Everybody has their own way to restring their acoustic guitar. But, I remember when I got my first acoustic and I was confused about the whole process. So, here are some things I’ve gleaned along the way. Hopefully, it will make it easier for new guitar players to restring and get playing.

I like to use a nice pair of wire cutters and a modified peg winder. I put a little duct tape on the inside of the peg winder so that it is nice and soft in there–so it won’t damage tuning pegs.

Duck It

To start, loosen up all your strings on the guitar so that when you go to cut them, it is not a huge tension shock to your instrument. Then, when all the strings are loose, use your wire cutters to cut the strings so that you can gently remove them.

Now that all the strings have been removed, you can clean up your acoustic with some nice polish. Also, you can oil your fretboard with a little lemon oil.

All clean–time to restring. Remember to work from the outside in–that is work from the low E string to the D string or the high E string to the G string. If you work from the inside out, you will be stuck trying to work around the other strings later in the process.

Jump up a peg

This is a cool and easy trick to get just the right amount of string… After you have inserted the ball end of the low E string into the bridge and reinforced it with the bridge pin, take your low E string and pull it past the peg for the A string. Now, crimp it around the A string peg. Bingo–the string will now be the perfect length–you won’t have too much or too little string when you go to wind the string on the peg.

Crimp It

Important: make sure that the string goes on the inside of the peg and not toward the outside. Your guitar was constructed so that the strings set on the nut and extend up to the inside of the pegs.

Strings Toward The Inside

Then, wind the string so that it wraps under the crimped string through the peg. So, as you wind, the string should move from the top to the base of the peg.

Wound on Inside

Repeat the process for the rest of the strings. With both the D and G strings, just pull the string up to the top of the headstock and crimp.

Crimp at Headstock

Work from the outside in from the high E to the D string and your golden.

Golden

Hope that helps… Sometimes, it is nice just taking a moment to appreciate the old guitar–polish, restring, and reinvent. And, today was restringing day at my place…

Cheers