- 1). Place the guitar with its back down on a flat, padded surface. A cotton towel placed over a table or desk will serve as a makeshift work bench.
- 2). Roll-up another cotton towel and place it underneath the guitar neck, just below the string nut where the fingerboard meets the headstock.
- 3). Place the peg winder on the tuning peg of the sixth string (low E, which is the thickest string). While pulling up on the string with light pressure with your opposite hand, turn the peg clockwise until the string windings have come off the string post, and the string will pull out of the string-post hole.
- 4). Untie the string knot at the bridge and pull the string off. Wrap the used string into a three-inch coil for easier handling. It may be discarded, or placed in the new string's envelope to use as an emergency spare.
- 5). Remove the new string from its envelope and uncoil it. The envelope will be clearly marked "low E" or "6th" . This is a good time to place the old string in the envelope to avoid getting it mixed in with other strings as they are removed.
- 6). Thread the string into the bridge hole, starting from the bridge section nearest the sound hole to the back, until about three inches of string protrudes from the back of the bridge.
- 7). Bring the loose end back over the bridge and loop it around the string at the hole in which it was first inserted. Pull the string back and tuck it underneath itself, forming a "figure-8" loop knot, and pull the knot tight.
- 8). Insert the other end of the string into the tuning key string-post hole, leaving about one inch of slack. Wrap the string around the string post once, and reinsert it into the string-post hole again. This is easier than other knotting methods, and will secure the string in the hole.
- 9). Place the peg winder on the tuning key. Turn it counterclockwise to tighten the string to pitch while pulling on the string with light pressure to help tighten the knots and pre-stretch the string. Repeat the stretching and tuning procedure several times, until the string stays at a stable pitch.
- 10
Trim the excess string from the tuning post and bridge knot, with wire cutters. - 11
Repeat steps 3 through 10 for the remaining strings.
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