Acoustic Guitars

In this walkthrough, we look at how to restring acoustic guitars. The headstock part of the process is very similar to the 3x3 style tuners process, but the bridge is a totally different ball game!

Summary: Acoustic Bridges

The main difference when stringing an acoustic guitar is the bridge. The strings are actually placed into the bridge and held in place by a plastic or wooden peg. The bridges tend to look like this:

Equipment: String Winder

As shown in the video, once you've removed the strings from the headstock, you need to take the pegs out of the holes in the bridge. Sometimes you can simply pull them out, but they can be stiff. The string winder also has a little notch in it which you can use to pull out more stubborn pegs. The notch looks like this:

Checklist: Changing Strings

The process is identical to the 3x3 tuners we covered in the last video, except with the additional complications of the acoustic bridge. Here is the full list.

• 1. Feed the string into the bridge hole and push down the peg. Pull up at the string whilst you push the peg down.
• 1. Pull the string up through the tuning pegs. Make sure it is nice and taut.
• 2. Allow roughly 1.5 tuners length of extra string after the tuning peg and create a kink in the string.
• 3. Pull the string back until the kink is half an inch from the tuning peg.
• 4. Start winding the string whilst still keeping the tension to get a good wrap around the peg.
• 5. Cut the excess string with a pair of wire cutters.