Restringing Clinic

For Steel String Guitars
İFrank Ford, 3/1/8; Photos by FF, 2/27/98; Layout by Brian Hui, 2/9/99

 
Goodall Guitars are a family of high end guitars. See more of their guitars on their website: http://www.goodallguitars.com.

 

 

The following material is copyrighted by Frank Ford. He is an employee of Gryphon Stringed Instruments, a guitar retailer I highly recommend.  He is also a luthier, or a craftsman of guitars. You can visit his website at for further valuable information about the care and construction of your guitar.

1

Take the strings off, wipe the fingerboard clean with a clean terrycloth rag, and get ready to restring. If you have trouble getting the bridge pins out, use your wirecutter and lift the bridge pin out without using the guitar as an anchor, or reach into your guitar and use a coin to push the bridge pin out.
 

 

2
Make a little bend in the ball end of the string.
 

 

3
The slight bend will make it easier for the bridge pin to push the string aside as you insert the string and pin into the bridge. First, stick the string into the hole, and follow with the bridge pin, orienting the notch in the pin forward, toward the neck.

4

Once you have the pin pushed in place, pull up on the string until you feel the ball catch and seat itself under the bridge. Press down on the pin just enough to keep it from slipping out as you draw the ball upward to its resting place.
 

 

5

The bridge pin's only job is to push the string ball aside so that it can grip the underside of the guitar top. The guitar top is reinforced in this area by the bridge plate, a thin hardwood strip. Here's a view of how it looks inside.

Some steel string guitars have bridges without bridge pins or holes through the top. It's very easy to install the strings on this type of bridge. You just pass the string through the hole and pull it up until the ball seats at the back of the bridge. It's so easy to do, I didn't even photograph it.

A this point the string is firmly anchored at the bridge. Now it's time to move to the other end of the guitar.

6

Pass the string through the hole in the tuner post, pull it up tight and then pull back about an inch of string.
 

 

7

Hold a little tension on the string while you loop the free end back down between the tuner posts and underneath the string.

8

Pull the free end so that the loop pulls tight against the tuner post. Then bring the free end over the string and give it a little kink downward.
 

 

9

Now all you have to do is wind the string up and tune it to pitch.

10

Once the string is tuned just cut the free end off very close so you won't get stuck by a sharpie! (Brian's Note: getting stuck by a sharp end of a guitar string is very painful!)

After you have strung you guitar properly, use a fairly heavy pick and strum hard at the strings repeatedly, then retune the guitar. This will stretch out the strings to their proper stretch point. Repeat this process until the strings no longer go out of tune.

Well, that's the trick we all use. Most manufacturers do too, because it makes for quick and easy work; it allows for easy removal.