How to Change a String on a Guitar

Here’s how to replace a guitar string so it won’t slip and also won’t have a huge ball of extra string wrapped around the tuning peg.

I play guitar with a pretty heavy hand, so I’ve replaced an awful lot of strings. Over time, I’ve found a method that consistently works for me. I hate having 20 winds of string around the tuning pegs, but having only a few winds means that they can slip when you are getting the string up to tension. So, without further ado, How To Replace a Guitar String, as demonstrated on my Ovation 6 and 12-Strings.

First, an important basic: The tuners on the top of the headstock turn counterclockwise to tighten the string, and the tuners on the bottom wind it up clockwise. The strings all run together between the two rows of tuners. This is important. If you wind the strings the wrong way, they will have to bend around the other tuners to get where they are going, and you’ll break them easily, and have tuning problems.

(Click any image to go to a larger version)

So, lets string the guitar. First, cut off the old strings. Use wire cutters and cut them just above the bridge. Sliding the whole string out through the hole in the bridge wears things down, takes longer, and sounds terrible. If your guitar uses white plastic pins to keep the strings in the bridge, cutting the strings lets you reach into the sound hole to help remove the pins. Unwind the strings from the tuning pegs, coil them and discard them. Do that now, because if you forget you’ll poke yourself with them later.

I always start with the bass strings. Insert the string through the bridge. Pull it through gently until the ball end sits neatly. I always line up the ball ends so it looks pretty, but I’m retentive that way.

Turn the hole in the tuning peg until you can place the string straight through it. Insert the end of the string through the tuning peg and tug it straight, but not tight. Check that the ball end is still sitting properly in the bridge and that the string is sitting in the correct slot in the nut.

Trick number one: Tug the string straight, place your finger on the string at the nut, then slide your finger back to the first fret. This should pull the string back enough to give you some slack over the body.

This is just the right amount of slack to wind around the tuning peg a couple of times. Experiment, the bass strings need one fret, the higher strings sometimes need one and a half, it’s entirely up to your preferences once you see how this works. It’s important that you hold the string at the first fret during the next couple of steps to keep the string going where it’s supposed to.

Next, turn the tuning knob so that the tuning peg makes about a quarter turn, like this:

This quarter turn helps make sure you see which way to do the next step. It doesn’t work right if you wind the string the wrong way around the post.

Trick number two: The lock. It might make more sense for you to just do it and see what’s happening than it will when you read it. Bear with me, it’s quite a simple concept when you see it.

Loop the string backwards around the tuning peg and under the string. This is the OPPOSITE direction that the string winds up to be tightened. (That’s why the quarter turn helps, you can easily see which way the string winds).

Tug the string end fairly tight and bend it upwards under the string going down the fretboard. This bent-upwards piece will be held tightly in place by the string once it gets wound a little tighter, which prevents the string from slipping. Even if you only have a half turn of string around the tuning peg, it grabs itself and won’t pull out.

Still holding the string slightly taut against the fretboard, turn the tuning knob to tighten the string.

Keep tightening until it is near the correct pitch. It should look something like this:

Using your handy wire cutters, trim off the extra string as close as you can to the tuning peg. It’s okay if your wire cutters don’t have grinder marks on them like mine do.

And voila! You can see in this picture how the string grabs and holds itself.

That’s all there is to it. Lather rinse and repeat 5 more times (or 11 more times if you have a 12 string, or 3 more times if you have a bass) and you’re done!

Let me know in the comments if you’d like anything clarified.

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Those of you who know us will attest to three things:

1) The basement will never be finished. Ever. It may possibly be usable in the near future, but it will never be finished. Until it is finished, stacks of stuff destined for the basement rule the upstairs.

2) We are drowning in clutter. We constantly fight this battle, and we seem to take endless loads of boxes to the Goodwill, but no matter how much we get rid of there is still too much waiting to ambush us when our backs are turned.

