Thanks, Marc. I'm glad I started this thread. Had not realized the necessity of changing strings as often.

I suppose the amount of time the instrument is played affects this also, right?

Randy, I did (kind of) the same thing when I was a new Stick owner: I figured I didn't play it hard and not for hours every day, so why change strings more than once a year? (I know, guys, that's sacrilege.)
Well, after something like 9 months I changed my strings for the first time - and I was shocked at how profound the difference was. Not long after, when I was taking a lesson from Greg, I mentioned this, and he said that strings exposed to air oxidize over time whether you're playing them or not, and dirt accumulates from your fingers. I also learned (thanks to this great forum) about the reasons already mentioned (string misshaping over time, etc.).
Now I change strings far more frequently; I try not to let more than 3 or 4 months go by without changing sets.
When you DO change yours, do yourself a favor and go to the article on string changing in the FAQ section of this forum. I'll post the .url in a moment.
Edit: You'll find it by going to the Portal, and then on the left you'll see "Stick FAQ's". Click that, and then look down the list for the link on strings. Here's a link to get you directly there:
http://www.stickist.com/faq/doku.php?id=strings

Great article. Thanks, Luc.

I am horrible when it comes to changing strings. I leave them on way to long. If anyone would look up my purchase records of strings as SE, they'd think I gave up playing (I haven't ... really )

I do find that light gauge string intonation is much more susceptible to dirt and wear as compared to heavy gauge. That's no a reason to use heavy, just stating my experience.

Hi Luc,

I don't get it. After apllying the 'lock' you have bring the string around about 1.5 times, but won't the string simply flip back when you let it go ?
And, making such a lock, does that work for the thickest strings as well, i would tend to think that the post is too small to do that..


Cheers,
Bas

I changed strings on my SG12 yesterday and can definitely tell a difference in the sound of the strings. They "bounce" just as dbroksy said they would. And they appear to be more in tune throughout the full range of the fretboard.

The process was really awkward for me. The ring kept coming out the bridge slot. Finally had to enlist my wife to hold it in place. I also found the smaller strings more difficult to manage for my fat fingers. Another thing I found interesting was that I would the strings much to high in pitch during the changeover. Luckily no problems.

Randy

After I put the ball in the bridge slot, I put a piece of masking tape over the bridge, albeit just enough to hold the string, not so much that I have to scrape tape gunk off later.

Is your intonation still off?

cheers,
kev

Hi Bas,
It would slip out, if you turned the peg the wrong way. The direction that is shown in the diagram is for the inner strings - all of the strings that are not the outer two. For the outer two strings, they're reversed in direction, so you would make the lock in the opposite direction. I'm not sure if that's helpful, but spinning the tuning peg in the wrong direction is the only thing I can think of right now that would cause the string to slip back out of the "knot."
As far as the thicker strings: a full turn and a half might be about as far as you can possibly go, and it could even be a bit much for strings 6 and 7 (for a 10-string; it would be 7 and 8 for a 12-string). But to answer your concern: I've been able to wind the biggest strings less than a full turn and a half, and the results have been just fine. I have had ZERO problems with this method, as far as issues with the strings' stability or slipping. (Randy, I feel your pain; my fingers are also not the smallest, and so fine work like this gives me problems, anyway.)
Kevin: genius. I never thought of that. I had a method I used over the years (back from my days working in a full-line music shop when I did guitar setups) of holding the string with one hand, simultaneously keeping tension on both the bridge and tuning peg. It had a serious drawback, to be sure - if one wasn't careful, the string could easily be bent in a bad place.
Masking tape - DUH!!!

No, I think the intonation is much improved. I'll spend more time today playing, so will have a better listen.

I use a rubber band instead of masking tape. No worries about getting glue on the bridge.