How to Change Your Bass Strings

This entry was fully dedicated to my best buddy, Nur Azleen from University of Wisconsin, Madison, to my band members, and to all bassist who loved their instrument more than their teddy bear.

Firstly, unpack your gift, that you have received prior to your birthday, and put it down on your bed. Mine was an original Fender Super Bass 7250s, manufactured in Mexico.

Then, take out the strings and sort it according to the size. Please be careful not to be confused by the numbers, you can figure the strings name from their thickness.
Example:

Emily = E thickest

Bobby = B 2nd thickest

Goofy = G 2nd thinnest

Donald Duck = D thinnest

Next, take out your bass from the gig bag and put it on your friend's bed (in my case, Asai's bed).

Then, take off the old strings, one by one (of course, haha).

The picture below is to differ the Fender stock strings with the original Super Bass 7250s. Firstly, from the appearance, the 7250s have a gold-plated ball, while the stock string have a nickel-plated ball. The covering threads for the 7250s is black, while the original one is red.

Next, when all your strings are removed, take this opportunity to clean up your fretboard. It's not everyday you removed your strings. So take a static-free cloth, and clean up the fretboard. Don't use any bleacher, hair wax or facial foam to clean the fretboard as it will make you looks stupid. Oh, and it will also ruin your fretboard.

Next, insert your new string into the hole according to the string position. Before that, try to adjust the bridge to fit your comfort. A bridge that is too high or too low will effect the sound produced.

Then, bend your string a little and put it into the hole in the middle of the tuning machine. But before that, make sure you have cut the excess end of the string using a plier. However, because I don't have a plier, I decided to use a special tool called the Zaharudin's Teeth. It works magnificently well!

Next, go check your facebook for a new notification. Then, start turning the tuning machine. Be careful, to make sure it is tight enough, pull the string with your hand first, give it a little tension and continue to turn the tuning machine. To give the string an downward force, put the string at the downward. Ish, cmne nak explain ek? Gulung tali tu dari bawah ke atas, dan bukan dari atas ke bawah. Look at the picture below if you're too slow to understand me.

One tips, to check if your fretboard is flawless, hold your 12th fret of the thickest 'E' string and see it from the side. If the string touches all the other fret, then your bass is good enough. Or else, the fretboard was bend.

Repeat all the procedure mentioned above until all the strings was successfully installed.

There! Done with replacing my bass strings. Congratulations, myself! Now, go find an electric tuner and tune the strings. Can't wait to take this beast jamming again! And to the stage, my dear!

p/s: wish me luck for my final. All sarcastic expressions and harsh words are adapted from a punk called ilyas, ilias, alias, whatever that a.h was called. He should F.O.D.

till next time, ROCK ON!

=)