3) We’d far rather spend a day planning how to do something, with cool charts, graphs, lists and systems, than actually do anything productive to finish the basement or fight clutter.

So, ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you….

The Wonderfulpages.com Decluttering Flowchart PDF

Jocularity aside, this is actually a serious piece of work that is the result of literally hours of discussion. We were discussing with the kids how to decide what to keep and what to get rid of. Explaining to a 7 year old which items in his overflowing “stuff” drawer to keep is difficult. Deciding what things in my “stuff” drawer to keep is difficult. Hence, a flowchart. The chart should be good for both items and paperwork, not so good for books. We’re working on the one for books, but that one’s a bit more complex. We care more about some of our books than about most of our stuff. :)

Sentimental clutter is the big killer. We’ve decided to keep only one item from each important stage of our lives (you decide what the important stages are) and take photos of the rest before getting rid of them. Harsh? Yes. Necessary with 7 bodies in 1200 square feet 24 hours a day? Yes.

Some clarifications:
“Assign a place” means to decide exactly where the permanent home for this item is. If that place doesn’t exist (on the shelf that won’t be hung until after the room is painted) then a temporary specific place is found. Like “in the box for stuff that will go on that shelf”, not “back on the top of my dresser with this other stuff I don’t know what to do with”.

“File or place in secondary storage” means to place the paper in the proper place in the filing cabinet, not in a pile of stuff to be filed later. You and I both know it won’t.

“Display, file or secondary storage after documenting” is for keepsakes. Displaying on a shelf or in a photo frame, filing special papers, storing things you want to keep but not display. “After documenting” means that the reason that the thing is special should be typed or written on a card and stored with the item, or if it won’t destroy the value of the item, written right on the item. (All of our Christmas decorations have the owner, giver and year marked on them in superfine sharpie).

“Discard” means “get it out of my house”. It may mean trash, it may mean recycling, it may mean Goodwill, it may mean the neighbours, it may mean someone else in your family, but get it out of there before you change your mind.

“Will you be able to find it elsewhere when you need it?” means “Can I look this information up on the internet easily if I ever need it?” for paperwork, or “Is there another more generic tool that I also own that can do this job?” for gadgets. You get the idea.

Tell us about your own decluttering methods!

My mother-in-law requested a spa towel wrap for Christmas. I was unable to find one, (why do I wait until the 23rd of December to do my Christmas shopping?) so I dug out my sewing disaster room and let my dormant creativity surface.

This is the result:

Here’s a quick, very rough tutorial.

I folded the towel as shown in my very lame quick sketch.

First I attached a 4 inch length of 3/4″ wide velcro hooks onto the left hand side of the towel, about 1/4 inch down from the edge. Then I attached a 10 inch length of 3/4″ wide loops (the soft fuzzy part) on the right hand side about 1.25 inches down from the edge.

Next I folded down the top edge of the towel about 1 1/4 inches to make a casing. Fold the towel so that the side without velcro is inside the casing. The shorter piece of Velcro (the hooks) should be on the outer side of the casing facing one side of the towel. The longer piece of Velcro (the soft loops) should be on the outside of the casing on the other side of the towel. (So when you wrap the towel around yourself, the hooks will overlap the loops.) Sew about 1 1/8 inch from the fold. You have now completed the casing and velcro closure.

Now, if possible, measure the chest of the intended wearer, under the arms and above the bust. (Since this was a gift, I had to estimate this measurement.) Cut a length of 1″ wide elastic that is about 8 inches less than the chest measurement you just took. So if my chest measurement under the arms and above the bust is 32″, I would cut the elastic 24″ long.

Thread the elastic through the casing by attaching a safety pin to one end or using a special threader designed for that purpose called a bodkin, and working the elastic through the casing. (Make sure not to pull the other end of the elastic inside the casing and lose it! Sometimes I pin the other end to the outside of the casing so this doesn’t happen.) Unfortunately I did not get a picture of this and apologize, but here is a quick elastic casing tutorial.

