I decided one night that I would take all the strings off my guitar to save time before I bought new ones the next day.
I didn't realise the tension they produced was a vital part of the balance between the bridge unit and the head of the guitar\the truss rod. This, I think, was my undoing, but the temptation to pry was too great.

I twiddled a bit, but when I finally decided to take off my G string I was left holding my whammy bar and bridge unit in my right hand, nervously hoping I hadn't fucked everything up. Curiosity got the better of me, and I lessend the tension on each of the rest of the strings, to see what would happen. And oh, what a feeling. Little did I know it would cost me £60 to ever experience a similar setup again.
( Reid got it going on like Donkey Kong, Sun 6 Apr 2008, 20:48, 7 replies)

£60?
Nasty. My brother takes his strings off every time he wants to change them, then makes me put the new ones on and waste an hour of my life rebalancing it all.
(Pavlov'sDog is all out of pavlova, Sun 6 Apr 2008, 22:29, closed)

£60 to get a g-string off
is a bargain in my opinion.....
( baw__bag contains traces of nuts on, Mon 7 Apr 2008, 1:51, closed)

I've taken the strings off
each and every time, and on each and every guitar, before restringing and never had problems with the neck, the bridge, intonation, whatever

methinks you should get better guitars
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Mon 7 Apr 2008, 8:58, closed)

I did the opposite
Shortly after purchasing it, I tightened the strings of my (used, $20) guitar so that if you strummed it "open" you'd get a C-major chord. Got a nice chuckle out of it. Then I forgot to re-tune it the way it was supposed to be. The next time I went down into the basement, the added tension had snapped the neck in two.
(chase, Mon 7 Apr 2008, 14:12, closed)

I agree with Vipros
I change my strings about once a month (I get sweaty mitts playing and never bother to wipe the strings after) and always take all of the old strings off before replacing. I've never had problems with intonation or balance.

The only reason I could see this happening is that you need to loosen or tighten the springs behind the trem. Another option is to jam a few beer mats behind the trem before you remove the strings so it still floats.
(Big Smurf Brush me daddy-O, Mon 7 Apr 2008, 15:07, closed)

Floyd Rose? No thanks
I never could get on with 'em; stoptail or stringthrough for me, I always change strings one at a time.
( uncle bastard is twanging a dan moi, Mon 7 Apr 2008, 17:46, closed)

I've had all the strings off
acoustic, 12-strings, my ibanez with a floyd rose, a number of shit electric guitars and my beautiful american series strat, and not had a problem with any

I tended to ram a duster under the trem on the ibanez to stop the floyd rose falling off
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 8 Apr 2008, 11:40, closed)