How to change your electric guitar strings?

Changing your strings is a bit like changing the tyres on your bike: you know they wear out, you can tell they're not holding as well as they used to, and yet you keep putting it off. Until the day one snaps at the worst possible moment.

The good news? With a little practice it takes less than 15 minutes, and the difference is night and day: brighter tone, better tuning stability, and the playing comfort you'd forgotten you had.

When should you change your strings?

There's no hard rule, but here are the telltale signs:

• Your guitar keeps going out of tune, even after a proper tuning session.
• The strings are rusty or have changed colour (grey or black marks).
• The tone sounds dull — no attack, no brightness.
• There's friction under your fingers; the strings feel sticky or rough to the touch.

As a general guide: if you play every day, aim to change them roughly once a month. A few times a week? Every 2 to 3 months is fine. And if you have a gig or a recording session coming up, change them 2 to 3 days beforehand — never on the morning itself, as new strings need time to settle in.

What you'll need

• A set of strings suited to your guitar (see below)
• Wire cutters
• A string winder (optional but very handy)
• A tuner (clip-on or app)
• A soft cloth

Choosing your strings: gauge

Gauge refers to the thickness of the strings. The higher the gauge, the thicker the strings — bigger tone and higher tension, but also more physical effort to play.

• 09-42: ideal for beginners, easy to play, slightly lighter tone
• 10-46: the most common gauge, good balance between comfort and tone
• 11-49: more sustain and power, but more effort required

Note: changing gauge also changes the tension on the neck. On some guitars — especially those with a floating bridge like a Floyd Rose — this may require adjusting the truss rod and springs. If in doubt, feel free to get in touch or come by the workshop.

Step by step

Step 1 — Loosen and remove the first string

Use the tuning pegs (or your string winder) to gradually loosen the string. Once fully slack, remove it from the tuning peg, then from the bridge. On most Strat- or Les Paul-style guitars, strings pass either through holes in the body or through saddles at the bridge.

Step 2 — Take the opportunity to clean

This is the perfect moment to run a cloth over the section of neck you've just freed up. Months of sweat and residue build up under the strings — a clean neck makes a real difference over time.

Step 3 — Thread the new string from the bridge

Feed the new string from the bridge end (through the plate holes, saddles, or through the body depending on the model). Guide it gently up to the corresponding tuning peg.

Step 4 — Wind the string onto the tuning peg

Thread the string through the hole in the tuning peg. Before winding, leave the right amount of excess beyond the target peg: roughly the distance between two tuners for the bass strings (E, A, D), and one and a half times that distance for the treble strings (G, B, E) — being thinner, they need a few extra windings to hold properly. Turn in the correct direction (downward for standard tuners) and make sure the windings wrap neatly from the top to the bottom of the post. The cleaner the wind, the more stable the tuning.

Step 5 — Trim the excess

Once the string is under tension and in tune, trim the excess with your wire cutters, leaving about 1 mm. Protruding ends are sharp — they can scratch or cut.

Step 6 — Stretch the strings in

New strings stretch during the first few hours of play. To speed this up, gently pull each string along the length of the neck once it's in tune, then retune. Repeat 2 to 3 times. The tuning settles much faster this way.

Repeat the whole process for each string, one at a time, in order.

Special cases

Floyd Rose and floating bridges

Changing strings on a Floyd Rose requires an extra step: locking the string in the saddle with an Allen key before bringing it up to tension. The floating bridge is held in balance by string tension on one side and springs on the other. If you change gauge, that balance needs to be recalculated — it's a fairly technical setup. Don't hesitate to get in touch if you're not comfortable with it.

Locking tuners

These tuners make life much easier: insert the string, tighten the locking mechanism, and just 1 to 2 turns are enough to bring it up to tension. Tuning stability is achieved far more quickly than with standard tuners.