Since many guitars and basses are made of
light woods like ash and since it is the strap
button’s job to hold the instrument’s weight plus the weight of your arms hanging on it, a loose strap button or one that pops out entirely can be a common occurrence. Here is a simple and very inexpensive way to repair it.

First of all, if the strap button has not fallen out already, loosen the screw in the center of it and remove the strap button. Take a look at the screw and if it is stripped or bent, replace it.

Next, get a couple of wooden toothpicks and cut them in half. Get some wood glue and thin it out a little with a few drops of water. Then coat the tooth picks with glue and insert them into the screw hole on the instrument. Press them in securely. Using a guitar pick to push with can help. Let the tooth picks dry, preferably overnight.

Put the screw back through the strap button and then put a little soap on the threads. Screw the button back on to the instrument and that should do the trick!

 Speaking of strap buttons, are you tired of your strap slipping off the strap button on your guitar, but you don’t want to spend money on a set of strap locks? Try this very cheap alternative. Put the strap on the strap button, then place one of those square plastic bread ties that are used to keep a loaf of bread locked inside its plastic bag, on the strap button over the strap. You may need to experiment with several types until you find one that fits snugly over the strap button. Sure it looks goofy, but it works pretty well and it is a lot better than having your guitar fall to the floor in a middle of a performance!

Your guitar strings need to be changed about every three to six months. Changing your strings yourself is easy if you know the steps. Here are some guidelines for most steel string acoustic and electric guitars.

First, (obviously) you will need to take the old strings off. If the strings you are replacing still have some life to them, unwrap them from the tuning pegs, disconnect them from the bridge, coil each string into a circle and save them as a temporary replacement should one of the new strings break. If the strings you are replacing are beyond help, you can loosen them enough to relieve the tension and then cut them with wire cutters for faster string removal.

Once the strings are off it is an great time to clean your instrument. Ideally, use guitar polish and a soft rag, though some folks think furniture polish works just as well. When you turn the instrument upside down to clean the back make sure parts of the bridge or the nut don’t fall off! On some instruments they will. 

Once the guitar is clean, thread a new string through the bridge and up the neck through the eye hole of the tuning peg. Make sure you are using the correct string. Especially with electric strings the first three strings can look very similar. Leave a little bit of slack. Wind the string in a counter-clockwise direction just enough so that the string begins to coil and then take the excess string back in the opposite direction and pull the end of the string up under the string. This holds the string in place as you tighten it. Now tighten the string in a counter-clockwise direction until taught. Using a string winder will save you loads of time. Continue the process until all of the strings are replaced. Watch your eyes around all those string ends poking up in the air!

Now tune the instrument using a comparative pitch or tuner. Pinch a string with your fingers and thumb and then very carefully and with very little force, pull the string a little bit away from the neck to stretch it out. Do this with all of the strings and then retune the instrument.

Now that you know you have all the new strings in the right place, either coil the end of the string into a tight circle or cut the excess off with wire cutters. If you decide to cut off the excess, leave about a quarter of an inch and use needle-nose pliers to point the end tip downward toward the instrument. It is really easy to puncture your fingertip on one of those string ends if you leave them facing upward which takes all of the joy out of playing the instrument for a while.

You did it! Now enjoy playing your guitar and that rich bright new-string sound.

If this sounds like way too much trouble, then let us do it for you! Current students can get their guitars polished and new strings installed for only $17.00 and this includes the strings! For everyone else it is only $20.00. Bass guitar strings cost extra.  Remember, if you want to do it yourself, we sell strings for most guitars and bass guitars, guitar polish and string winders as well as a variety of other music supplies at below retail prices. If you get stuck, give us a call at (818) 704-5777 and we will do our best to talk you through it.