Types of Guitar Strings

Series Summary

Guitar maintenance is necessary for the proper care of your stringed instrument. Guitar technicians perform maintenance duties for traveling artists such as tuning, stringing and set-up. There are different technicians who perform varying duties depending on the instrument. Guitar maintenance depends on the set-up of the guitar. If your instrument is to be played for a large audience, it may be plugged into an amplifier and speaker system that will project the sound. Thusly, levels and volumes are adjusted to produce the appropriate sound as well as effects and pedals.

In this series of informative videos, you will learn about guitar maintenance and set up. Watch as our expert demonstrates the use of varying guitar maintenance tools such as a tuner. Learn how to adjust the neck, use a capo and string an acoustic guitar. Learn how to adjust intonation and make neck adjustments on an electric guitar. Get expert tips on changing the strings on a classical guitar, tremolo or whammy bar. Learn about the basic maintenance duties needed to keep your guitar in perfect shape as well as the steps for setting up a guitar and adjusting pickups.

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Tim Ambrosius. I'm a professional guitar tech. I'm going to explain to you the difference between different types of guitar strings. Now, an electric guitar, if you use your head is a nickel string. The first three strings, the one, the two and the three, are plain strings which just means its just the wire itself. And on the last three strings, on the four, the five, and the six, its a wound string. Now that is when its a plain string in the core and its going to wrap around that to make it a thicker string. Now generally they are going to be nickel, probably most popular is the nickel, and sometimes they can also be stainless steel. Stainless steel is a little bit a harder of a metal. Nickel is a little bit softer. So, stainless steel sometimes has a long term usage, can bend your frets a little more often, but not really. It's just more common to use nickel. Now, on an acoustic guitar what you're gonna have is a bronze string as opposed to a nickel or a steel string. Now, the first two on this, well, those are going to be steel. The plain ones are going to be steel. And, then the wrapped ones are going to be bronze with a steel core. It's going to be a lot brighter sounding of a string. So, that you get a louder sound out of the acoustic. Now with a classical guitar, what you're going to have are nylon strings. On the first three strings, it's just gonna be clear nylon, just regular nylon strings. Now, on the other three strings, on the wrapped strings, what you're gonna have is a silver-plated copper on a nylon string. So, some people sometimes mistake that for just being a regular steel string, when it's not. It's still a nylon string. But, it's just the wrap around the nylon string that's the silver-plated copper. So, it's a lot softer of a string and a lot different of a sound. That's pretty much it and there you have it. "