[Author’s note: This is a repost dated Oct 23rd, 2006 - taken from my old blog.]

If you’re unsure whether your guitar is classical or acoustic, fret not. Some people do not know the differences simply because they have not been introduced to a different type of guitar before. Generally speaking, all non-electric guitars are acoustic guitars - they include both metal- and nylon-strung guitars. But by convention, we usually use ‘classical’ when referring specifically to nylon-strung guitars. Otherwise, the term ‘acoustic’ refers to metal-strung, non-electric guitars. My classical guitar needs new strings.

It’s a beautiful Spanish-made, Almansa with a nice, solid spruce top. An all-round solid-wood guitar would cost a fortune so at the moment, this baby is still doing a pretty decent job. To replace a string, begin by loosening the string using the tuning knob.

Continue to turn the tuning knob until you’re able to remove the string from the headstock.

You just cannot begin from the other end of the string, at the bridge. Seriously. You can try, but it’s not the most logical thing to do.

That’s the bridge area, where the tricky part is. The first three strings have to be tightly wound to avoid slipping. Once you’ve removed the string from the headstock, proceed to remove the other end at the bridge. Now, insert the new string at the bridge first (not the headstock!).

You’ll have to ensure that the string does not slip when you tighten it later on. To do this, once you’ve inserted the string as shown above, tie a knot like this:

Cute huh? Then, pull it outwards a little longer so that you can do this:

After that, wind it around itself twice, so that it appears twisted like this:

Now, adjust it a little bit and tighten the entire knot by pulling (by hand, not too hard) the string towards the headstock area. You’re done with the bridge area when it looks something like this:

Finally, move on to the headstock area and insert the free-end of the string into the tuner as shown:

Loop it a few times first before attempting to tighten the string. This is to avoid the string from slipping, of course. I’ve looped it twice:

Then, turn the tuning knob counter-clockwise to tighten the string. Counter-clockwise when viewed from this angle:

You’ll realise that all six tuning knobs should be turned in CCW direction to tighten the string. They’re made that way, and our wrist should get used to this convention - CCW means tighten and CW means loosen. Next, repeat the same thing for the B-string.

The same steps are repeated for B-string, as well as G-string.

Apparently an extra G-string was given too, so I could choose between the old, conventional type of G-string or the new type one, made of new material and D’Addario claims that it has a longer lifespan.

According to D’Addario, some players prefer the new one, while others prefer the old one. Because of this, two different types are included and I randomly picked the new one (some people don’t like the colour too, it’s brownish).

Now that the first three strings have been taken care of, let’s move on to the D-string. And you won’t believe this. These were all that’s left:

The extra G-string is understandable, but it seems like they’ve missed out on the D-string, and included an extra, identical A-string instead. I tried my luck to see if the label was wrong. I checked the diameters of the two A-strings.

Absolutely identical. Instead of a D-string, D’Addario mistakenly packaged an extra A-string for me. Great. I will need to go out and buy a new D-string. Skipping that, let’s proceed to the A-string. Begin from the bridge.

Loop it around like this:

We do not need to perform that ’string-twisting’ thingy on this one. Just leave it like this:

You should do the same for the E-string and D-string too.

That’s about it. All but one string have been replaced.

New sets of strings on these babies. D’Addario strings aren’t really the cheapest in the market, FYI. Gotta head down to the shop and get a single D-string tomorrow. Grr.

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