I've removed the old strings and we are ready to start putting new ones on.
It's fairly common on classical or nylon strings guitars that your threading this end of the string through a little hole and then tying a knot.
So that's what I'll be showing you on this guitar.
The string comes in over the bridge and on into that hole and then we need to find some way to tie this off so it doesn't slip.
What I like to do and it requires a little bit of extra work but I think it's worth the time is to leave after the knot that I'll show you,
leave a little bit of the tail of the string long enough that it will lay under the next string.
That way each successive string that you add is clamping down on the previous one and that works really well.
However that leaves us with a little magic to pull down here on the last two strings.
They need to hold each other down so we will do two at a time when we get to there.
Let's begin with the knot.
After you've gone through the hole you can bring the string back around this way and tuck it underneath itself like that.
Basically a simple half hitch.
The goal here if possible is for this tail of the string to go over the bend in this saddle before the rest of the string weighs down on it.
Let me see if I can get an example of that and then we will do a close up so you can see what I mean.
Here is an example of what not to do.
If they cross up here and on the flat part there is no grab and it will slip but by bending over that shoulder first and then clamping down
it adds a tremendous amount of locking or clamping pressure on that string.
You can see that I've left almost an inch of tail on this just to give you a visual of where the next hole is.
It's coming out right about there so the next string will grab plenty of the top string and they will hold each other.
We've got the first string on and now we'll go up here an anchor it similar to what we did on the steel string and that is to take all the slack out.
We are doing the same job so you need to rotate your thinking ninety degrees and we're going to go over the top of the pin
and then through the hole that is angled back up and toward the nut.
The reason I am so particular about the angle of that hole is because I need just enough of the string laying on the pin before we start so it'll pinch it.
If I have it too far forward the string would come out of the hole, go around and then there wouldn't be a start for the pinch.
So by backing it off a little bit at this angle you can see that there's a contact point that's going to happen right here at the tuck
and that string will lay down on it and won't let it slip back into the hole.
That's why I am focused on the angle of the pins before we start.
So we've gone through and then we're actually going to go to the back of the guitar to complete the "S" turn around the pin.
Then we'll bring it out through this hole and this is our tuck.
I like to go toward the outside of the guitar in this case.
That's not particularly important it's more of a personal preference.
Here we go.
We've gone a little bit under that string we're taking all of the slack out and we'll do a close up view of what 'm doing here before I start cranking.
Ok. Up close.
What's happening here is the string is going over the top of the pin, through it, behind and then tucking up here.
This part of the string is now laying on top of the tail on the pin and that's the lock.
As I begin to turn and this winds the pin back to begin tightening the string.
It's already locked and will not come loose even though I've got less than a half turn.
Dispelling the myth that you've got to have several turns in order for it to hang on.
That actually has the opposite effect and creates too many problems and does not help anymore on holding the string tight.
Now we will repeat the process again for the next string and I'll show you how I do the tuck on the bridge side.
We need the next size string down.
This is the fifth string.
One other note by the way on classical strings.
Most manufacturers do this on their strings.
On one end you'll find that the winding on the wound strings, the winding loosens up.
That makes that string much more flexible and floppy and a lot of people use that to make it easier to tie the knot on the bridge end of the guitar.
I specifically don't do that and the reason why is because it's been my experience that it's a weak part of the string
and we want to cut the weak part off.
I use tight wound all the way from end to end and I don't believe it makes it more difficult to tie the knot and we eliminate breakage.
I think that nylon guitar strings are far more prone to string breakage anyway and anything we can do to eliminate that helps us.
Now we are going to go through the tunnel in the saddle here and now what you want to do is be sure that you are coming underneath the tail
of the previous string.
That's going to cause the string to get caught in the knot.
We are now adding here the same kind of knot around and coming underneath.
One tuck under here is plenty.
It's looks a little fancier maybe and if you like it you can actually do a double or a triple if you'd like to see a nice spiral right there.
I don't think it contributes anything to the anchoring of the string other than it looks pretty and everybody likes pretty guitars.
Once again focus on getting the tail over this sharp bend in the saddle before you tighten that down.
Now we are beginning to get a cascading knot down here that you'll see.
This strings tail is laying under this one.
This strings tail is now laying next to the next hole waiting to also be anchored.
All of the strings are helping each other out and that's a good thing.
Now we will repeat this process again.
Over the top and I'll go a little bit faster this time.
It's actually a fairly quick procedure and I want you to believe that because I want you to change strings a lot more often.
Guitars with dead strings are not fun to play, not fun to listen to and I think they actually are discouraging to students.
When you pick up a guitar with new strings on it you instantly know it has more life and a much better sound.
Many low quality guitars have probably been sold in a pawn shop over nothing more than someone probably putting new strings on it
and making it sound spiffy for a few days.
Alright we are tucked under, we pull it out a little bit to accentuate that bend and the lock, just pull it up a little bit, it's hanging on
and we start the crank and it's already locked and it's not coming off.
We've got two on and I'm going to go ahead and add the next ones
but I will be back to show you the last two and show you how we get those to tie to each other.
It's just a little variation from what we've already been doing.