“How long should my guitar strings last?”

    * "New" strings are shiny & glossy in appearance.

       * When your strings look rusty like this, it is time to change them.

A very common question we get asked at Concept Music is “how long should my strings last?” (Usually just after someone has broken a string on their guitar!).  And while the answer varies from player to player there are some common rules.  The easiest one is “when they look and feel like they need changing”!  Usually we can tell that the strings on a guitar need changing just by looking at them… if they are black, tarnished & dull, it’s definitely time & if they are clean & shiny they’re probably OK.  A quick way to check (on steel strings) is to run your thumb & forefinger along the length your high E string & feel it… if it feels all rough & rusty – it’s time.   

An old “Rule of Thumb” used to be that around 20 hours of playing was about the life you could expect from a set of strings so while that can be a useful starting guide, unfortunately there is no golden rule as every person’s playing style & body chemistry is different. 

One common analogy we use here from time to time to explain "how long should they last?" is to answer that guitar strings are somewhat like the tyres on your car... if you drive carefully & keep them inflated to the proper pressure & don't go racing around every corner, they'll last a lot longer. The same with strings.  If you sweat a lot & play hard & don’t wipe down your strings after playing you’ll need to change them more often… if you wash your hands before you start playing &  wipe them down after they’ll last longer.  The best any string will sound is the day you put them on… after that it’s downhill all the way & it’s just a question of when not if you need to change them.

"But do I really need to change your strings before they break?"  Well, that depends, & the short answer is obviously "no, not necessarily" but the more complete answer however is that new, fresh strings will always feel & sound much, much nicer than old strings and they are also much easier to get in tune (& to keep in tune). Rusty strings feel awful to play, sound dull & will also cause greater fret wear so in our opinion it makes sense to change them more often.  

For those that hate changing their strings (which is most people in our experience) on the upside, in recent years a number of new technologies have been developed that ‘coat’ or chemically treat strings to dramatically extended the playing time you can expect from them by up to 5 times as long.  While this also increases the price of the string somewhat, in the long run it is much cheaper plus it saves that hassle of changing strings.   

Easily our most popular “long life” string brand is Elixir however there are now a number of manufactures doing something similar so we think they’re worth a try.  This can be especially true if you don't play your guitar very often... if you play your guitar for an hour or so, leave it standing in the corner for a few months & come back the strings will often be "dead" even though you haven't played them & this is because the acid in your sweat acts to eats away at them even though you haven't been playing.