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Heritage Owners Club

Loose strings after playing Heritage?


busujiujitsu

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I’ve never heard of anyone that loosened /detuned in between playing before. To me, it seems like that would potentially shorten the life of the strings (the wound ones anyways); and in my mind it seems like this would be more stressful on the neck, as you’d be constantly moving it between relief and tension. 
 

Could be wrong about my thinking here though. Would be interested to hear from anyone who might do this. 

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The wood and the truss rod should be fine leaving under tension.

That being said, if you are traveling with a guitar, it would be wise to loosen / detune your guitar to reduce any added pressure if there is a bump at the headstock area.

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I loosen the strings if it's going into the case for a while. Especially during seasonal changes, where the wood expands/shrinks due to humidity.

 

Or like DB says, if I'm travelling somewhere with it

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If I'm putting the guitar away (in the case) for a week or more, I usually lesson the string tension a bit.  Nothing drastic, half step or so, and I have not had any neck issues or anything.  I don't remember who told me that was a good thing, but to me it works.

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I never loosen the strings no matter how long between playing any one guitar. They are designed to have tension on the neck. I rarely take the tension off the neck. When I change strings (on some guitars this is weekly when I’m gigging a lot) I do it at one at a time. I have found if I take off all the tension then sometimes I will need to adjust the truss rod a slight bit. Leaving the tension on the neck does not require any adjustments. 

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On 5/14/2022 at 9:52 AM, zguitar71 said:

I never loosen the strings no matter how long between playing any one guitar. They are designed to have tension on the neck. I rarely take the tension off the neck. When I change strings (on some guitars this is weekly when I’m gigging a lot) I do it at one at a time. I have found if I take off all the tension then sometimes I will need to adjust the truss rod a slight bit. Leaving the tension on the neck does not require any adjustments. 

I agree 100% with what zguitar71 says incl. changing the strings one at a time.
That's my experience for over 45 years of owning/storing/playing guitars.

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