Now secure the end of the elastic to the end of the casing by sewing through the casing perpendicularly, catching the elastic. Repeat on the other end of the casing.

This is the closure:

And this is the back:

For decoration, I ironed on and then hand sewed an appliqué flower near the top closure. I also embroidered a monogram on the lower edge of the towel, since it was to be used at a local gym.

If you have any questions, please let me know. If you try this sewing tutorial, I would love to see your finished product. If you have suggestions for how to make it better, please let me know that as well.

The bake element in our Maytag stove burned out last week. MrsPages was getting ready to cook brunch for company (and we had company coming the next morning too) when there was a bright flash and *foom* *fizzle* the element died.

MrsPages ingeniously managed to cook the meal by turning the broiler on until the oven reached temperature, then turning it off, then turning it on again when it cooled. What a pain. So without further ado, I present:

How to replace the lower bake element in a Maytag Oven

You’ll need:

• A replacement element. I got mine for $35 from Reliable Parts. Any generic appliance store should have them in stock. The same element is used across many models, so they’re pretty common.
  

• A Pair of pliers (I used needlenose)
• A medium philips screwdriver (cross shaped head)
• A small slot screwdriver

Step 1. Unplug it. If it’s wired in to the wall, turn the breaker off.

Step 2. Make sure it’s unplugged. Don’t laugh, go double check. Really.

Step 3. Make absolutely sure it’s unplugged. You really don’t want to be messing with 220 volts. Honest.

Step 4. Pull the oven out and remove the half dozen or so screws that keep the back cover on.



Step 5. Find the wires that connect to the lower bake element.

Step 6. Remove the clips from the element. You’ll likely need a pair of pliers. Be gentle, just take a firm hold and wiggle while you tug the connector off.

Step 7. Open the oven door and remove the 2 screws holding the element in place inside the oven.

Step 8. Inside the oven, remove the broken element (just pull it straight out of the holes in the back oven wall). If the element is badly broken there may be white dust coming out. Be careful, this dust is apparently rather toxic.

Step 9. Insert the ends of the new element through the holes in the back oven wall and replace the two screws to hold the new element in place.

Step 10. Back behind the oven, using the small slot screwdriver, slightly bend open the crimped part of the connector on the wires. You might not need to do this. If you can manage the next step without it, don’t bother.

Step 11. Slide the connectors on to the ends of the new element and lightly crimp the connector with the pliers. Give the wire a tug to make sure it’s on securely. Lots of heat and electricity flow through this wire, and a loose connector can work its way off and be dangerous.

Step 12. Replace the back cover and all the screws that hold it on.

Step 13. Take this opportunity to clean the dried crud off the sides of the oven.

Step 14. Plug the oven in or turn the breaker back on and test it. Use an oven thermometer to check that the oven reaches the proper temperature and stays there.

If it doesn’t work at this point, call a repair person. The element burning out can damage the thermostat or other components. At least you’ve saved yourself the cost of this part of the repair!

If it does work, pat yourself on the back for having avoided $100-an-hour labour costs and 100 percent parts markup for a 10 minute do-it-yourself job!

It’s an unpleasant fact of parenting when you’re both close to 6 feet tall: stroller handles are too short. Walks become painful, tiring, hunchbacked ordeals.

One solution would be to have the other LittlePages push LittlestPage in the stroller when we go out. However, the primary purpose for strollers, it would seem to her siblings, is to try to get LittlestPage to achieve orbital velocity (or, if there are any wheelchair ramps around, actual orbit).

So, we decided on another tack: make stroller handle extensions!

Last year’s church garage sale included a broken umbrella stroller of similar design to ours. You can likely find one at the Goodwill or local garage sales. (Haggle. We got ours for free because it was broken.) I used a dremel tool to cut the rivets that held the handle on, but you could just as easily use a hacksaw to cut the tubes off if you sand or tape the cut ends.

