A Guitar Teacher’s Guide to Restringing: Acoustic Guitars

Most acoustic guitars have the traditional 3 down and 3 up setup meaning that three pegs are located on the left as you look at the instrument and the other 3 on the right.

To string a modern acoustic guitar with string pegs please do the following:

1.       Unwind each string from the appropriate tuning peg (you can use a string winder to do this more quickly).

2.       Once all the strings are loose from the tuning pegs take a pair of wire snips inside the guitar’s sound hole and tap the pegs up from the inside (using the flat part of the snips).  I find doing this prevents any damage to the wood on the side you’ll see.  Even custom made tools can leave marks on the bridge.

3.       Dispose of the old strings and begin with a new set of strings (the gauge – i.e. the thickness of string you go for is up to you).  I like to start with the thickest string (personal preference).

4.       Feed the ball end of the string into the peg hole on the body of the guitar and place a peg with the cut out facing the neck/head of the guitar.

5.       Feed the string into the hole of the tuning peg so the excess string faces out towards the peg (this will ensure you string it so it can be tuned by turning the pegs the expected way).

6.       Make sure the string is slack enough to allow you to feed your hand under the string in a “karate chop” position.

7.       Start to tighten the string by turning the peg away from you.  Hold the string tight at the nut (the plastic – usually white/cream part at the top of the neck).

8.       Allow the string to wind tightly around the peg ensuring that the excess string feeds over the top of the string (we will cut this off later).

9.       Once at tension move on and repeat the process for every other string (on the bottom 3 strings remember to feed the string through the hole towards the peg – this will be the opposite way from the top 3 strings).

TOP TIPS:

Once you have enough tension to let go of the string, move your thumb down to the peg of the string and hold it down.  Tightening new strings can often lead the pegs to pop.  This will prevent that happening.

I like to cut the excess strings off using my wire cutters as I go so they don’t get in the way.  I generally leave the first and 2nd strings until tuned as they are often the strings that break when new due to them being so thin.

I leave tuning until the end.  As long as you have tension on the strings you can leave tuning until you’ve done all 6 strings.  Be prepared to tune the strings several times before they bed into place.

Some guitar may differ thus making this guide inaccurate.  In most cases this will be the setup required to restring your guitar successfully.