Strings 101, vol. I
Time to take off our helmets and put on our thinking caps!  We are going to take a look at the different kinds of strings out there, and maybe get a better understanding of what we are looking for in a set of strings.
“What kind of strings do I need?” 
There are many, many different brands and models of strings available today! What kind of strings you need depends mainly on what kind of guitar you have. Here is some information on the three basic types of strings.
Classical   
Classical guitar strings date back hundreds of years, and used to be made from gut. Today’s classical strings are made out of solid nylon (for the plain strings). The larger wound strings are made from nylon filament fibers, which are wrapped with bronze or silver. Classical strings come in three different tensions: low, medium and high.
note: Steel strings may sound great on your classical guitar, but be warned… steel strings will increase the tension more than the classical neck can take. Bad (expensive) things will happen!
Steel-string acoustics   
The unwrapped strings are plain steel. The larger wound strings are wrapped with one of the following:
- bronze-wound: Sound bright when new, lose brightness within a few hours of play to a mellow tone
- phosphor bronze: Bronze with phosphor added to the alloy. Phosphor makes the strings warmer-sounding and helps maintain original tone longer.
- silk and steel: Unwrapped strings are plain steel. The wrapped strings are made with a thinner steel core with many nylon filaments, which are wrapped with silver-plated brass windings. These create less tension on the neck. They don’t sound quite as bright, but are a little easier on your fingers than regular bronze strings.
Steel acoustic strings come in many sizes, ranging from extra-light to heavy. Sometimes you have to take a closer look. One brand’s “medium” may be another brand’s “medium-light.” Most of the time the individual string sizes are printed somewhere on the packaging.
note: Classical strings might sound like a good idea on a steel-string acoustic. The problem is, classical strings don’t generate the amount of tension the acoustic guitars are built to withstand. This is likely to cause tuning problems. Also, the classical strings are thicker, and the nut slots would have to be widened to accommodate the thickness.
Electric guitars   
There are so many brands and models of electric guitar strings on the market these days, it’ll make your mind numb! Electrics still use the same light, medium and heavy descriptions as acoustics, with lots of other variations. Most of the time the description will just have the first string and the sixth string sizes (9-42 or 10-46). The actual size is in thousandths of an inch (.009/.042). String sets are fairly standardized at a calculated rate, which increases from the first to the sixth string. Electric guitar strings are made with nickel, which helps with the magnetic properties to be used with electric pick-ups. Here are the different types:
- nickel-plated: nickel-plated wraps around the steel core. These are the most common electric strings. Steel works best with magnetic pick-ups, and the nickel helps prevent corrosion.
- pure nickel: nickel wraps around the steel core. These are mellower with less output than nickel-plated. They are said to be “vintage tone.”
- stainless steel: SS wraps around the steel core. Brightest tone of all the strings, these are not very smooth for playing. Also can cause frets to wear faster.
There are several types of electric guitar string windings:
- round-wound: The most popular—and least expensive to make. Round wraps around a round core. These have a bright, aggressive tone, harder on fingers and frets due to higher friction. Enjoyed by country players and rockers, and come standard on most new guitars because of cost.
- flat-wound: The wire wrap is flattened, giving the string a smoother feel. These have a less-bright sound when compared to round-wound. They usually cost more than round-wound. These are a favorite for jazzers.
- half-round or “ground round”: These are round-wound strings that have been ground flat. The tone and price fall somewhere in-between the round-wound and flat-wound strings. These strings are abused by heavy-metal players around the world.
- polymer-coated strings: These strings are made with an ultra-thin polymer coating which is supposed to protect the strings from dirt, sweat and moisture/corrosion. They are guaranteed to last much longer than conventional strings. The cost is two to three times more as well.
 If your guitar plays well, stick with the kind of strings that are already on it. Changing the size of the strings will change the tension on the neck, which will have to be set up (we will cover this in future issues). The best way, if you don’t know what strings to get, is to bring your guitar to a good guitar store. Have them measure the strings. They will probably be happy to recommend the right strings to go with your guitar.
Parting thought: Even if you are the newest of the newbies, don’t waste your time with bargain-basement deals on strings that you can find on the internet. This is definitely one area where “you get what you pay for.” Those cheap strings are no doubt made from inferior materials and will hurt your fingers, create serious tuning problems and break. (And give you headaches!)
Cheap strings will discourage you from playing your guitar.
Below we’ll talk more about strings –the when, the whys and the hows. ‘Til then, play hard!
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Strings 101, vol. II
Ain’t she a beauty! Take a peak under the hood. No, this isn’t an article from Car & Driver magazine. What does this have to do with guitars and their strings?
Scheduled maintenance on your car can be compared to regular upkeep on your guitar. Changing your oil in your car is much like changing strings on your guitar.
Just like oil in your car starts breaking down after a certain time, your strings’ playing days are numbered from the moment you wind them on your guitar. Bringing strings up to pitch puts a great strain on them. Your strings (especially the wound ones) are excellent collectors of sweat, dirt, oil and smoke that help to speed corrosion. Over time, your strings will stretch and lose some of their elasticity. The grime and corrosion will eventually cause your strings to lose the bright tone that they started with. The plain strings will flatten out where they press against the frets, and cause tuning issues. Let’s face it, new strings sound and feel better, and they resonate longer.
Strings have “come a long way, Baby!”
Let’s take a peak back in time. “Guit pickers” from the time preceding and through World War II talk of removing their strings, boiling them clean, then soaking them in 3-in-1 Oil, drying them thoroughly and re-installing them on their guitars. Some other steel-string pioneers used to peel the wire from a screen door and string it on their guitars. During the dawn of rock ‘n roll, the new rockers saw a need for smaller, thinner strings for the modern electric guitar phenomenon. Guitar string companies were slow to catch up with the players’ needs for thinner strings, and many rockers had to borrow strings from the guitar’s hillbilly cousin: the banjo. Nowadays, you can find any type of string imaginable at reasonable prices, in town or on the web. This is an availability that we guitar players often take for granted.
 
How do I know when my guitar needs new strings? Unlike your car, there is no sticker on the inside windshield telling you when it’s time to change strings. Some players will change their strings after nearly every show they play. Other players I’ve known won’t think of putting a new set of strings on until one eventually breaks. Somewhere in-between the two extremes will work best.
Most references suggest changing strings sometime between 15-30 hours of playing. Playing styles, body chemistry and the environment are all factors that determine how long strings will last. Playing with clean hands and wiping your strings off after playing will lengthen your string-life. Also, like using some synthetic oils in your car will extend the time between oil changes, polymer-coated strings are guaranteed to last much longer than regular strings.
Ask 10 different guitar players when they recommend changing strings and you’re likely to get 11 different answers.
Changing your strings on your guitar is a subjective and personal adventure. Experiment with different types of strings. As I mentioned before, stay with the same string size (for now). Changing strings is something that every guitar player needs to do by yourself to make you one with your guitar.
Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop
Next time, we will cover the actual string change. We’ll get our hands dirty, have fun and maybe boost our “gas mileage”. ‘Til then, play hard!
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