String stretching

Pulling gently on each newly fitted string to take the slack out of it so it settles at pitch quickly.

A new string has to seat itself around the tuning post and over the nut and saddle, and until it does the pitch keeps dropping as the wraps tighten. Stretching the string by lifting it away from the fretboard and letting it settle, repeated several times, removes most of that slack immediately. Some players stretch until the string stops going flat, others prefer to bend it hard a few times, and both reduce the number of retunes needed before a gig.

Example: A guitar whose new strings stay in tune after a few firm pulls has had its strings stretched.

String stretching

See also