needing new strings ??'s

[brewmandan]

having not played in about 8-10 years, my small string broke while i was trying to tune my guitar. this brings up a couple questions:
first--if i change one string because it broke, might it be a good idea to maybe change the other 5 strings? i'm asking this because obviously not playing in a long time, would the "old age" of the strings maybe require all of them being changed just to be on the safe side?
next--is there a certain brand of string that any of you might suggest to be a good brand of string for an acoustic guitar?
thanks!

[Bookkeeper's Son]

It would be a good idea to start out with a completely new set of strings, as they do lose tone with age and use. Any name-brand set of phosphor bronze light gauge (12s) will do quite nicely on a steel string guitar.

[FrankenFretter***]

Acoustics sound so much better when they have new strings. Yeah, change them all. Where did the string break? Could it be binding up somewhere (bridge, nut)?

[Commodore 64***]

Good Lord, 10 year old strings? If you really feel you need to ask whether it's prudent to replace them all, I'm a little worried about you.

Being that you haven't played the guitar in a long time, it would be best for you to string that hting up with the same gauge that's already on there. But I'm guessing you have no idea what that is, so I'm just gonna go ahead and recommend that you put a set of 11s on there. Ernie Ball, D'addarrio, Martin, it doesn't really matter. Flat wounds might be a bit easier on your fingers as you try to build your callouses back up.

[brewmandan]

thanks for the advice, guys! yeah it does seem logical to replace all of them since i haven't played in such a long time.

[mapka]

You may want to check out http://www.webstrings.com/ I use their strings on my electric guitar and I am real happy with them.