gone to the trouble to have a Setup done on your Instrument – be sure to use the EXACT same Brand and Gauge of Strings that were used in the Instrument’s Setup as different brands use different core wire sizes and formulas for winding their Strings and that means different Tensions and that affects the whole previous Setup’s Neck, String Height and Intonation Adjustments.
If you are changing Brands and Gauges expect to have a Fresh Setup done if you want the Best out of your Instrument with that new Brand and Gauge of Strings.
Don’t even bother with cheap/bootleg strings as they are all over ebay for prices that we can’t even buy the genuine article from a Wholesaler/Distributor for, all made in China too and they are all legendary terrible “Chinese Quality”.
We have refused to fit “bootleg” or “chinese made” strings to Instruments as it is a waste of our time trying to get a decent guitar to play in tune and sound good with that kind of CHEAP Rubbish. Some people like to justify a thrifty purchase and try and call them “Guitar Strings” but the lack of quality is evident as soon as you open the packet let alone get them fitted onto an Instrument…
Again, we could care less if you buy your Strings from our Workshop, just don’t bother yourself with the cheap rubbish that is being sold online or even from larger chain “music shops”. We firmly believe that the World needs fewer “Amateur Sounding” Guitars with questionable quality strings on them.
Don’t compromise with strings – Cheap/Bootleg Strings are just going to make YOU sound like an Amateur/Beginner…
To summarise – whenever YOU play YOUR Instrument – YOU are wearing out YOUR Strings and YOUR Frets so be prepared to go through some Strings! …. and occasionally Frets…. and a bit of Money….
Welcome to the Reuben's Guitar Repairs Website 