Fresh strings have clean windings with nothing built up on them yet, so they produce lots of high-end detail. Some players love that sound. Others find it a little too bright and prefer strings once they've been played in.
During the first stretch of playing, a few things usually happen:
- The tone mellows slightly as the brightest edge wears off.
- The strings stretch, so they need more retuning at first.
- Tuning stability improves once they've settled.
Gently stretching new strings and retuning a few times right after installing them speeds up the settling process.
If you're changing strings before a gig or recording session, many players do it a day or so ahead, so the strings have time to settle but still sound fresh. Nylon strings take much longer to settle than steel; see our article on new nylon strings.