On average, a set of guitar strings can set you back a couple of bucks to around 30 dollars depending on the brand you’re looking to buy as well as if the strings are coated or not.
You could of course replace the guitar strings yourself, to help keep the price down, but if you’re a beginner then we’d recommend going to your local music store so they can restore them for you.
Instead of going through the stress of doing it yourself, in this case this will cost you anywhere from 30 to 60 dollars.
A little steep perhaps, but it’s worth it for the peace of mind you’ll get knowing that your guitar has been restrung properly.
Say if your guitar doesn’t sound or feel good, it could cost more to get these things professionally corrected. Through this article, we will explain the cost to restring your guitar and how you can do it yourself!
The average price to restring a guitar
As discussed in the intro it can set you back anywhere from $6 to $30 if you want to re-string your own guitar depending on the branding you purchase.
We’d recommend restraining your guitar if you feel confident enough in yourself, and you don’t mind paying a little extra if you accidentally break the strings to pay for a new set.
Which you will no doubt do in the beginning.
Later on we’re going to recommend you where you can get your guitar restringed if you don’t want to go down the DIY route.
For now let’s discuss the process of restringing your own guitar.
There are 4 steps in total which are involved when restringing your own guitar:
1. Purchasing a set of new strings
2. Getting rid of the current strings
3. Adding the new strings
4. Tuning your guitar to get the perfect sound.
Step 1. Purchase a set of new strings
First things first, you’re going to need a new set of strings for your guitar.
The main thing you need to know with guitar strings is their gauge; which refers to the thickness of the strings that are measured within thousandths of an inch.
This can get a little confusing if you’ve never bought a new set of guitar strings before, so I suggest you go down to your local music store and consult someone there, they’ll be able to find you the right strings, no sweat.
Step 2. Getting rid of the old guitar strings
Once you’ve got your brand new guitar strings, it’s time to remove your old ones.
Here is a mini step by step guide on how to remove your first guitar string:
1. Put your guitar on a padded surface – this will help to prevent the instrument from getting scratched
2. Use the tuning peg to decrease the tension – This will advertently flatten the pitch, but don’t worry about that for now. you can readjust this later on.
3. Once the string has little tension, cut it – You can either do this with a pair of wire cutters or you can continue turning the tuning peg so the wire will remove itself from the hole.
4. Remove the bridge end of the string too; For most guitars you can pull the string through the bridge but in the odd case you will have to pop out the bridge pin first.
Repeat the steps above to remove the other strings from the guitar.
Step 3. Adding the news strings to the guitar
After removing the old strings, it’s time to install the new guitar strings to your instrument.
1. Place the ball end of the string in the bridge hole – Slide the groove of the bridge pin over the string You’ll know you’ve done this correctly when the string secures nicely.
2 Use the bridge pins to secure the new strings
3. Thread the other end of the string through the correct hole at the opposite end – Remember to leave some slack so when you begin tightening the peg counterclockwise it isn’t going to snap. It should take about 2-4 full turns before the string is fully tightened. Any more and you should redo this step.
4. Cut off the excess string – Cut the excess string with wire cutters. Ideally, you want less than half an inch of string sticking out as this will give you some room to work with when tuning.
Step 4. Tuning your guitar to get the best sound
Congratulations, your new strings are in. It’s time to tune the guitar so you can get it sounding perfect
If you’ve never tuned a guitar before. I suggest you watch a video on it or at least use a tuning guide to make sure you’re doing it correctly.
How much do professional restring services cost?
We’ve covered how much it will cost to replace your own guitar strings, as well as how you should go about doing it but what if you want a professional to do it for you; so you can have peace of mind knowing it’s all done correctly?
Well, a professional will charge you around about $30-$60 depending on where you go – this figure includes the strings too.
The cost is the same regardless if you’re looking to get an acoustic guitar or electric guitar restringed
Guitar at Guitar Center: How much will it set you back?
Guitar centers typically charge about $20 in labor to restringing your guitar as well as the cost of strings, depending on the ones you get. will cost anywhere from $10 to $40 dollars.
So the expected total of using one of these services will be around $30 – $60.
If you’ve got a unique guitar, perhaps you need extra strings or a special type of string this could cost you a little extra.
In our opinion, we would recommend using a service even if you’ve done this before simply because the peace of mind knowing that it’s going to be done correctly is absolutely worth it.
Even though we have covered the Guitar Center service, the next tip goes for no matter where you go; always confirm the final price.
This is so you’re not hit with unexpected fees like cleaning and maintenance of the instrument.
Restringing a Guitar, how often should you do it?
If you’re playing for several hours a day. then we’d suggest replacing your strings once a month.
If you play most days then you could get away with restringing your guitar once every few months.
And if you only pick your guitar up a couple of times a week then you might be able to get away with only restraining your guitar once or twice a year.
The main reason you have to change your guitar strings quite often is that you are wearing the strings away with some form of pick or you’re touching it with greasy fingers.
Which of course damages the strings in the long run.
How many minutes does it take to restring a guitar?
The first time you restring your own guitar, it will feel like hours because you’re stumbling through the process as you have no idea what you’re doing.
But once you get the hang of things it should only take you about 20 to 30 minutes of your time to do the job properly.
It might take the professionals at the store half that time depending on how long they’ve been in the business.
Should I replace my guitar strings at the same time?
Yes, you should be replacing your guitar strings all at once.
If you don’t then you will be left with a guitar that has strings that age differently; not an ideal scenario since guitar strings come in sets rather than singles so it can get pretty awkward to replace broken strings one at a time
How do I know when it’s time to replace my guitar strings?
There are a couple of indicators you should look out for as to when its time to replace your old guitar strings with new ones:
Gunk on the strings – if you run your finger across the strings especially underneath black gunk or rust may fall out.
They sound bad – Newer strings will have a much warmer resonance and as they age this will dull over time; so use your ears to find out whether or not they need replacing.
Even if you’ve checked the strings for gunk and the guitar still sounds okay, we would recommend replacing them anyway if you haven’t done so in a while, it’s just a good idea to stay on top of this sort of thing so they don’t break at crucial moments.
How Much Does it Cost to Restring an Electric Guitar?
It will cost pretty much the same to restnng an electric guitar as it would torestring an acoustic one – so around $30 to $60 depending on if you DIY or use a professional service.
Are Guitar Strings Expensive?
Guitar strings are the essence of a guitar. It is basically what makes up a guitar. Without it there wouldn’t be sound, it would be nothing.
A guitar usually consists of 6 strings, and each string has its own different tone. The price of a guitar string may depend on what guitar you use, since each guitar may require a different string from others.
Like for an acoustic guitar, the materials used for its strings are brass and bronze, on the other hand, the materials used for electric guitar strings are steel and nickel. This is due to the different tones each guitar is made to produce.
You can usually buy guitar strings between $5 to $30. It’s price may depend on the quality you choose, and since there is a vast range of strings to choose from, there is no doubt you would find affordable but high quality strings.
For what strings are able to produce, I can say that guitar strings are pretty much affordable. Despite guitar strings being the most significant piece of the instrument, it’s price doesn’t really cost as much as it’s value.
Summary
Replacing your old guitar strings with new ones can be a lot of work for a beginner you could spend hours getting things just right but is it really worth the stress?
We don’t think so; just get a professional to do it for you so you can have peace of mind knowing it’s going to be done correctly.
Though at the very least you now know how much it’s going to set you back whether you’re going to DIY it or give it to a professional to do as well as some of the key signs to look out for to know if your guitar strings are on their way out