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CAUTION: DO NOT PUT STEEL-STRINGS ON A CLASSICAL GUITAR. The high tension of steel-strings will severely damage the bridge and soundboard. A classical guitar should have three nylon strings and three bass strings made from nylon wrapped in brass wire.

 

1)     I recommend changing only one string at once (in the photos I've removed some other strings to make it easier for you to see what's going on).

Start with the sixth string, as this settles down the most quickly.

Some strings have a "good end" and a "bad end" - it's not a manufacturing fault.

It's easiest to tie the knot at the bridge using the good end, as it's stiffer and easier to feed through the hole in the bridge. So in the photo above, we'll tie the knot using the end of the string that's on the right of the picture.

Lay the guitar flat, and sit well away from objects like tables, because the first time you do this, the guitar may slide around.

2)     Pass the good end through the hole and leave yourself enough to work with. You can cut off any spare string later.

Don't go mad though - the strings are only so long!

As you get more skilled, you'll be able to judge exactly how much string to use.

As you feed the string through in the direction of the red arrow, take the good end and pass it under the string.

In the photo, I've made a larger loop than you'll need, simply so you can see it more clearly.

3)     Take the free end in your right hand and tuck it under the string following the arrows in the photos.

A reminder of where you are now!

4)     Take that free end and go over the top of string and back underneath one more time, by following the thin red arrows. Later, for the slippery nylon strings, go over the top and back underneath twice more - it ensures that the knot won't slip!

Take the free end and with your right hand, hold it against the back of the bridge. This makes sure the second loop is at the back of the bridge, rather than on top, and stops the knot sliding undone.

With the left hand, pull the main string gently in the direction of the left arrow. The knot will shrink in size. If you keep pulling the knot tighter and tighter, the loop will put a nasty kink in the string. That kink will make the string liable to fail. In a well tied knot, the string will have a gentle bend.

At this point, you can let go with both hands - that knot will be stable enough to let you give your full attention to the other end!

5)     At the tuning peg end, rotate the appropriate roller (arrowed) so that the hole is aligned as shown.

Drape the string over the roller.

6)     From the underside of the roller, bring the string through the hole.

Many guitarists believe that the more windings there are on the roller, the more the string goes out of tune when there are changes in temperature. So to minimise the wrap, pull most of the string through, seating the string in the white nut slot as you do so.

7)     I've turned the peg a bit now so that you can see the arrows more easily. Once you've passed the string through the hole (the red arrow), take the free end over the string (green arrow) and back through the hole (blue arrow). It's as if you've stapled the string down!

8)     Simply wind the string up, ensuring that successive windings are tight up against each other, and on the side of the hole that's nearer the nut slot.

If you allow the windings to stray all over the bobbin, it is possibly that they will end up touching the wood at the side. When this happens, further turns of the peg will wedge the newly wound string into an ever decreasing gap, causing massive sideways force on the bobbin that will make tuning difficult, and may even crack the peg (that's the voice of experience speaking by the way!).

9)     The last job is to trim the ends of the strings. Long ends will buzz - a long string end at the bridge can reach the front of the guitar and can be the source of hard-to-find buzzes. The more often you can tune the guitar back to pitch in the first few days, the faster it will settle down.

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