I was told that if you change all the strings at once your neck will bend. IS this true?

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I always change mine together in one setting, and my neck is fine.

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Not true, but if you got a floating bridge it will make your life a tuning hell for an hour.

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yes. thats why you are supposed to replace one string at a time. its not a big deal though asuming you replace the strings fairly quickly.

You can do it opposites, too, to create equal pressure. Like first string your 6th, then the 1st, then 5th, then 2nd, then 4th, then 3rd.

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Its not much different then slam drunking the whammy bar, but if you change all the strings at once you will want to loosen them a little at a time ( all at once ) and tighten the new one a little at a time ( all at once ) so the tension remains even on all portions of the neck.

It really is just easier and faster to do it one string at a time and retune before you move to the next string.

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you got that right.

Change all the strings at once?

I would like to see you try

that's not true either you just have to get used to overtuning the lower strings, because as you tighten the upper strings, the others will go down in tuning. if you overtighten them, they'll be near the correct note at the end instead of 5 notes flat.

i generally change all strings at once. that allows me to clean between my pickups, put oil on my fretboard, and occasionally polish my frets. those things don't work too well with 5 strings on the neck.. so yeah you should definitely take them all off at least every once in a while. otherwise, it's just preference/habit.

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Why oh why don't people block trems when changing strings? It makes tuning up a billion times faster. I'm in the midst of replacing the strings on my Ironbird with an OFR and I took all the strings off, oiled the fretboard, etc. I shoved a rubber in the cavity to block it from moving in any direction, stringing up and adjusting spring tension couldn't be easier.

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make sure when tuning a floyd rose that you are tuning the strings the way they are going to sit when the 2nd lock is down...On my jackson the 6th string moves up the little teeth on the back and so I have to hold it down while tuning so it tunes correctly. It is worth the pain cuz I had that thing in tune for like a month straight and I was fucking the shit out of it.

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Thank you very much. I'm glad someone finally mentioned this.

Surely you don't oil your fretboards every time you change your strings! Only when I oil my fretboards and polish my frets twice a year do I take all the strings off. Yes, blocking the trem is a great way to keep things about as even as when you started when you have to take all the stings off, but there is no need to do that if you are just changing strings. One string at a time will surfice.

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Well I cleaned it with Dunlop lemon oil, it was a bit dirty, took a lot of gunk off. It gets dirty quickly and I like to have it looking shiny and new. Last time I did it was 2-3 months ago.

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I've heard arguments for and against this...

Guitar necks are pretty tough believe it or not.

Yes, retuning Floyds will take longer if you do it from scratch every time.

However, it say in my Ibanez manual:

All strings should be exchanged as a set when they become discoloured, or if you notice any buzzing or loss of tone. When you do so, replace one string at a time in order to minimize any sudden change in the tension that is applied to the neck.

And I reckon Ibanez know a thing or two about guitars!

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You basically don't want 2 or 3 strings on one side of the neck applying tention trying to warp the shit out of your neck. With all strings about tuned the tention is distributed across the neck.

That is why you normally change one, retune, then move to the next string. You can have all the strings off but you got to slowly detune all the strings together.

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sorry, what do you mean by that? maybe it's because i just woke up but i can't figure out what you're saying to do.

i don't do anything special and i haven't tuned my guitar in a few weeks. edge trems rock that way, though

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It won't warp the neck. Maybe if you left it for ages it would. Think about it, if it caused serious damage, nobody would ever change their pickups.

And thats why theres truss rods.

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Well wouldn't it be safer on a neck thru as opposed to a bolt on neck guitar? I have a neck thru and take all my strings off every once in a while. I havn't had a problem.

i always take all the strings off
just stick a battery in the trem cavity.
clean shit up
and as long asyou use the the same gauge and same tuning, putting the strings on and tuning will be super simple. if not, just adjust the sprigns to what is logical
its not hard at all.

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I always take them all off, but these days I play sets of strings for many months without changing them (they've not gotten all that dirty and still sound fine, not like new strings but that's to be expected). I just clip them off at full tension and I put all the new strings on. I haven't taken it in for a set-up, but afaik, there's no noticeable detriment. Don't know what to make of that. Who knows, when I take it in for a set-up the luthier might say something about it. But I pretty much play everyday and it's been consistent afaik.