Let's talk about a topic that is not often discussed in guitar circles.
In 2006 when I played guitar with former Skid Row vocalist Sebastian Bach, we have done quite a lot of touring with Guns N’ Roses. While on that tour, I have spent some time speaking with Chris who was a guitar tech to then GN’R guitar player Robin Finck.
In one of our conversations, I asked Chris how often he changes strings on Robin’s guitars. Since Robin then traveled with about 10 guitars, I thought to myself that this is quite a lot of string changing. Upon my question, Chris answered with something that I have thought about ever since then.
Chris told me that since Robin eats pretty healthy he does not sweat a ton of “junk” on his strings – thus the strings lasted a lot longer versus someone who eats badly, has a lot of band stuff in their bodies and sweats a bunch of toxins onto the strings.
I have thought about that and realized how true this is. Then we can go on and think – would that slightly change the tone of the notes? I think so. Would that change other things that we are not even considering?
This tip is just a simple way of letting you guys onto this story. Figure out what this can mean for yourself. I have applied this knowledge to my own life. When I was recording my album The Metalworker I was eating especially clean and healthy and I do think it translated into better guitar tone.
In my case, my string changing regiment is pretty much the same. The main guitars that I play get their strings changed every other night. I like the slinkier feel of the strings the second night in when they have a chance to stretch a bit more. However, recently my new tech Travis Doering (Travis has worked with several greats including Al DiMeola) had my guitars really tuned in. They played so well, that even the first night my strings played as good as I liked. On the guitars that get less use ie: 1 or 2 songs a night – we would change strings every 3 shows. I play D’addario XL Strings.