Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi,

Reading the D'Adario thread above, I see that folks are purchasing 10's and 100's of strings. I assume that not everyone is making that many guitars in a year or so and wondered how long can you store strings before they go bad? Is there a lifespan for the strings? or not as long as there are no corrosion or rust on them?

Thanks, David

I think air is really the killer when it comes to storing strings. Take a look here at what I did with the first group buy.

The strings are totally sealed air tight and have shown no signs at all of contamination or corrosion

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When we closed down our music shop in the 80's, I used up a large amount of mfg credit buying boxes of strings. Back then I would change the strings on my guitars every few weeks. I have some sets of strings that are 30 years old now...but brand new in the original packages. I hardly notice the difference in tone or life of the electric (nickel) strings. The bronze accoustic strings all have/had some discoloration on them. Once wiped down with something like "Fret easy" (I think it is called. It comes in a little stick made of cloth), they sounded pretty much like I expected them to. I think the life was slightly shorter but not a huge difference. I think part of the equation here was that they were never touched by hands/oil on them. They were all still in the original sleeves. That may slow down any instances of aging a little...I don't know. These days (even under heavy use), I don't change them quite that often. I find the old strings did not have significant difference of life once on my guitars...but I do still change them once every 4-6 weeks depending on use. So the amount of time they spend on a guitar still may be shorter than the average picker.

I've almost used up all the old bronze strings now, and have been buying electric strings regularly for several years now. Every once in a while I will buy a set of new bronze strings just to compare it to the old stock I have. Of course no two guitars sound the same, but comparing the new strings and the NOS strings on two different guitars, I did not notice any real difference in sparkle, ring or fullness.

YMMV.

J

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Joe

Hey J--

Just out of curiosity, do you know if you have any old Gibson "Sonomatic" electric strings or a mid 80's set of Martin strings left? I'd love to find a package of these for mojo for 2 guitar cases I have holding 2 very special guitars.

Thanks!

John

Martin or Martin Marques maybe...thats what I usually used. I can look this week.

joe

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Joe

Thank you so much! I think the set I had was either Martin or Martin Marquis-- it was a package of medium gauge (can't remember if 80/20 or PB though) with the orange/black "hand" logo. My uncle gave me that set of strings and I saved the package for a long time, but it's long gone now... it would be really cool to have a set never to use, but just to put in the case for added mojo.