Saga of the Traveling AJ

[Joe M]

I mentioned in an earlier thread that I had picked up a pretty nice AJ that was made in 2001 at the Orlando guitar show a week or so ago and that, at first, I had to decide how to get it home to Michigan. I did have friends that were driving here in 3 months but there was no way I wanted to wait that long. Ended up buying a ticket for the guitar since it was about the same price as packing and shipping it via UPS. Got to the airport this afternoon and was told I couldn't put the guitar on a seat because there was no way to fasten it down, that I would have to put it in the overhead. When I explained that I had paid for a seat, I finally got a person who understood English and told me she would refund the price of my ticket (for the guitar) and charge me $40 to put it in the overhead (Good old Spirit Airlines). Figured that was way better than checking it so it made the flight safe and sound back home. If I could have talked to someone in "customer service" that understood what I wanted to do, a lot of time and effort could have been saved (and I talked to 3 different "representatives", each of which was worse than the one before).

 

Anyway, as I said, the guitar arrived home safe and sound. But, a question has come up.....I normally change strings on a guitar one at a time, it's just the way I've always done it (don't want to get into a discussion about the right/wrong way to change strings). Since I wanted to give both the guitar body and neck a good cleaning, I took all the strings off at once. After using some steel wool on the fretboard and Virtuoso Polish on the body, it looks brand new, although there really weren't any noticeable marks on it in the first place. When I put the new strings on, starting with the high E, noticed something I had never noticed before....the string was completely dead, fretting out somewhere on the board. Instead of panicking right them, I finished stringing the guitar. By the time I got to the G string, the E rang out like it should have. All strung up, tuned up and everything was fine.

 

So,is this normal or is this something that I should have checked out by my guitar guy? I'm wondering if, since I've never taken all the strings off a guitar at once that this is normal. What do you think, OK or something that should be looked at?

 

Thanks in advance...

[Buc McMaster]

That would be normal on a guitar with low action and an "unloaded" string bed. You might be surprised how much a guitar moves when strung to concert pitch. As you said, once you got to the G string, the neck was beginning to move to it's "loaded" position, lifting the offending string off the fret(s). Should be nothing to worry about. Congrats on the new AJ!!

 

EDIT: I'd like to add that it's not really a good idea to pull each string to pitch as you put it on, one after the other. That loads the neck (and the bridge) in potentially bad way, pulling with a twisting action from one side until you get to the last string. Sure, it's short term, only as long as it takes your to work across the fingerboard with six strings, but why tempt fate?

[dchristo]

glad you got your AJ home safe, as far as the dead sound when stringing, thats pretty normal when you only have one string on, because your saddle is not down firm on the bridge

[pfox14]

Since your guitar seems to be fine now that you have all the strings on it, no need to have someone look at it. Guitars just don't sound good unless you have all the strings on & tuned up to pitch. I agree with the previous post - not a good idea to put one string on & tune it up before your have all of them on. I always tune from the outside strings in, alternating low to high. That way you are exerting even pressure on the neck when tuning the strings.

[j45nick]

Since your guitar seems to be fine now that you have all the strings on it, no need to have someone look at it. Guitars just don't sound good unless you have all the strings on & tuned up to pitch. I agree with the previous post - not a good idea to put one string on & tune it up before your have all of them on. I always tune from the outside strings in, alternating low to high. That way you are exerting even pressure on the neck when tuning the strings.

Like Paul says.... It's like tightenting the lug nuts on a car wheel.

 

I change the strings all at once, but I tune them all down before removing. When re-stringing, I work from outside in (low E, high E, etc.) and tune up just enough to take the slack out of each string until the guitar is fully strung.

 

Obviously, you pretty much achieve the same thing by changing one string at a time, but I clean the fretboard and polish the frets a bit with every change, so doing it this way works better for me.

[Joe M]

Thanks, guys, I guess my problem came about since I never take all the strings off at once. Doing it one at a time, as I do, you wouldn't have the problem. I'll remember the next time I do take them off all at once.