Cuttting off the old strings

[John McGuire]

I read somewhere on the forum a year or so ago that it was a bad practice to just cut off the old strings. Why is that or is it and old wives tale? I even read where Buddy commented once that he cuts his off at times even though he knows he shouldn't. I cut em off last week to save some time, what harm could it possibly do?

[Mike Shefrin]

Best to loosen them first so there's some slack before you cut them. That's what I do anyway.

[Lee Baucum]

Why would you cut them off? You still have to unwind the remaining piece of string from the tuner.

[Mike Shefrin]

In my case it just seems to save a little bit of time. Taking the cut string off the tuner is also easier this way for me. As soon as one string is off I put on a new one. I never take all ten off at once. One at a time. It takes me about 40 minutes to put on one new set and then tune them up if necessary. Rick Price says he can change one set in about 15 to 20 minutes. I don't know how he does it so fast. He has it down to a science.

[John McGuire]

I agree Mike. That small rap that is left is easy to get off. I just cut all 10 off the c neck the other night and it saved so much time. I was always led to believe that you could damage the guitar by cutting them but I don't see how.

[Bill Ford]

I relieve the tension on all, then cut at about the 18th fret, turn the tuner so the hole is about 45deg.,(you gotta do it anyhow)remove the old end, clean everywhere the strings are in the way, install new strings.

BF

[Dennis Saydak]

Why would you cut them off? You still have to unwind the remaining piece of string from the tuner.

Even with a Williams guitar where the changer is Rockwell hardened I'd cut the string first before removal or risk damage from the curly string end.
end.

[Paddy Long]

Mike, I use a turbo-winder on the end of my cordless drill to whip those strings on and off reasonably quickly. It certainly speeds the process up a lot.
I usually take the whole lot off so I can give the fretboard and changer a good wipe down, rather than change 1 at a time.

[Doug Palmer]

You can scratch your fret board or loose an eye. Don't be an Idiot.

[Tommy Young]

Paddy that what I use as well the turbo winder with a cordless drill,,,,It dosn't take long with the drill in high speed as i don't like to just sit and turn for any length of time I get bored.

[Tony Glassman]

I always cut'em off all at once.

Usually I'll lay a towel over the strings to avoid "getting popped" and jam a piece of foam behind the changer fingers so as not to get any string ends lost in the mechanism.

Or, sometimes I run a loop of duct tape around all 10 strings between where I plan to cut and the changer heads. When I'm done I have all the string ends taped together en masse. In either case, I like to make sure that I've accounted for all the cut ball ends.

Then, using a needle nose pliers I pull the other cut "string end" and uncoil it off of the tuning keys which is much faster than unwinding them (except strings 5 and 6 - they're too close together!).....I pre-cut each new string to the desired length and restring with a turbo-key and a small cordless drill.

[Lee Baucum]

Dennis - I can see why you would need to cut the string on that style of changer. It looks like the string threads through a hole, instead of hooking in a notch or on a pin.

I use an old manual string winder on my guitars. When I'm removing the string, I hold it in the middle, with my right hand, and crank with my left hand until the string slips out of the tuner. Then I coil up the strings and toss them in the recycle bin.

Lee

[Erv Niehaus]

I noticed in a music catalog the other day that Ernie Ball is marketing a cordless string winder for $19.99.
Looks like a pretty slick deal.

[Lee Baucum]

Erv - My manual string winder is cordless, too!

[Erv Niehaus]

Mine too!

[Rich Peterson]

The "Don't cut the strings withut loosening them" mantra may have some validity for a fretted guitar, which has a more fragile structure. I doubt that it matters for a PSG. Even one without a metal frame will have much more wood than a guitar neck; more rigid, so little chance of damage to wood from sudden unflexing. Also, screwed and bolted together instead of glue.

But loosening the strings does reduce risk of injury to humans in the area.

[Chris Lucker]

I use the Mingo method handed down to me from Ed Ames.

[John Drury]

Every time I hear talk about cutting strings on a PSG (wich should not be done under tension BTW), I think of the time years ago when I walked into Duane Marrs shop in Madison and saw a ProII with wire sticking every wich way on top.

There was a hatchet mark centerways of each neck. Put there by a surly housewife that couldn't take anymore woodsheddin. Not a pretty sight.

[Erv Niehaus]

What a shame!
You can always find another wife but those Pro II's
are hard to come by!

[Chris Schlotzhauer]

You guys change strings?

[Paddy Long]

Nah ...when they wear out I just order another Zum !