Stringing guitars

[TNblueshawk]

I'm sure this has been discussed before at some point but what is your favorite method of stringing guitars? For you flamenco guys I'm talking steel strings 

[Leevibe]

I get them all mounted in the bridge first. On acoustics I verify that the ball ends are fully seated and that the bridge pins are locked in good. I pre-cut them at a length of about one tuning peg beyond the one I'll be mounting them to. For the G, B, and high E, I will go a little longer. Then I feed them through the hole, kink them and get to winding. I don't do any fancy locking knots or anything like that. I used to but I don't find my strings slipping so I don't bother. Once they are roughly up to pitch I give them a pretty good stretch (sometimes too much and I break the high E) and then I bring them up to pitch.

I also like to wipe the whole guitar down and clean the neck and frets while the strings are off.

[Marshall Arts]

Like this:

[madbean]

Like this:

Yup. To set the correct length/winds, set you middle finger at the 12th fret, pull the string up with your first finger. The slack you get from that generally gets you 2 or 3 winds.

[mjg]

My kid decided to restring his guitar last weekend.  He undid all the strings at once, at which point the floating bridge catapulted back into the guitar body and needed a crowbar to retrieve. 

One string at a time next time, huh?

[TNblueshawk]

Thanks guys.

[Willybomb]

I never do that under/over/locking wrap - you don't need it, plus it creates weakspots and gaps for slippage in the initial wind itself.

With a wrapped string, you only need to go around the post once.  With an unwrapped string, you only need three, and the string should be laying next to each other on the post - no over or unders.  Just checking out my PRS se that I re-strung the other day, I only have 1 1/2 wraps on the G and B strings, 3 on the high E.  I've been doing this since the late 90's after reading it in a GFPM magazine.

As far as changing strings on a floyd, always use the same gauge, and if possible, the same brand.  Do them one at a time, or chock underneath the bridge with a plastic or wooden ruler.

[gordo]

I do the fancy knot thing and swear by it and then tug the bejeezuz out of them to work out any slack.  I've had people tell me its overkill but has always worked for me.

My secret weapon for dark fingerboards is GHS Gorgomyte that you can buy direct from them or from StewMac.  Its some sort of magic potion in a cloth that does a wonderful job of getting gunk off the board and makes your frets feel like butter and look superb.  It gets nasty enough that I wear rubber gloves and I cut a piece out that's 1" x 1" and then work it till it's black as coal.  That one little piece will do the whole board.  Wipe off any remainder and give the frets a quick buff and your neck is conditioned to withstand the elements and sweat till the next string change.   Most folks that I do string changes for can't believe how good the board feels.

[Muadzin]

I use locking tuners on most of my guitars so I don't bother with the knot thing. As for stringing, I start with the D, bring to tune, give it some tugs to pull out any slack, then string the G, tug for slack, then retune the previous string(s). Using that method I go from D to G to A to B to low E to high E.

Also, when there are no strings on the guitar its always a good time to give the old fretboard and pickup area a good clean.