another question about changing strings

[marduke]

Hey guys, just curious as to why in the EB faq it says to change the strings one at a time? is there any side affects from taking all of the strings off?
im chaning strings soon (and changing from 9's to 10's) and was a little worried when i read that.. all of my other guitars ive taken all the strings off and given the whole guitar a good clean a fretboard condition.. and id like to do the same with my petrucci.. any info would be greatly appreciated.

cheers
Rob

[Colin]

If you're changing guage you'll have to do another setup anyway. Just put something at the back of the trem to protect it from slipping off. This really applies more to the Floyd trems though. When you do a normal string change I take the top 4 off first and after replacing I do the bottom 2.

[TNT]

Yeah, in addition to what Colin said, "string change" is a neck issue, that's why you are not supposed to take off more than one at a time!!

That guitar neck MUST ALWAYS stay under tension!! It's the off setting pressure of "truss rod vs the strings, that keeps the neck straight."

If you take all the strings off at once, then the truss rod will flex that neck out possibly damaging the neck and/or twisting it.

If you take off one string at a time you mitigate the tension issue because the neck "stays" in correct alignment, and the truss rod pressure is kept in check by all the strings on.

[marduke]

ok cheers, that clears things up a bit... cant say ive ever had that problem with any of my other guitars.... and ive done alot of string changes... but im not going to risk it with my EBMM... its my pride and joy! it keeps me motivated to play..

thanks again for the info guys.

[marsguitars]

It's good to keep tension on the neck when your changing strings... but it's not like it's instant death to your guitar if you take all the strings off, it just means it might take a little longer to settle down again with teh new strings.

[RobertS]

Yeah, in addition to what Colin said, "string change" is a neck issue, that's why you are not supposed to take off more than one at a time!!

That guitar neck MUST ALWAYS stay under tension!! It's the off setting pressure of "truss rod vs the strings, that keeps the neck straight."

If you take all the strings off at once, then the truss rod will flex that neck out possibly damaging the neck and/or twisting it.

Read what jongitarz wrote on that subject:
http://www.ernieball.com/forums/musi...html#post47952

I always take all strings at once when I am changing strings.
In all of my guitars, including EBMM JP6.
How am I supposed to take care about fretboard with the strings on?

[Colin]

Read what jongitarz wrote on that subject:
http://www.ernieball.com/forums/musi...html#post47952

I always take all strings at once when I am changing strings.
In all of my guitars, including EBMM JP6.
How am I supposed to take care about fretboard with the strings on?

this is what Jon said

"You can take all the strings off at once, just put something between the body and the bridge so if the springs pull the bridge off the pivot bolts the bridge won't crash into the body. This can cause damamge.

If you ship a guitar, ship it tuned to pitch, and it will be fine. We ship alot of guitars world wide and they are all shipped tuned to pitch.

If you remove the strings for a long period of time, and don't loosen the truss rod, the neck can back bow."

[Fusionman]

Once a year I will clean and treat my fingerboards. For the 15 or 20 minutes it takes Ive never had a problem with the neck returning to its adjusted state. Over time wood developes a "memory" and will usually return to its previous straightness. If you were to leave all the strings off for a long extended period of time then you would likely need to re-adjust the truss rod and reset the neck relief. Im also assuming that you are not changing string gauges either.

If your trem lies flush to the body you probably wont need to do anything to it either unless you up the string gauge.

A Petrucci or Floyd floating trem is a bit trickier. Id recommend taking off the back plate (mine is off all the time) and using a wood block or something else to block the trem making it immovable. Changing strings one at a time is not a issue but all at once will require you to have knowledge in re-setting a floating trem if you dont block it. Just get a small piece of scrap wood, cut and sand to size.