Does anyone like "old/dead" strings on their guitars?

[jjrpilot]

I love them on my guitars!

I just want to know that I'm not alone...right?

[Jaden]

Good subject. I myself went from changing sets of strings every 4-6 weeks and purchasing and discarding many sets (should have been recycled) to finding guitars that only needed to be changed twice per year. Some guitars demand regular string changes to sound good, but now I will avoid/sell those kind of instruments. My go to is uncoated 80/20, previous to that Elixirs.

[Earl49]

Me too. I find most brand new strings to be too harsh and zingy. The tone of 3-7 day old strings is about as fresh as I want normally, and 3-4 weeks old is even mellower. But we all hear differently, and have a different mental image of "ideal" guitar tone.

[ClaptonWannabe2]

"Dead" is dead.

IMHO. There are definitely a few sets that I've put on that I thought were terrible brand new. Martin Retro and Ernie Ball Earthwound were bright and "jangly" to me. They had to wear in, but for a week I thought I had screwed up.

"Dead" to me is drifting in and out of tune and me worrying that they'll break when tuning. Dirty strings don't bother. Don't look at them. LOL

[rick-slo]

Old strings yes. Not what I would consider dead strings - corrosion, intonation issues.

[Silly Moustache]

Hi,before last year I'd say no and changed strings (D'addario PBs) on everything every two months.

Since my illness, I'm not playing so much and strings have increased by about 25% here (UK) so I leave them on for three or more months.

Sitting playing at home - they seem fine and actually I prefer them older on my Waterloo, but when performing with the trio, older strings seem to lack a something.

I have a 0028 that hangs on the wall in my office (my cell) and has strings unchanged for maybe a year - sounds fine.

I'm going to change everything else every three months in future.

Oh, btw, I was watching a BBC TV patch up programme featuring singer-songwriters from the '60s to '70s. I was surprised to hear/see that almost all acoustic guitars had what we'd now call really dead strings.

[nowgibson]

I enjoy them on this particular guitar. But as others have said not if the tuning ect suffer.

[Brucebubs]

I like fresh strings on "old/dead" guitars.

[Paddy1951]

Ry Cooder has it right. He changes his strings once a year whether they need it or not.

[Dadzmad]

I like "played in" strings on all my guitars. I change the set when the 3rd and 4th strings have the windings start to break up over the frets. For me that's about 4 months of regular use.

[reeve21]

Yes, I like them old and mellow (not dead).

I have 5 guitars in my rotation. I play an hour or two a day, mostly just fingers and no pick, and I normally change strings every 4 to 8 months depending on usage and how they sound.

I use PB's for the most part, but I have had a set of 80/20's on my Martin dread since fall of last year and they still sound good to me.

[Mr. Jelly]

I don't hear dead in my used strings. I hear fundamental. Less ringy zingy brightness. I often play strings until the winding starts to wear off the lower strings. When I put on new strings I have to up with them for a week or two for them to sound right. Once they settle in they seem to sound the same day in and day out until they are worn out.

[fitness1]

No thank you - as soon as I hear a reasonable degradation of clarity in the wound strings they are off.

[zombywoof]

I tend to leave mine on a very long time. Story was that Dave Van Ronk used to leave his strings on until they would no longer intonate because he wanted to kill of the guitar's sustain. Personally I find it easier to just pick guitars that have a quicker decay.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by fitness1

No thank you - as soon as I hear a reasonable degradation of clarity in the wound strings they are off.

Same here. I can understand liking a “warmer” sound, but some passages of music need to have more trebles in the sound, and if those harmonics aren’t present because the strings are too old and dull, there’s little you can do to bring them out.

Plus old strings are just much more difficult to get and - especially - keep in tune. I have very little tolerance for out-of-tune stringed instruments, whether they’re mine or somebody else’s. So my tolerance and affection for old half-dead strings that take about a month to get completely in tune (okay, it only SEEMS like a month) is minimal.

Give me new strings that I’ve stretched in to perfection and I’m a happy guy.


Wade Hampton Miller