Really silly stringing question
 

I just bought an inexpensive Cordoba Fusion 12 CD with a 1 7/8" nut and radiused fingerboard. It was a local CL guitar and sounded great with the original strings on it that "hadn't been changed in a year or two". I bought some D'addario Pro Arte HT strings and followed D'addario's stringing video exactly as well as a few other videos. I have now restrung it 3 times and cannot get it to hold pitch. I tune it at night and by morning it is flat by about 1/4 step on the wound strings and 1/2 step on the trebles. The thing is, I am measuring relief and the neck is not moving from say a higher tension or a humidity change. The string ends were cut and measured, and they do not seem like they are slipping at all. A 1/2 step change is large enough for about 3/4 of a turn on the tuners. I have taken pictures and the tuners are not moving. And finally, at the tuners, the string ends also do not appear to be moving either. This is the 4th day and I cannot figure out what's going on. I used a triple knot on the treble strings at the bridge and a double knot on the wound. All string ends of the knots are on the back of the bridge like the video says and I used a end over and through knot on the treble strings at the tuners like the top video and even tried a square knot one day, but it still goes flat very quickly. I have decades of experience on acoustics but have never had a nylon guitar. Thanks.

Attachment 31264

Attachment 31265

Attachment 31266

Attachment 31267

Nylon strings continue to stretch for awhile. All of them to some extent and some more than others. Give it a little more time and things should improve.

Yup, welcome to nylon strings! They take longer than steel to settle in and the strings themselves are sensitive to temperature and humidity changes, so you just have to expect to tweak the tuning a lot.

This is normal. Really puts me off changing strings on my classical as you can't get through a practice session without retuning for about 2 weeks!

This is largely just life with nylon strings. But there are a few things you can do to shorten the settle-in time. First, pull the strings as tight as you possibly can before winding the strings onto the rollers. Try to remove all possible slack before turning the winding keys. Remember that when settling in, the ENTIRE length of string will be stretching, including the part wrapped around the roller.

I also try to pick a time to change strings when the guitar will be close at hand and I will have time to retune every few minutes. This helps quite a bit, if you're able to do it. Patience and good luck to you!

Welcome to the world of nylon strings!

"BruceBubs" over in the general section recommended Thomastik-Infeld "John Pearse Folk" PJ116. They are all wound from 1 to 6 AND have ball ends!

The bass strings are round wound on a nylon core (white colored - bronze or silk, not sure) and the trebles are nylon wound on a steel core. A little pricey but they come highly recommended by Bruce.

Some tips...
 

Nylon strings are a great deal more stretchy than steel strings which I find settle within a few minutes. Fluorocarbon Strings can be even worse and they’re more slippery to boot which makes knot tying trickier. Your knots look fine with the string end properly anchored to the back of the bridge.

I’ve found the wound bass strings will settle in a few days with the trebles taking up to a week or two. My suggestion would be to tune the strings a semi-tone higher; this seems to speed up the stretching process without going so high as to damage the string or the guitar. If you do this every few hours the strings should stabilise for concert pitch in a few days.

Have also found the treble strings last much longer than the basses, so tend to only change them out when I notice the tone or intonation is off.

Its been about a week and they are indeed settling down. Thanks so much for all the replies.

So if it takes a week or more to settle down, what do the concert players do before a performance? And how often do you change strings? I have 13 guitars so that necessitates coated strings which I do on a calendar. I have them on rotation so I change each guitar about every 3 months using D'addario EXPs or Elixer Nanos.

What is typical of a nylon guitar that is played for about 40 minutes a day?

Further to an earlier comment, you will find that the basses need replacing WAY more often than the trebles (and since they are quicker to settle it is less of a hassle). To that end, I buy bass only half string sets in far higher quantity than full sets. I tend to swap the basses about 3-4 times before I do a full string swap.

Later
Rob

+1 on replacing bass strings only. I leave the trebles on for many many months up to a year in some cases.

I find having the strings as tight as possible when I tie them on the tuner greatly reduces the time for them to settle down.

I will gently strum them and keep tuning up for about an hour after stringing then pull them up an extra 1/2 step and leave the guitar over night and have found i'm 80% of the way to having them settled.