Poll: How do you feel about new strings?

That is true - but I have discovered that I generally don't like flatwounds for guitar. But they do keep a certain tone for a LONG time.

 

I change them when they break, unless I have a gig coming up then I change them about a week before. But I'm not particular about strings at all, I buy them on sale and don't worry about the brand too much.

 

Another string question could be all strings off, or one at a time?

I tend to go one at a time, unless I want to do a deep clean, maybe once every five years?!

 

I don't change them super often but "new-ish" is by far my preference. I have extraordinarily jacked up hearing and pitch is much easier for me to hear accurately on newish strings.

 

since I only change strings once a year or so, I take off all of the strings and clean up the fretboard.

Then I re-string

 

Round-wound strings need a break-in play or two to get that "clangy metal" sound out of them.

Flats sound best right out of the box, and slowly get dull sounding.

 

I stretch the heck outta my strings, so I love new strings. After I stretch them, there's no significant stretching that occurs.

I also don't have sweaty hands so my strings last a lot.

 

My personal experience has been that lighter gauge strings like 9's have more shimmer when new, but go dead and need replacing more often. Since moving to 11's I've found they stay tone-consistent longer and thus last longer for me in general. I have no problems with sweat corrosion or anything so that is a plus in my case as well.

IME/YMMV