Strung up

Spent the Memorial Day weekend restringing all my guitars. Now I know why bands have roadies.

First you have to wind down the old strings. When they are loose, but them with wire cutters, unwind the head, then pull the plugs and take out the base.

Unwrap the new strings, check the color code to make sure you are putting the correct sting in place.

Place the base and plug in, then find the hole in the tuning nob. Place the string through the hole to about an inch or a inch and a half and bend the end up. It needs to go up so as you wind the string will go under it.

Then pickup the special winding tool ( a god send ) and start spinning. Hold the string in place as you watch the tuning nob spin.

As the string tightens, make sure the plug stays in place (press down if needed) and the string lays in the proper groove.

Once all six strings have been strung, start tuning.

This is the dangerous process.

Find the proper key and by hand start tightening the string. Listen to it sing.

Then.... POP! The string breaks.

Start the process over again.

Luckily it was a long weekend and only had to buy one additional set of strings. Note: the girl at the music store where I bought the strings yesterday was way too perky.

Follow this procedure 36 times and you will sound better. Or at least OK.

More music, more music, more music.......