Spike

I am no longer living in the middle of the biggest flattest place suitable for human life, and now have some neighbouring sea (humidity!), and I have noticed that my guitar strings are needing replacing way more frequently. Is this normal? I am actually using the same brand of string (purchased in the city I came from), so there is a reasonable amount of scientific control in this observation. Since I am reasonably sure the same strings would last the same amount of time on a more expensive guitar(any contradicting theories are welcome here), I am reluctant to blame the cheapness of the guitar and instead blame the humidity and weather.

How often is it reasonable to change guitar strings? I like them to be sort of new and I typically just change them when I think they feel crappy. Depending on how much I play, in Canada, I would change them approximately every 2 months, give or a take a couple weeks. Guitar strings here are about 4 times the price as I used too (and I have only 2 more packs from Canada), so I am trying to leave it as long as I can tolerate. But I was wondering about how often you guys near the sea are changing them and if that is actually the reason they are going bad fast.

Discuss everything related to guitar strings, humidity, and so forth here.

 

Aqualung

How often do you usually play?

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Here we go. Mushu cereal for breakfast with duck sauce.

TAHOEAGLE

My guitar master tech. reccomends keeping some dessicant in your guitar case to help keep humidity down in there.

Spike

Maybe an hour a day, more or less. It depends how much time I have.

Jody LeCompte

I replace the strings on my electric every 3-4 weeks and the strings on my acoustic every 2 weeks or so.

A humidifier would be a great investment to keep the humidty level within a good range and preserve your guitar as it's strings. Wood doesn't want to get dried out, not saturated either though. You can find humidifiers that will fit in your guitar case or some meant to be used for the whole room.

Spike

That is good advice and I have a humidifier that fits in the sound hole.... but I left it in Canada in my guitar there (with specific instructions for the person who is caring for it). Unfortunately when I mentioned the price of guitar strings as being 4x higher, pretty much everything else is at least that much more expensive here. I don't think I will be purchasing anything for this guitar as it is also borrowed (though semi-permanently).

Do you live near the sea? Am I correct in suspecting that humidity is the reason for my troubles? I am thinking if my problem is humidity, then I might be better off getting some dessicant to store with the guitar. This wouldn't be so bad if guitar strings weren't 25USD for the cheapest type.

Jody LeCompte

Where are you buying strings for 25 dollars?

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.c...ngs?sku=100976

I pay $8 for a set of strings for the acoustic, and electric strings usually come in 10 packs for around $45.

Spike

In Oslo that's the price at a guitar store. In Norway pretty much everything costs about 2 to 10 times as much as you would think it should. I usually buy the 3packs for 18$ in Canada.

Jody LeCompte

Man, that sucks.

I misunderstood your post. I thought you were paying that price in America.

Spike

Nah. I would be getting some awesome strings for the price.

AngelsareReborn

HEY listen to this. My Grandpa Has this really old Taylor. Its in perfect condition. Everytime before he plays it he washes his hands to keep the grease off the strings. This makes them last way longer. Plus he bought a water wick that he puts in the hole of his guitar. You fill it up once every month and a half. His Guitar is beautiful and thats how he keeps it that way

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Joel

Well I was going to say, get coated strings, but when regular ones are 18 bucks a pop, thats pretty rediculous.

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alec.james

I live in southern california by the beach, and I have a sound piece of advice for you- Use Elixers. They have nanoweb coating, and fend off rust. They're the only strings that do not die out on me. Trust me, I've tried all of them.

They're expensive, but they're smooth, they have great tone, and they kill in whatever conditions. They stay shiny, too. It sucks to spend so much money on strings, but when you live by the beach, your alternative is to restring your guitar once a week, give or take a week. I've come back to a guitar the day after restringing it, only to find the strings unbearably rusty.

The tropic zone used to only extend so far past the equator. Now, because global warming is melting the polar ice caps, its humidity is expanding to engulf a lot more area (including southern california )

Spike

That is pretty much the answer I feared. I will call my parents and tell them to send me more strings from Canada.