What's all this stuff about boiling strings in coffee and putting WD40 on them? Buy a new set you cheapskates - if your music's not worth 6 or 7 quid, take up the kazoo (or comb and paper if you're too mean to buy one).

With a guitar, a cittern, two mandolins and an octave mandola to keep sounding sweet, it can sometime seem like painting the Forth Bridge but I just make sure they don't all need changing at the same time. Guitar gets changed about every two months (depending on how much I play it) with maybe a first or second string breaking in between due to different tunings; the rest about every 3 to 4 months.

I found the secret to keeping strings sounding good for longer is to wipe them with a clean cloth after every playing.

Incidentally, Martin Simpson once told me he changes his strings before every performance (I watched him doing it)though it may not be as often now he's switched to D'Addario Long Lifes.