Restringing Clinic
Steel String Guitar
© Frank Ford, 3/1/98; Photos by FF, 2/27/98
Take the strings off, wipe the fingerboard clean with a clean terrycloth rag, and get ready to restring. If you have trouble getting the bridge pins out, here are a couple of hints.
OK, let's get to work!
First, it's a good idea to make a little bend in the ball end of the string:
The slight bend will make it easier for the bridge pin to push the string aside as you insert the string and pin into the bridge. First, stick the string into the hole, and follow with the bridge pin, orienting the notch in the pin forward, toward the neck:
Once you have the pin pushed in place, pull up on the string until you feel the ball catch and seat itself under the bridge. Press down on the pin just enough to keep it from slipping out as you draw the ball upward to its resting place:
The bridge pin's only job is to push the string ball aside so that it can grip the underside of the guitar top. The guitar top is reinforced in this area by the bridge plate, a thin hardwood strip. Here's a view of how it looks inside:
I took this picture with the INSIGHT video camera.
Some steel string guitars have bridges without bridge pins or holes through the top. It's very easy to install the strings on this type of bridge. You just pass the string through the hole and pull it up until the ball seats at the back of the bridge. It's so easy to do, I didn't even photograph it.
A this point the string is firmly anchored at the bridge. Now it's time to move to the other end of the guitar.
Pass the string through the hole in the tuner post, pull it up tight and then pull back about an inch of string:
Hold a little tension on the string while you loop the free end back down between the tuner posts and underneath the string:
Pull the free end so that the loop pulls tight against the tuner post. Then bring the free end over the string and give it a little kink downward:
Now all you have to do is wind the string up and tune it to pitch:
Once the string is tuned just cut the free end off very close so you won't get stuck by a sharpie!
Well, that's the trick we all use. Most manufactures do too, because it makes for quick and easy work; it allows for easy removal.
Oh, and yes, some musicians leave the entire loose end of the string attached and coiled at the peghead:
It may have a cool, casual look but those coils are likely to rattle and buzz.
And, some players get confused about which one goes to which tuner:
This one is quite a study in confusion. Its owner complained about difficulty in tuning, which is no surprise, considering that five are wound backwards, and four of them go to the wrong posts. Yes, it really did come into the shop strung like this.
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