How to Restring a Guitar

If you're having intonation problems with your guitar or your guitar won't stay in tune, it's time to put new steel strings on your guitar. Restringing your guitar may look like a difficult task, but it's actually really simple. Learn how to restring your guitar by following the steps below.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Acoustic guitar steel strings
• Wire cutters

Removing Old Strings

1. Release all the tension on the strings by loosening the strings at the tuning keys.

2. Cut each string with wire cutters. Cutting the strings around the middle makes it a little easier to handle the strings. This way you don't have a long string flopping around.

3. Gently grab the pen with the needle-nose pliers and work the pen out slowly by twisting and pulling up.

4. Remove the wires from the guitar.

Restringing

5. Start with the low E string; this one is the thickest string. Most packets of guitar strings have color-coded ends to help you decipher what string it is. Take the end of the string and place it in the groove of the peg.

6. Push the peg and string down into its hole and pull up on the string. Ensure the pen is in tightly.

7. Align the holes of the tuning key with the groove in the nut and pull the string through the hole. Leave some slack in the string by pulling up about 2 to 3 inches from the fret board (to allow for a maximum of three windings).

8. Hold the string down on the groove at the nut with one hand and begin tightening the tuning key with the other hand. Turn the top three strings counterclockwise and the bottom three strings clockwise. As you're tightening, the string should spiral down as this will lock the string in place and keep it from slipping.

9. Follow Steps 1 through 4 for each string and clip the remaining steel string ends with a wire cutter.

10. Stretch each string by firmly pulling outward around the midway point. Give it a few good tugs and re-tune. Keep pulling and tuning until the string no longer falls out of tune.

Tips & Warnings

• Sometimes the newer, tighter strings will cause the neck to bow, therefore you may need to adjust the neck after you restring your guitar.
• When you break a string, it's best to go ahead and replace all the strings, because the new string will sound much different--and better--than the other strings.
• You don't want a string snapping back at you so be sure there is no tension left in the strings before cutting.