Got myself a (used) Epiphone Hummingbird HS as a bday gift to myself. Love it! IMG_20160902_161004.jpg
I wanna change the strings it came with. I was never sure about the whole changing one at a time vs going ahead and taking them all off at once methods.
What say ye?
Fantastic, looks really nice!Originally Posted by Rickenbacker
Personally, I've never thought it matters much. The only guitars I change strings on one at a time are those with floating bridges, so the bridge doesn't collapse.
I've never had a problem with action changing on any bass or guitar after changing strings all at once, unless of course I'm changing gauge. The other advantage is that I get to clean off the fretboard, and in the case of rosewood board I apply a dot of fingerboard oil at each fret and rub it in. Keeps the fretboard nice and hydrated, and it creates a nice slickness that makes it easy to finger, particularly single lines.
Bill
I agree with Bill.
supposedly, its supposed to be done one at a time to keep the tension ( and intonation) and to keep the neck from moving. It is supposed to be relative to any stringed instrument, with emphasis toward bass players......
.....however, i've never done this on any of my basses (and I change bass strings religiously - gotta' have that new string sound !) or guitar (only one) .....I always reset intonation after I change strings......I take them all off and put a new set on
Congrats on the guitar! Looks like a brand new vintage 70s Hummingbird
There's where I'm unsure. I don't know what gauge the current strings are. They don't *feel* heavy. I bought new lights.
Well, if it's a different gauge of strings you put on, you might have to adjust it regardless if you only do it one string at a time or not.
Exactly what I was going to say. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Change the strings any way you want and see how it feels afterward. If it needs a small truss rod tweak, no big deal. You don't have to worry about bridge intonation on an acoustic unless the saddle is too low or high. If it feels OK now, it's unlikely you'll have a problem unless you increase the string gauge, in which case you'll need to tighten the truss a bit to compensate. But that will be the case either way you change strings.
Bill
Well... this was on an electric, but still... I have an Epiphone Sheraton (ES-335 type guitar) and when I first bought it, the strings were .009s. I put .012s on it (because I wanted it to be my jazz guitar) and some of the frets higher up on the neck started popping up; had to get them filed. So... with a radical change in string gauge, there could be potential problems. Just saying. Also, the nut might have to be altered to accommodate heavier strings.
But that is a pretty extreme change in gauge. I would imagine the frets raised because of the amount of extra tension on the neck. I'm surprised they couldn't have been tapped back down. The nut would definitely have to have the slots widened a bit going up that much.
I've got that guitar but I've never had to restring it. I guess that means I should be playing it more. Beautiful sounding guitar, at least to my ears.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
Wow, I have never heard of that happening. You're certainly right if you're talking about a radical gauge change. But my guess is the guitar Rick bought has Lights (.012s) on it, which are pretty standard on acoustics. It's unlikely he's going to be going up three gauges like you did, so I think he's pretty safe.
Who the hell puts .009s on a Sheraton, anyway?
Bill
I've asked the same question of 2 luthiers and probably a handful of guitar techs. One luthier said "absolutely one string at a time". The other said for the first few moths, it may be OK, but not after that.
4 of the 5 techs said "I change them one at a time. That decreases the chance of changing the action." One said it didn't matter, as long as the guitar has a truss rod.
The first time I took them all off and tried changing them, I put 3 on the wrong pegs before I realized I had screwed up.
After that, I always do them one at a time in this order: D-G-A-B-Low E-High E.
I do something kind-of similar: (Always, even if I'm changing gauge which I almost never do)
Low E, D, B, A, G, High E
Yeah, right?! But I'm guessing Epiphone did. Hell, even if you're going to play rock with it, .010s are easy enough to bend on a Gibson scale length.Who the hell puts .009s on a Sheraton, anyway?
FWIW, I always change strings one at a time, not removing an old one until I'm about to replace it. The only exception is when I clean the fretboard.
Come to think of it, I did that most of the time with my Takamine 360S, which was from mid-70s Martin copying days This was very similar to a D-18. I oiled that fingerboard a lot. The only
reason I sold it was the fact that I had already put money down on a Augustino DR-11 and had to come up with an additional 300.00 to finish paying it off.
Funny thing is, I stopped the oiling with the DR-11 and have had no issues with the ebony fingerboard.
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