Hello stickists,
My name is Simon and I have just become the proud custodian of 10 string padauk stick number 5330. It is seven years old and still has its original strings. The stick could do with a clean and oil, meaning I would have to remove the strings anyway. What is the usual useful life expectancy of a set of strings? They sound OK to me but that means nothing. There is a set of new strings in their original wrapper that were also purchased at the time the stick was bought new from SE. Would these strings still be OK?

I'd love to hear your suggestions on what to do here.

Cheers,

Simon

Hi Simon, Welcome!

The best way to see if the strings need replacing is to look at the underside of the wound melody strings. If they have black markings on them with little divots, that's a sure sign.

They might be okay for you to get started with, however. The new strings should still be fine.

The best thing for cleaning the instrument is Watco Danish Oil.

I had a couple of Skype lessons with a fellow from Perth a couple years ago, if you're interested.

Thanks for that Greg. I think the person who had lessons with you is the person I bought the stick from. I believe there may be only one other stick (apart from this one) in Perth. I was very surprised to be able to buy one locally.

I will most certainly be contacting you for lessons.

Cheers,

Simon

Welcome to this forum. You'll find a lot of answers about all what you're looking for.

Well...concerning this question about when to change your strings. There is so many factors to check. Are you (for example) a person who's sweating a lot with your hands? How is your climate...humidity, salted water around you, etc?

Some people change their strings after 6 months, 4 months...etc...on my side it's once a year and when I change it it's not a huge difference. But I like to change it even though they are not completely unusable. I always order a new set when I put a new one.

Have fun with your new toy...lol.

Welcome welcome, Simon! This place is the best! That's so cool you found a local Stick! You are lucky indeed.


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Lots of great players down under. Seeing they are not really that close though! Man, the Scott and Konrad are closer to Melbourne, but that is still a 5 hour flight....!

You might want to consider reserving some time with someone to change the strings - Private lessons are a great option for this. Probably best to just get acquainted to having both hands on the fretboard for now - then dig in to a string change and maybe some adjustments to the truss if necessary.

Glad to see (read!) you're here. Lots of friendly people that love music and appreciate another set of eyes on the instrument.

Cheers.

Thanks everyone for your friendly welcome and helpful responses.
Cheers,
Simon

Simon.. howearya..!

Great to see you on this forum thingy. As you can see it's a very friendly place, you even get plugs from friends on the other side of the world, which of course is the only right thing to have happen..

I'm coming to Perth in late May - mid June and I'm bringing Stick.

Go for it mang.. I'm really looking forward to your sounds, as are we all.

Hi Simon, welcome!

kev

Hi from italy and welcome, new mate from down under..I really hope you will have a good time, here