TomFlannery.com

I changed my strings last night so you know I’m serious. I never change my strings. I once played the same set until they started to rust and flake like paint.

I saw a band one time and watched the guitar player put new strings on between each set. I figured he either OCD or completely insane. Not a bad picker though, but for the rest of the night I felt more working class and looked at him like he was a bourgeois twit.

I’ve considered my willingness to play the same strings until they start to change the color of my guitar a badge of honor. Hell, Woody Guthrie wasn’t changing his strings riding the rails….right? Not sure about Dylan. But I know he never cut the ends off his. Top of his guitar looked like a porcupine with a hard-on. Get too close you’d lose an eye. Obviously Bob had other things on his mind back then. Being a generational spokesman and all that leaves precious time for such mundaneness.

I forgot what got me into all this. Oh yea, strings. New strings feel good. Makes you sound better. Makes you feel like you play better. Make you wonder why you don’t change ’em more often.

In a bit…

–tf