Lay the new handles alongside the existing ones. In this image, the new handles are the dark blue ones on the inside:

Then use some cheap hose clamps to attach the new handles at the top and bottom:

Voila! One back-pain-less stroller:

We get comments on this one when we go out, and now that this stroller is dying, I plan on removing the extensions and putting them on the new one as well.

This post is also available as an instructable.

(The Carnival of Beauty is on so pop on over to Motherhood and Beyond for stories and recipes about the Beauty of Bread!)

When I first got my Bosch Concept I was so excited. I had read that you could make four loaves at a time in an hour! After I used it, I was very disappointed. Apparently, I could only make four bricks.

I ended up using it as a really expensive blender for a long while before guilt forced me to try making bread again. I found a few recipes on the web and adapted them so they used ingredients that I had on hand.

Now I really do make four loaves in just an hour, and absolutely love the results.

WonderfulPages Whole Wheat Bosch Bread Recipe

Ingredients

16 cups of flour, approximately
6 cups of water, heated to 125F
1/2 cup milk powder (optional)
1/4 cup olive or canola oil
1/4 cup honey (or 1/2 cup sugar)
2 tablespoons active dry yeast

1 tablespoon salt
3 tablespoons vital gluten

Directions

1. Making a Sponge.

(I found that a sponge makes lighter whole wheat bread. The extra time is worth it.)

Add the 6 cups of warm water to the Bosch bowl. Add the milk powder, oil, and honey. Measure out 6 cups of flour and 2 tablespoons of yeast into the bowl. Place the cover on and mix these ingredient on speed 2 or 3 for 20 to 30 seconds, until well mixed.

Let this mixture rest for twenty to thirty minutes. The sponge should be foaming and growing!

2. Making the Dough

Add the 1 tablespoon of salt and 3 tablespoons of vital gluten to the bowl. Turn the Concept onto speed 1 and steadily add about 10 cups of flour just enough for the dough to clean the sides of the bowl.

Then turn the speed up to 2 and knead the dough for 5-7 minutes until the gluten develops. I “window test” for gluten by pulling off a chunk of dough and stretching it out into a square. If the dough stretches like bubble gum and thin “windows” appear, than the kneading is done.

Take the dough out of the bowl and place on the counter. Cut it into four equal sections. Take each section, press it out flat and then roll it into a loaf. Place each loaf into a greased bread pan.

(Today, I used one of the sections to make a pizza dough. I usually make three loaves and one batch of cinnamon buns.)

3. Rising the Dough

I cover my dough with a clean dish towel rinsed in hot water and wrung out really well. Place the bread pans in a warm place for approximately 30 minutes, until they double in size. I usually turn my stove onto 100F, let it come up to that temperature and then turn it off. I place my bread inside the oven for twenty minutes. Then I take it out, place it on the stove top and preheat my oven to 350F

(Today, since I made a pizza dough, I rolled it out, covered it with plastic wrap and then put it in the fridge. I do not want my pizza dough to rise until I bake my pizza. So it will stay in the fridge until dinner time, when we add sauce and toppings and then bake it, without letting it rise!)

4. Baking the Bread

Preheat your oven to 350F. Bake the loaves for approximately 30 minutes. I often use a meat thermometer to check one of my loaves. The internal temperature should be 200F.

When done remove the loaves from the oven and let sit 10 minutes. Remove the loaves from the pan and let sit on a wire baking rack until cool, approximately 30 minutes. Slice and enjoy!

5. Storing the Bread

Fresh bread is best if eaten within a couple of hours. We eat at least a loaf a day in our home, so I will freeze the other two loaves. I store them in resealable freezer bags. You can slice the bread before you freeze it and then just remove slices as you need them.

Oh and here’s the pizza that I baked latter in the day!

I found Baking Bread 101 to be an extremely helpful site, though it is difficult to read.

Shalom
–MrsPages

Bread deals with living things, with giving life, with growth, with the seed, the grain that nurtures. It is not coincidence that we say bread is the staff of life. ~Lionel Poilane

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35