The Guilt Principle Of Guitar Maintenance

[László]

I'm a terrible person. You all know this. And when it comes to guitar maintenance, I epitomize terrible-person-ness. I openly champion the Guilt Principle, which I believe I may have invented!

What's the Guilt Principle?

The Guilt Principle of guitar maintenance (hereafter, "the GP") is simple. It's maintaining your guitar, not for positive reasons, but for the negative reason that you feel so guilty procrastinating, that finally push comes to shove in the Personal Department of Guilt, so you do something to maintain it.

For example, if you feel so guilty about not changing the strings on your guitar for eons, you finally do it. Your motivation isn't that you're into regular string changes, or for any positive tone reason; you do it because you start to feel guilty about not doing it.

Or you might have a session coming up where you'd feel guilty about charging the client if you play with dead strings. Same kind of thing. It's all about the GP.

"You finally changed the strings on your PS acoustic, didn'tcha? That's why your'e posting this. You procrastinated for the better part of a year, you big dummy, and now you want to assuage your guilt with this lame apologia."

"I really hate changing strings."

 

[McMahon67]

Lmao
He who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it……

~screech of the needle being dragged across the record~

 

[John F]

I run my finger on the underside of my strings, if I feel kinks on the solid strings or divots in the wound strings then it is time for a change. These contribute to tuning instabilities IMHO. Pull a cable tight and it rings like a guitar string. Pull a chain tight, it makes a sound but not a nice one. The links transfer vibration across the chain, but the sound is terrible, muted with weak sustain. I believe the kinks in a string prevent smooth vibration up and down the string like the links of a chain. Every string change after feeling the kinks makes the sound of the guitar glorious.

Problem is, having 10 guitars means I go pick a different one rather than change strings. Same church, different pew.

 

[Tony M.]

You're supposed to change the strings?
Oh.
My.
God.
That explains so much.

 

[Tucson Thump]

I'm a terrible person. You all know this. And when it comes to guitar maintenance, I epitomize terrible-person-ness. I openly champion the Guilt Principle, which I believe I may have invented!

What's the Guilt Principle?

The Guilt Principle of guitar maintenance (hereafter, "the GP") is simple. It's maintaining your guitar, not for positive reasons, but for the negative reason that you feel so guilty procrastinating, that finally push comes to shove in the Personal Department of Guilt, so you do something to maintain it.

For example, if you feel so guilty about not changing the strings on your guitar for eons, you finally do it. Your motivation isn't that you're into regular string changes, or for any positive tone reason; you do it because you start to feel guilty about not doing it.

Or you might have a session coming up where you'd feel guilty about charging the client if you play with dead strings. Same kind of thing. It's all about the GP.

"You finally changed the strings on your PS acoustic, didn'tcha? That's why your'e posting this. You procrastinated for the better part of a year, you big dummy, and now you want to assuage your guilt with this lame apologia."

"I really hate changing strings."

It's not guilt here. My wife likes to bake, and when she does there are baking materials and cooling racks all over the kitchen island. I like to change my strings there because it's the best lit area of our house. So the question is, would I rather change strings or have fresh cookies? No need for a poll on that question.

 

[Buildermike]

Guilty as charged. Especially ones with non-locking tuners.

 

[WEDGE]

When I was way younger and on a Kramer with a Floyd I used to change my strings every time we jammed, and clean and tweak everything each time even though it was a chore. I was so into it I loved the routine. Now I actually have guitars I have owned new for well over a year or more with the original strings still on them. Gotten lazy that way.

 

[Julian]

I restring when I have down time and I know I should be practicing and I want to interact with my guitar but I just don't feel inspired.

 

[alantig]

I don’t feel guilt over how well or poorly I care for inanimate objects, whether it be my guitars, my vehicles, or my wife.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

If you do that trick I mentioned a while back, you can legitimately cut your string changes in half.

Probably a better way to phrase that would be, your strings will last at least twice as long while in good shape and without corrosion.

That said, I fully support the “GP.”

