Step-by-Step Guide to Change your Guitar Strings

Restringing guitar strings is one job that needs to be done once a month to keep your sound best, and playing guitar on old strings feels wrong. You don’t need to take it to a luthier or a guitar shop to get it done when you can learn to do it yourself.

A new guitarist might think it might be daunting, but it’s not that difficult. Changing to new strings gives you a fresh sound and makes playing and feeling better easier! With time, practice, and patience, restringing will be quick and easy. 

 Here is Zager’s step-by-step tutorial on how to change strings, whether an acoustic guitar or an electric one; you can now do it yourself.

How to Know Your Strings Need to be Changed

For beginners and guitar students, one way to know you need to change your strings is to see if there is “rust” or “dirt” on your strings. After every 100-120 hours of playing, the old strings get worn out, affecting the sound and tune of the guitar.

If you play infrequently, you should change guitar strings once every 3 months. The moisture of the fingers when playing can stay enact with the acoustic guitar strings and wear them out.

It’s a quick fix, the whole process takes around 15-20 minutes, and once you get the hang of it, you can do it much faster and easier.

Gather your tools, and lay your guitar on its back on a flat surface to give yourself room to work on the neck.

What Tools Do I  Need to Change Strings?

Changing strings is an easy job; all you need are:

1. New strings

2. Wire cutters

3. String Winder

4. Tuner

Step 01 – Prep

Lay your guitar on a clean surface

• Position yourself in a comfortable space and start by playing your guitar flat on a towel to avoid any blemishes and scratches on the back of the guitar.

• The next thing you need to do is place a stack of books, then a soft towel to balance the neck and secure the level.

Gather your tools

STRINGS– You’ll need new strings; Zager makes the best guitar strings in two kinds, coated and uncoated strings. You can choose whichever you prefer based on your taste and sound. Coated will be softer on the fingers with a slightly warmer sound.  Uncoated will have more grip and bite on the fingers, but not quite as warm. 

TUNER– You’ll need a tuner to get the correct pitch. Zager makes easy-to-read LED green and red light displays, compact and easy to take with you or put in your case compartment.

Wire cutters & String Winders – Changing guitar strings does not necessarily require a lot of tools. Usually, most string winders come with a notch to pop out the bridge pins from the bridge hole. The wire cutters will help cut off the excess string. Cut them off once you’re done restringing so they don’t scratch your hand when playing the guitar.

String winders are optional, but they sure make the job a lot more easy and fast.

Step 02 – Remove Strings

Unwind the Strings –

To remove strings, start by unwinding them, you don’t necessarily require a string winder for this, but that does make it a lot easier. Loosen up the thinnest and highest string. To check if it is correctly unwinding, pluck the string; if it feels loosened and the pitch is lowered, you’re going the correct way. Then go ahead and relieve all the strings on the acoustic guitar.

Remove the Strings from the Bridge of the Guitar.

Use a pin winder or the notch on the string winder to pop the bridge pins out from the bridge hole. Once the bridge pin is out, carefully pull the end of the string out and away from the guitar. Now take out all the strings one by one using the same technique.

After removing all the strings, you can clean the fretboard using a fretboard cleaner. Cleaning is an optional step, but we recommend taking this opportunity. You can clean it with the fretboard cleaner conditioner included with our strings. Mr. Zager does not recommend using lemon oil or any oils on the fretboard. Oil attracts dirt and that builds up on your fretboard and gets onto your strings which ruin strings prematurely.

Rather than changing strings one string at a time, we recommend removing and changing your guitar strings all at once, as it will save time and give you a naked fretboard for cleaning.

Step 03 – Inserting New Strings on an Acoustic Guitar

Inserting with the Bridge Pins

Take out your new set of strings, bend the end of the new string, and place the string at a 90-degree angle just above the ball end so it’ll grasp it. Remember to keep it a little down; the bridge pins will do their job. Now push the pin back in with your thumb to secure it in its place.

Repeat the same process with all of the 6 strings, in the order of starting with the lowest, thickest string and moving towards the highest, thinnest string.

Attaching to the headstock

Start by pulling the thickest, lowest string up towards the headstock and around the nut groove. Pass it through the slot head hole in the tuning post. Continue winding until you reach 2-4 inches of excess string.

Make sure to wind each string with the tuning key towards the center of the headstock. Start by winding the string counterclockwise over the hole in the tuning post for the first revolution to hold it in its place. In the first revolution of the string, make sure to hold the end; for other revolutions, take out your finger from underneath the string and start winding under the hole of the tuning post. This method tends to lock the string up and keep the tone. Make sure to wind each string completely before moving toward the next one.

Step 04 – Cutting Off Excess Strings

You are now close to the end of string changing. Cutting the excess string is essential to save yourself from getting poked by the strings or scratched. Tune the guitar using a Zager’s Sonic tuner first, then cut the strings. After locking and securing the string tight in their tuning heads, the next step is cutting the excess wire using wire cutters. Cut as close to 0.3 – 0.5 inches from the tuning posts.

How to tune your guitar to a pitch

If you play frequently, tune your strings, and they’ll hold their pitch. All you need to do is stretch and hold them up 0.5 inches and then slide your fingers toward the nut and in the other direction. It’ll take a few times of restringing to new strings to get familiar with the process, but once you get the hang of it, it’s a quick fix.

About Zager

Zager Guitars is a family-owned third-generation guitar builder that has been building guitars in Lincoln, Nebraska, since 1902. Zager is rated in the top 5% of all guitar brands and has been featured in Time Magazine, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, FOX, and a multitude of national and international news media. 

Zager makes their strings in two variations, the pillow touch coated and uncoated strings. Right now, they’re included in the FREE $625 Luxury Accessory Package in every order.