cara pasang string classic

Classical, or Nylon Strings
Restring Your Guitar
© Frank Ford, 2/24/98; Photos by FF, 2/24/98

Virtually all classical guitars are strung with nylon strings that tie onto the bridge. It's an ancient system originally devised for gut strings, and it works very well. It is critical to understand how the string holds onto the bridge. The strings are looped around themselves and the final loop MUST pass "around the corner" of the back of the bridge. Here's an example of a properly strung bridge:

Notice that the wound bass strings have only one loop and the unwound treble nylon strings have two. In both cases the free end of the string passes under itself below the corner of the back of the bridge.



Here's an example of a not-so-good job of restringing:
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The treble strings are fine, but two of the bass strings have the loops above the back corner of the bridge. Bass strings have windings that can "grip" each other, so the guitar may hold its tuning. It certainly looks sloppy with the tail ends of the strings sticking out in different directions!

If the treble strings were tied in with the last loop above the back corner of the bridge, they would positively slip right off. If you've ever tried tying a knot in fishing line, you know what that's about. Nothing's more slippery than nylon monofilament.



Classical guitar bass strings frequently have one end loosely wound for greater flexibility:

This is the end that ties onto the bridge.



It's very difficult to insert this flexible end through the tiny hole in the bridge, so it makes sense to bend the stiff end:



Then when you shove it through, the string just curls up toward the saddle and is easy to grab and pull through:

Then you can pull the entire string right through so the flexible end can be tied at the bridge, as in the photograph on the next page.
Pull the string through almost all the way, leaving two to three inches sticking out. Loop the free end under the string just behind the saddle and pull it back toward the end of the guitar:






Pass the free end under the loop, below the back corner of the bridge:

Holding the free end down so it won't climb up over the corner, just pull the string tight. This will lock the string in place very nicely:


Now we can move to the peghead. Pass the string all the way through the tuner hole, leaving just a little slack:



Loop the free end back down over the tuner roller and pass it under itself:

Notice how I'm holding a little tension on the string with my right hand as I pull the loop tight against the roller with my left:




Now all you have to do is wind up the string and tune it:




Once the string is tuned to pitch, you can snip off the loose ends at the bridge and at the tuner roller:


The slippery treble strings require a bit more care to keep them tight, but the technique is substantially the same.

You can insert the string either way through the holes in the bridge:



This time, though, you'll want to loop the string under itself twice:

Make sure that the free end passes under the string below the corner of the bridge when you pull it tight! They always come loose if you don't keep one loop below the corner.
If you are using a set that includes the new carbon composite treble strings, you might want to add an extra turn, because the composite trebles are even more likely to slip than standard nylon.
 At the peghead, the same thing goes. Stick the string through the hole, bring the free end down in front of the roller, and loop under the string:




Then loop under again:



Keep the twisted loops together as you wind up the string:

This seems like a three-handed job at first, but not it's really difficult once you've done it a couple of times.



By the way, it's perfectly legal to treat the wound bass strings and the unwound trebles the same. Then, you'd make two loops at each end, even on the basses.



Here's the result of putting on the first and sixth:

I've made sure that the strings wind toward the outside of the rollers, making room for the middle strings. If you watch how the strings wind onto the rollers, you can guide them so they don't rub on the edges of the peghead or on each other.

Nylon strings, especially the trebles are incredibly stretchy. For the first day, it will seem as though you'll never get them in tune. They'll stabilize by the next day.

Some people try to pre-stretch the strings in an effort to make them stay in tune better right away. Don't do it. Stretching the strings (beyond normal tuning to pitch) will cause them to develop thin areas, changing the distribution of mass. Uneven strings do not play in tune!

Most of the intonation problems on classical guitars are due to uneven strings. If you have one string that seems suddenly out of tune, it probably is. Cheap strings tend to be uneven at the outset. There are lots of different classical strings on the market, and they all perform differently. It pays to experiment to find the string that sounds best to you.


Just as a parting shot, take a look at this bridge:

Some tradtionalists like to tuck the loose end of the string each succesive string as they tie it on the bridge. It makes for a very tidy job.

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