How often do you change strings

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Baseballhack

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How often do you all change your strings. On my guitar it was easy to know when to change strings, but at the same time when you changed your strings it was surprising how much tone you gained with new strings. So how often do you all change your strings. Love this forum and thanks everyone you guys and gals are great.
 
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Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Just trying to gage when Uke strings tend to lose their playability and tone.
 
I've been playing for a few years now but have not changed any strings because they have lost their playability or tone.
I've changed them to try different strings but so far I havent changed any because they have worn out.
 
Nylon strings dont break down anywhere near as quickly as with steel guitar strings. I play guitar a lot, and find myself changing every 2-3 weeks. The thing with steel strings is that it is obvious in the look of them when they need changing.

Nylon strings dont change appearance, and to my ears, the drop off in sound is much more subtle.

I have strings on my ukes for months at a time. if they sound dull, or I have a tuning issue, i swap them out
 
Best tip I ever read on this subject was from James Hill. Slide your pinky under a string. If you can feel an indentation on the underside of the string caused by the fret wire, it's time for a change.
 
lkdumas said:
Best tip I ever read on this subject was from James Hill. Slide your pinky under a string. If you can feel an indentation on the underside of the string caused by the fret wire, it's time for a change.
Click to expand...

Thanks I like that. It makes sense.
 
I don't. I just buy a new ukulele! Ha!
 
Once every few months or if they get too worn. I use fremont blacklines, which are thin and are flourocarbon. After a while the frets will start to eat away at the bottom of the string, usually on the A or G string, and then I will just replace all of them. I've found that even with substantial wear on the strings, they still keep their tone, which is pretty amazing to me. I always save strings though, unless they are really useless. I label them in a bag of "worn strings" and if I break an A string or something, but don't have any new ones, I can use a worn string until I get a new set.
 
I've had Aquilas on my tenor for just over a year, I can't say I play daily (!) but certainly frequently and I just noticed last week that my G and A strings are slightly rough between the second and third frets.

They still play fine, I rarely have to retune - time to change strings?
 
Zukester said:
I've had Aquilas on my tenor for just over a year, I can't say I play daily (!) but certainly frequently and I just noticed last week that my G and A strings are slightly rough between the second and third frets.

They still play fine, I rarely have to retune - time to change strings?
Click to expand...

If you like the sound of them go ahead and keep em on. But you will probably notice a difference if you put on some new ones.
 
that's what I thought! just wondered if the roughness was unusual - it's on the top of the string, not as if marked by the fret wire
 
Zukester said:
that's what I thought! just wondered if the roughness was unusual - it's on the top of the string, not as if marked by the fret wire
Click to expand...

Aquillas are a special case - they have a thin coating of gut applied over nylon. Fingernails, picks, etc. can eventually abraid the coating. I've actually heard of old Aquila strings that had developed a faint buzz because the coating was vibrating against the inner core.

I suppose when that kind of thing happens it's probably time to change the strings... LOL

John
 
Use to be about once a month when I had Aquila low G's on my tenor, the wound G sting would snap all the time. Worths don't seem to have that problem.
 
Depends on how much you play and how you play.

If you jam for an hour or more a day I would change them every three weeks. (thats when I notice the strings starting to sound dead.) even if its not noticable to anyone else but you, change tnem anyway just so you always have a great sound.


If you pick up your uke once every couple days, you should be good for at least 2 months.

As a general rule I never leave strings on for more than 2.5 months. By that time the strings are stretched and wont hold their tuning.

All of this is strictly IMHO :)
 
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