OK to restring my guitar with used strings?

[caljoe]

Cover the finish before you start on that P/U change.

 

[RTH]

RTH,

Actually, I was throwing out to Coppercrimp Rob,
But yup, if I need to, I still do it and it does work.

Hope all is well with you and yours.

One Detroit boy to another,

Willy

Right on! I've used the capo trick and totally forgot to mention it. It comes in handy for sure.

Everyting is great here just north of the D! Hope you are well too.

 

[SilverBurps]

I was serious about leaving the strings on to re-shim. However, this all started on my bass, and at $30 a pop for a set of 5, you learn to conserve. Eventually, I realized that I dont even like new bass strings. I wont change them until they are rusty. If I wipe them down with a little WD-40 every week (if I'm playing alot), they will last forever. And the best part about a bass is that the top of the tuners are open slotted. Metal fatigue be damned!

Ewwww, dude! WD-40?!?! You know that stuff's toxic, right? Get all rockin' out, sweating through open pores in your hands and fingertips, straight-up absorbing that stuff into your bloodstream.

I've never lubed my strings, so maybe you know something I don't.

 

[RTH]

I eat WD-40 on my pancakes.

 

[CHUNKYNECK]

WD-40 is good for arthritis and stiff joints.
or maybe that was RP-7.

Like everyone else said it's a pita to use the old strings and you will probably just break the high E anyway so i'd put some new ones on.

Save the ones you've got for spares.

 

[RTH]

The way I see it, if Dan Erlewine has been promoting the use of Naptha (a toxic hydrocarbon and highly combustible) to clean guitars and fingerboards for several decades, I'm not afraid of a little WD-40.

 

[TheX]

Funny thread. I have at least 75 sets of strings in my parts locker.

 

[CHUNKYNECK]

I like to use old stings to do setups when I buy a guitar that has crusty strings or 9's
When it's dialled in I just throw a new set of 10's on it.

I also use WD-40 on the saddle screws if they are looking rusty or gunked up.

 

[SilverBurps]

The way I see it, if Dan Erlewine has been promoting the use of Naptha (a toxic hydrocarbon and highly combustible) to clean guitars and fingerboards for several decades, I'm not afraid of a little WD-40.

Naptha evaporates so quickly it's gone before you can even touch it. I bathe my nitro guitars in the stuff I love it so much.

 

[Brians Evil Twin]

The only time I reuse strings is when I just put them on after a setup and need to make some adjustments.

At $3/set, it hardly seems worth it to reuse strings that have been on for any more than a few days.

I also read somewhere that the flat spots on the strings from fretting won't line up when you restring so it's bad for your frets.

In any case thanks for the reminder about the capo method.

 

[Curmudgeon]

I also read somewhere that the flat spots on the strings from fretting won't line up when you restring so it's bad for your frets.

Then it would stand to reason that new strings are bad for your frets too, because the windings haven't flattened yet.

 

[Brians Evil Twin]

Then it would stand to reason that new strings are bad for your frets too, because the windings haven't flattened yet.

Maybe I said that wrong. If the flat spots that were on the strings from the original install get twisted, then some frets get "fresh" wind contact and some get flat spots or partial flat spots so the contact isn't even.

At any rate, $3/set not worth arguing over, just throw new strings on. I buy them this way now, it's much faster when you have a bunch of guits hanging around:

 

[Curmudgeon]

Maybe I said that wrong. If the flat spots that were on the strings from the original install get twisted, then some frets get "fresh" wind contact and some get flat spots or partial flat spots so the contact isn't even.

At any rate, $3/set not worth arguing over, just throw new strings on. I buy them this way now, it's much faster when you have a bunch of guits hanging around:

Holy crap! That would last me the rest of my life! (And I wasn't trying to argue with you--I was just trying to grasp what you said).

How much does it cost to buy them that way?

 

[56GT]

Two things I don't reuse... one is guitar strings, the other, toilet paper.

 

[rem22]

Two things I don't reuse... one is guitar strings, the other, toilet paper.

You reuse condoms ?

I've already considered the 25 sets box of D, the only thing is I am still tryinig to fnd "my" gauge. D'addario is better than EB for me, much longer life and almost identical soundwise.

 

[56GT]

You reuse condoms ?

...

Sure. Just turn them inside-out.

 

[Curmudgeon]

You reuse condoms ?

 

[Curmudgeon]

Two things I don't reuse... one is guitar strings, the other, toilet paper.

Normally I don't reuse strings, but I had put a new set on about a week before I got my new-used neck pup. So I just loosened them enough to slip the TP off and lay it out of the way. By some incredible coincidence, the fret lines on them lined up pretty much spot-on when I re-tightened them. And it gave me an un-altered frame of reference to judge the improvement in tone the new pup made.