 

[Herr Squid]

I don't feel the guilt so much and don't hate changing strings. It's kind of nice to take a neglected guitar and clean it up and put fresh strings on. I did that last weekend with my two rosewood-necked guitars. They were much happier afterwards and so was I!

That said, I've recently realized I have a 6 year old guitar that I know I've never changed the strings on (because it's got a very distinctive bridge and I know I haven't done it). The strings seem fine, they aren't grody and still sound good and play in tune. Fortunately I don't have body chemistry that wrecks strings.

My question is how many others have I got that I've done the same thing on and just don't realize?

 

[archtop]

You're supposed to change the strings?
Oh.
My.
God.
That explains so much.

Nah, when strings sound dead or break that guitar goes straight to Reverb and I buy a new guitar.

(please, nobody tell the spouse strings are replaceable).

 

[DISTORT6]

I actually enjoy string changes.
As crazy as it seems, I find it calming and relaxing.
Feel free to send your guitars to me to change your strings. I can’t guarantee that you’ll get them back with the same gauge or tuning that you sent them with, though.

 

[Alan Jurgens]

I enjoy the process too. I made a spreadsheet that I add the dates and which brand and gauge strings that I put in it. I need to buy more strings now.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

I don’t feel guilt over how well or poorly I care for inanimate objects, whether it be my guitars, my vehicles, or my wife.

You better hope Mrs Tig doesn’t hack your password for here! Brave (or crazy).

I actually enjoy string changes.
As crazy as it seems, I find it calming and relaxing.
Feel free to send your guitars to me to change your strings. I can’t guarantee that you’ll get them back with the same gauge or tuning that you sent them with, though.

Me too, it’s not a chore. I put music or TV on. Sometimes the fretboard gets a clean and a drink if needed.

And I love, love, love the tone afterward.

 

[alantig]

I enjoy the process too. I made a spreadsheet that I add the dates and which brand and gauge strings that I put in it. I need to buy more strings now.

I did that a couple years ago. Changed almost all my strings during a vacation break. Didn’t do it on that scale the last couple years, and finally realized that it was because it was transferring some cassettes to digital that year, so I could sit at my desk while I did that.

You better hope Mrs Tig doesn’t hack your password for here! Brave (or crazy).

Nah - I usually tell her this stuff because she gets a laugh out of it. Besides, she’s having a minor procedure done today - by the time she’s fully aware, this thread will be buried.

 

[veinbuster]

Nah - I usually tell her this stuff because she gets a laugh out of it. Besides, she’s having a minor procedure done today - by the time she’s fully aware, this thread will be buried.

Good luck to her.

 

[László]

I enjoy the process too. I made a spreadsheet that I add the dates and which brand and gauge strings that I put in it. I need to buy more strings now.

I can't imagine being that...well...ok...let's just call it 'organized'.

Nah, when strings sound dead or break that guitar goes straight to Reverb and I buy a new guitar.

In my wild guitar-merry-go-round days, I had a few guitars I sold before having them long enough to need a string change, but in my defense, that could be longer than most here would tolerate...

Guilty as charged. Especially ones with non-locking tuners.

I'm much better about guitars with lockers, too. I still wait until that guilty feeling comes, however.

In my own defense, I should mention that my hands are dry, and my strings don't corrode very quickly.

I run my finger on the underside of my strings, if I feel kinks on the solid strings or divots in the wound strings then it is time for a change. These contribute to tuning instabilities IMHO. Pull a cable tight and it rings like a guitar string.

And there's another thing I feel guilty about: Not practicing often enough to actually get those kinks and divots.

 

[John F]

I think part of my experience with string wear-out is related to my death grip on the neck. I play 10s on my electrics to reduce fretted notes going high. 9s feel too loose, I haven learned to be gentle enough to go with lighter strings. Maybe in 10,000 hours I’ll learn to play cleaner, and more relaxed and not dent strings so much.

 

[Huggy Love]

One of the blessings of Jazz Guitar is that old dead strings gives you the dark tone.
When I was playing Rock and other music I changed strings almost every day, now ....................... every few months or bi-annually.