Like putting a wash on or doing the hoovering, nobody likes changing their guitar strings but alas, it just has to be done. Thankfully string changes don’t need to happen as often as your household chores, especially if you’ve got a set of coated guitar strings on your axe. To encourage guitarists to change their strings more often, D’Addario has launched World String Change Day, and to celebrate you can bag yourself 25% off D’Addario XS strings at Guitar Center.
The deal is only available until June 11th, so you’ve not got much time to get your hands on some discount strings. The deal on the 3-pack of electric guitar strings is a particularly good one for electric guitarists, as it gives you each pack of strings for just $10.66 when they would ordinarily add up to $13.99. It’s small margins but in this economy, every little helps!
Coated strings can be an absolute godsend, especially if you own lots of different guitars. Regular strings just don’t last as long so despite coated strings feeling slightly different to a regular set, if you’re gigging a lot or you have a big collection of guitars switching to coated strings just makes sense. Although they are more expensive, you’ll change strings less often with them, especially if you wipe down after every play, which means they’ll more than pay for themselves in time and money.
If you’re not already changing your own strings, it’s something you should absolutely take up. It’s an essential bit of maintenance that any guitarist can – and arguably should – be doing to their own guitars. I’ve been changing my own strings for about 20 years now, and it doesn’t take me longer than 15 minutes to do it, and that includes wiping down my guitar while the strings are off and conditioning the fingerboard if it needs it.
It’s a great time to get into every nook and cranny of your pickups, guitar bridge, and other hardware to give them a deep clean, getting all that dead skin and detritus that gathers there when you’re playing your instrument. You can also wipe the body down, polish any metal on the guitar to prevent rust and check for any issues with your instrument that might be obscured with the strings on.
If you’re unsure where to start, we’ve got some useful articles here that will get you pointed in the right direction, whatever you instrument:
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings