Upcycle/Recycle Old Guitar Strings

Do you play a stringed instrument? How often do you change out your strings? What do you do with your old strings? Well....I'm here to tell you about a fun way to recycle your strings. 

Why not upcycle them into beautiful pieces you can wear? 

When I was a little girl...like about 10, I wanted to learn to play the guitar. My parents got me a guitar for Christmas, and I took a few lessons. My teacher wanted me to learn to read music, and I soon learned that I had a very difficult time with that. Sadly, due to frustration, I quit.

Fast forward 45 years.... A friend of mine invited me to her mountain dulcimer group. Reluctantly, I went, and boy, am I glad I did! Long story short...I was bitten by the bug. A few months after attending the group, I purchased my first dulcimer, and now...four years later, I still enjoy playing the mountain dulcimer!

With close to 30 people in our group in Kentucky, everyone was always changing out their strings. Soon, they were bringing me their old strings saying, "We know how crafty your are...I bet you could figure out something to do with these."

The first thing I thought of were bracelets. These are some of my first pieces.

Then I made earrings...

Christmas ornament....

and even keychains!

There are several companies now that are collecting old guitar strings and recycling them. They separate the metal and nylon strings. The metal strings are melted down and made into new metal alloys. The Nylon is recycled into industrial plastic appliances. This is all good, but to be honest, because of the process involved, this is not necessarily the best way to recycle.

The best way to recycle anything is to reuse it, and the second best way to to upcycle. Now since you really cannot reuse guitar strings, upcycling them is the best way! The brightly colored beads from the strings make great beads for jewelry, by the way....

If you are looking for a fun, unique way to save the planet by recycling, make something out of your old strings. If you are not crafty, or you don't have old instrument strings, and want to support the recycling of these metals....let me know. I can hook you up with a set of strings wrapped in a unique way....

TappingflamingoBling can be found on Instagram, Facebook, and Youbube as Tappingflamingo. She also has a shop!