Restringing and Neck Tension

[perez]

I read somewhere that we should never take all the strings off the guitar because that would take all the neck tension.
well, is this true or it will hurt the guitar if i take off all the strings and restring it right after?

[marnold***]

I personally think it's bologna, but I've always done it one string at a time just because that's the way I do it. The only time I take them all off is if I'm going to clean the fretboard. Since my guitar has a sealed maple fretboard, cleaning isn't as big of a deal and conditioning is unnecessary, unlike with a rosewood fretboard for example.

[deeaa*]

It won't hurt the guitar any, but if you take all the strings off, it will take a few more minutes tuning it after you put on new ones, as the neck will relax a little without tension, and will bend back a tiny bit slower, causing the need for some more tuning - even on hardtails.

But it's nothing major. Still, I always change strings one at the time, stretch them properly at the same time & tune right away, because that makes for a very quick string change and it'll stay in tune straight away. I always also make sure I use the exact same string gauges every time.

One string at a time is pretty much a must do with Floyd-equipped guitars, though, again so that tuning is much easier. The only time I take 'em all off is once a year when I clean the fretboard properly and check if it needs some fret filing/polish, and even then I usually leave high and low E strings in place, but pulled over the neck sides, because on some guitars the bridge falls off unless it has strings over it.

[Heywood Jablomie]

Think about it - if the neck and trussrod are rigid enough to withstand the string tension, wouldn't it follow that the neck can easily withstand no tension

[perez]

thanks for all the answers it really helped me

[Eric***]

Just to add to this, the people I've talk to who would actually know (e.g. the luthier/tech I go to) say that it's basically an urban legend. I think Dee hit it right on the head with his post.

[Commodore 64***]

How does one go about properly stretching strings? I always figured the amount of tension I can get by "pulling" on the string is insignificant compared to the tension of a tuned string.

[marnold***]

How does one go about properly stretching strings?

Tune it to pitch and then pull up on it (gently!) at a couple places. I usually do it once over the pickups and once over the fretboard. It is technically possible to overstretch them, so you don't need a ton of force.

[Heywood Jablomie]

How does one go about properly stretching strings? I always figured the amount of tension I can get by "pulling" on the string is insignificant compared to the tension of a tuned string.

Just see for yourself - if you tune brand-new strings to normal pitch, then pull them up about an inch away from the guitar, you'll see that they will, in fact, de-tune from stretching. Not insignificant at all. Waiting for them to stretch fully during normal playing is just an annoying exercise of constant retuning.

[deeaa*]

+1 on both last posts; I give 'em a good yank up, maybe an inch, retune, repeat...once I get all strings tuned I play some hard-handed chords and the blues bends on all strings; 1,5step pull-ups on top three and normal hard bends downward on lower strings, give it afinal check. after that I check tuning whenever I start playing, but rarely need to fix anything except when there's been temperature changes or such...they keep tune real well.

I hardly ever break strings when playing but sometime I break high e when I stretch it in tuning ;-)

[perez]

+1 on both last posts; I give 'em a good yank up, maybe an inch, retune, repeat...once I get all strings tuned I play some hard-handed chords and the blues bends on all strings; 1,5step pull-ups on top three and normal hard bends downward on lower strings, give it afinal check. after that I check tuning whenever I start playing, but rarely need to fix anything except when there's been temperature changes or such...they keep tune real well.

I hardly ever break strings when playing but sometime I break high e when I stretch it in tuning ;-)

i remember the first time i broke a string, i was playing for about 2 months, and i just saw how the guitar was stringed, went to the music store bought one string, and restringed my guitar, but i didn't know that i need to stretch, so i spend like 2 weeks or so complaining about the damn string being always out of tune, then i did some research and i did find out that i needed to stretch it, i was like --'

[K31Scout]

I recently put a Warmoth neck on my tele. Warmoth said to tighten the rod so you have a flat fret board. After stringing it up there is enough tension to put a concave bow in the neck which is what you want. If I unstring it completely it would just go back to a flat position. No harm.