Poll: Who completely unstrings?

[Casper]

I have traditionally taken all strings off the guitar when restringing. I have heard and seen discussions about this pro and con. Some say that if you take all the strings off it (vs. one by one) it can mess with the neck tension. I've not noticed any difference. For me, I clean and polish every time, so its easier to clean with everything off.
Anybody else want to comment?
Shaun

[Stan Malinowski]

On all my Strat/Tele type guitars I remove all strings, clean/oil the fretboard and put on the new strings.

On guitars where the bridge will fall off (Gibson, PRS, etc) I will usually take 3 strings off at a time. If I do take off all 6 strings at once on these types of guitars I use masking tape to hold the bridge & tailpiece in place.

[dkaplowitz]

On all my Strat/Tele type guitars I remove all strings, clean/oil the fretboard and put on the new strings.
+1. Tom has also said here that it shouldn't be a problem to take them all off for a brief period of time. I would take that to mean don't leave them off over night, but if you take your time to clean and re-string, you shouldn't have any problems. I've been doing this for 20 years (long before I knew it could possibly be an issue) and I've never had a problem.



On guitars where the bridge will fall off (Gibson, PRS, etc) I will usually take 3 strings off at a time. If I do take off all 6 strings at once on these types of guitars I use masking tape to hold the bridge & tailpiece in place.
O cool ideas, I'll keep them in mind next time I re-string one of these.

[Stan Malinowski]

O cool ideas, I'll keep them in mind next time I re-string one of these.

One of the WORST sounds in the world is that thump coming from the top of a beautiful maple topped guitar as the bridge/tailpiece falls off its studs onto the face of your guitar!

BTW - TonePro locking studs are a nice (but expensive) way to prevent bridges/tailpieces from accidently falling on the face of the guitar.

[olectric]

I only own two guitars, but I string them differently:

Anderson HC: all old ones off, all new ones on.

Collings C-10 Deluxe: both E's and B get changed together while leaving A, D, G on. Then, A, D, G get changed. Also, when putting the new strings on, (since the pegs are non-locking) after threading the string through the eye of the peg, I make sure that I get at least one wrap above and below the part of the string that enters the eye of the peg. That way, it gets "squeezed" into place. The Collings stays in tune incredibly well, and I'd like to think that this helps.

I don't know if I need to change my strings in that order on the Collings, but I'm a little paranoid about having no tension on the neck with that guitar because it is so delicate.

[dpeterson]

i take them all off, polish the frets, clean board, oil. On my floyd guitars, i just take a shop rag and fold it over, and push down on the bar, and slide it under, holds the floyd level, and doesnt mangle the finish.

dave

[tom]

on the electrics all strings off. gotta be careful with floyds and any bridge that has open stud holes. if you change floating bridge strings one at a time you spend a little les time tuning. i do change my acoustics one at a time. i had an old les paul that i had the strings off of for a year or so. never played the same.

[bruce]

For those of you that have Crowdsters..

When changing strings notice the orientation of the bridge saddle before removing all strings at once.... just in case it falls out. It wants to go back in one way for proper intonation and action. We've already seen one that came back to the shop that was re-installed backwards.

[fractal]

I don't clean the fretboard every time I change strings. So, I just do it one-by-one (especially on my resonator). Sometimes I change two-by-two, depending on my mood. Every so often (maybe 2-3 times a year) I take everything off and really clean the fingerboard.

Works for me,
-Garrett

[gregmass]

what do you guys use to clean the fretboard, polish frets and oil?

[dannopelli]

what do you guys use to clean the fretboard, polish frets and oil?

Why are people oiling the fretboard after each string change? Isn't that a bit much? I mean I wipe mine down, but only oil the RW boards twice a year.

Oh yeah and if the bridge can't fall out all the strings come off. If it can I leave the A and B on and remove the rest. I can change a set of strings in five minutes that way.

[tom]

as long as the fingerboard isn't looking dry it does not need to be oiled. it should not look like an oil slick.

[dannopelli]

+1!!!

dannopelli has it right! Wiping down is fine, using some kind of fingerboard oil for your RW boards is a once or twice a year task.

I asked our local and beloved tech and overall equipment and tone guru about this today.

He pointed out that over oiling may even cause the fingerbaord to swell to such a degree that frets can loosen. Once or twice a year is enough!

I trust him IMPLICITLY with my tone and my stuff. I am sure all the Richmond forum members know who I am speaking of... :D

[tunacaster]

Oh Yeah !! ;)