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How to change a string on an electric guitar

Stringing up a guitar can be a difficult thing to do if it's your first time trying. There are a bunch of different types of guitars, all with different bridges and methods for restringing them.
Most electric guitars are simple to change a string, and can be done within minutes. Others, such as the Floyd-Rose design, popular with certain Ibanez guitars, require a little bit of special knowledge if you have never dealt with them before.

On your basic electric guitar, the "bridge" is the part of the guitar, near the pickups, where the strings are inserted to hold them in place. Electric guitars, unlike acoustics, generally have small holes just past the bridge. In order to change a string you simply need to remove the old string by loosening it with the tuner peg until you can remove the string from the tuning peg. After removing the string from the tuning peg, you should cut the curly end of the string where it was wrapped around the tuning peg, and pull the rest of the string through the hole until it is completely removed. Adding a new string is essentially the same thing, only backwards. All that you need to do is thread the new string through the hole, pull it through all of the way, and attach it to the tuning peg.

This is the part that gets most new guitarists trying to restring their guitar. Tuning pegs differ just as bridge designs do. There are 2 main types, with different strategies to attach the string. One type is merely a hole going from side to side through the tuning peg. For this type of peg, you will need to extend the string across the neck of the guitar, and leave about 6-8 inches past the tuning peg to which the string belongs. Cut off the rest. Place the end of the string inside of the hole, and if you can, bend the string upwards so that you can hold it in place while you turn the peg. Bending the excess string upwards a little bit, will allow the string to stay in place while you turn the peg. Sometimes you may have to hold the string in place until you get it wrapped around a few times with the tuner peg.

The most important thing to remember at this point is to keep pressure on the string. With your free hand, lift the string off of the neck, and kind of pull against the peg, to add tension on the string. If you do not keep tension on the string throughout the entire process, you're string will not be on properly and you will probably have to start all over. Keep tension on the string at all times, but try not to bend it.

For the second type


Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

How to change a string on an electric guitar

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    by Ethan Womack

    Stringing up a guitar can be a difficult thing to do if it's your first time trying. There are a bunch of different types

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    by Jacob Guidry

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    by Suzy Long

    OK, so you're string has just snapped on your guitar, here's how to change it....for starters, you need to remove the old

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