G strings

MikeK

Good tip, Bones. I saw a luthier do it that way (cutting the strings at full tension, while changing them one at a time) long ago & it just kind of stuck with me to do it that way. But your suggestion is interesting & appreciated. It may not be good for these wooden beauties to undergo such a drastic change in tension.

Buco

Yeah Mike, I was wondering last night if you're popping them under tension? That sounds scary man. Wood is tough but not that much.

Another Optima strings fan here. Since I've been using them, I didn't have a single one go. On the other hand currently I have Argies on for longer than I want to admit and G is still holding up.

littlemark

I'm a former upright bass player. I don't want to change my strings more then once a decade at the earliest. :P

Twang

The whole twisting the string thing goes back 20 years when there were some quality issues with Argies. There hasn't been a good reason to do this since the quality issues were resolved back then.

juanderer

We'd have to check their corrective action follow-up monitoring to see how well it has worked. It also wouldn't help to check their non-conformance logs to see if they haven't noticed similar incidents since then... I bet I was a pain in the ass when I worked in quality.

Seriously, though; that they took measures to eliminate the issue doesn't mean that every string will be perfect - just that they reduced the number of incidences to an acceptable level (whatever that means).

The last set of strings I had a G wear exaggeratedly sooner than expected was with Newtone strings. They were excellent otherwise. I've used one or two Argentine sets since with no issue.

Another thing o look at: do your frets need polishing/dressing?

Finally, this thread reminded me that I sometimes catch myself consciously not bending or using wide vibrato as much on G-strings and it got me thinking that I'm probably not the only one that does this. I wonder if this has any statistical significance on the improved quality of strings. 🤔

MikeK

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/106727#Comment_106727

That does it...no more cutting strings at full tension. Thanks Bones & Buco. But I'll miss coming across the occasional old string piece that sailed across the room & hid in my basement. I've never tried Optimas, all I've ever used is Argies.

Bones

Yeah the impulse force on the guitar seems a bit extreme but probably ok (people do break strings) but also just thinking for safety. You don't want to put an eye out. Just loosen a bit before cutting should be fine.

ChristopheCarington

I'm curious - how long do y'all leave your strings on your guitars?

MikeK

I change my Altamiras (both are strung with Argies) once a month or after 4 gigs, whichever comes first. I change my archtop (strung with Tomastik Bebops) every 2 months.

Buco

I've had this set on for 4 months. Every time I think of changing it, I wipe it clean, put a very little string lubricant and think" this is fine". When I was playing gigs, probably monthly.