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On another thread (which I will not belabor with this question), one contributor (who leaves the excess string on his guitars) wrote:
I find it hard to imagine that this could be true, as long as there are several windings of the string around the post, and one has used a 'cross-over' locking technique when stringing up.
Originally Posted by Stringswinger
What do you all think?
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12-29-2016 03:09 PM
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I agree , how can it slip ?
You'd be forever , tuning up , if it were thus
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Not cutting the string can result in poke your eyes out problems.
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Who needs eyes to play guitar? I've heard some outstanding blind guitarists over the years... Originally Posted by grahambop
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That would be dreadful, though since I wear glasses, I don't worry about that. What used to bug me was wiping the headstock and pricking my thumb with a high E or B string. That smarts! So now I trim 'em pretty close. Originally Posted by grahambop
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12-29-2016, 04:04 PM #6joaopaz Guest
I've changed strings a few hundreds of times in the past 3/4 years - rounds, flats and halfs.
I usually do 2 winds - one above and one below the string... or one above and two below for the B and E strings.
Then cut the string really short.
Only problem I have, from time to time, is with the high E string on the Telecasters.
I cannot prove it - but I'll add that I'm really convinced that using the minimum amount of string around the pole also cures a lot of intonation problems, namely shortening the time between the moment you change a string and it becomes stable.... which is for me a couple of overall tunings of the guitar.
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Labella recommended putting a kink in the sting and cutting beyond the kink. Slipping isn't the concern, it is the string unravels. I have seen it before mostly on tuners with safe-t posts and not enough wraps.
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Originally Posted by grahambop
I hate when that happens.
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^This.. ! Originally Posted by SamBooka
I always make a sharp bend right before I clip the excess, to keep the windings tight.
The secondary benefit of reducing eye-poking sharp porcupiney stab wounds exists even for the plain strings, worst they can do now is hit you with their tiny weak elbows
The number of wraps on the post, past the minimum for keeping it secure, can be used to obtain the optimal break angle off the nut.
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Strings already have a break angle on the nut from the Gibson headstock angle, not quite the case with Fender where string trees are often required, maybe the number of turns is more important then.
On my Gibsons and Epiphones, I never had any problem with string slipping or unwrapping with 2 or 3 turns, a 90 degrees kink upward and cutting the string flush with the top of the tuner.
I even removed strings temporarily and put them back without a hassle when doing maintenance within a year on a guitar and the strings are still OK.
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I don't cut new strings until they're firmly anchored, stretched, and in tune. Then I cut off the excess... short. You don't want accidents :-)
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I never cut off excess string. Eventually, I tape lose ends together to tame dangling, but not always.
I need excess string so I could repair it if broken at bridge. Good for budget, irrelevant for quality on my level.
On hollow one there is much less excess because those are mostly the strings it came with. Those that I've replaced, or removed and put back, stick out more.
VladanMovies BlogSpotLast edited by Vladan; 12-30-2016 at 05:01 AM.
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In any case, if you fit it up properly (so the string traps itself) the strings won't budge. Go out of tune a bit, possibly, but not essentially move.
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/stringthis_1659_14215
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I love the locking tuners on my ASAT. I don't have the Planet Waves model, but those automatically snip your string as you lock in the string. Genius!
As for people who don't trim their strings, I bet your toenails need trimming, too!Last edited by BigDaddyLoveHandles; 12-30-2016 at 01:58 PM.
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Round core strings don't grab the windings as well as hex core strings. If you cut the sting before putting a kink in it, the wrap is more likely to loosen and unwind. To prevent this, make sure there's a kink at the tuning peg end before cutting the string. Originally Posted by jasaco
Some strings seem to use more brittle alloys than others, so don't make that kink too hard! I had a TI string break that way. The diagram posted earlier in this thread is the best method for attaching the strings with just the right amount of kink.Last edited by KirkP; 12-30-2016 at 01:21 PM.
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I have never had a string slip even a little on any guitar using the kink and wrap over itself method.
all that excess string is an accident waiting to happen imo.
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I clip my strings close to the post. I lock the strings as mentioned--with the larger caliber strings, only 2-3 turns, but with the thinner strings quite a few more. There's no harm with extra windings as long as you don't start criss-crossing, which could lead to stress breakage.
Re' string repairs on the fly--I have been playing for 40-plus years and currently have about 12 guitars strung up and ready to go. I have never had to repair a string on the fly, and so have never seen a need for excess string.
(The one exception being if you want to reuse the string on a different guitar for some bizarre reason, as I did recently--for the distant Fender tuners you need a couple more inches than a 3-on-a-side.)
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I don't understand how you can use the string sticking out beyond the tuning post to repair a break at the bridge. Can you explain how to do that? Personally, I'd just replace the entire string, probably the whole set, but that's just me.
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I had a friend in college who would leave those ends. Several of us pressured him to just cut them, but NO! He would have none of it. It was part of his IDENTITY!
One day, while wailing away on a juicy death metal solo, bug eyed and tongue out, doing his best to impress the ladies, a string uncoiled and whiplashed deep into his nostril. Blood spurted out in a spray all over his guitar, shirt, and monitor speaker.
The ladies were not impressed. The sound guy the fraternity had hired had a hissy fit. From then on, my friend managed to have an identity without the coiled extra string at the end of the headstock.
Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk
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I never buy new string (usually sold as whole sets) if I can repair it. If I can not repair, first I search used sets, left over when I was forced to buy new, if there's roughly similar one, sometimes ending with G replacing E, or ...
Snapping induced injuries I rationalize as impossible, since I think string can only shrink towards fixed points, can not strech to my eye, but ok, maybe there are circumstances ... Gues I was lucky up to this moment.
How I use excess to repair? Like this:
Sent from VladanMovies @ YouTubeLast edited by Vladan; 12-30-2016 at 08:56 PM.
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To be fair to Stringswinger, he read that the advice was meant for Round Core wound strings only. And I agree with he read. The advice does not apply to plain steel strings, of course.
With Round Core wound strings, the windings are set when the strings are finished and terminated. When you trim off the silk-ends the windings uncoil because they are no longer terminated. All is fine and dandy when you have it kinked, wrapped around the tuning machine peg and tuned up to pitch before cutting off the excess. But what happens when the strings lose tension and slowly slip on the pegs when you are not playing. Most times, the kink holds the windings in place. Sometimes, it doesn't. That is when the windings start unravelling. That is why Round Core strings go "dead". Hex Core wound strings don't have this problem because the sharp edges of the hex core bite into the windings and set them.
I would leave the silk-ends coiled up neatly. I like the way they dangle on the headstock, like a cowlick.Last edited by Jabberwocky; 12-30-2016 at 11:01 PM.
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So what happens with the part of the string that was around the tuning post when you repair the string as in the video? You have the tightly coiled part now straightened, right? That's a really weak point, and will affect the tone adversely. If you're really that cheap, you can reuse a broken string, I guess.
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Hey, when I was in college and couldn't afford new strings, I used to take them all off (my acoustic guitar) and boil them to get the dirt and grime out of the coils, then put them right back on. They sounded like new, at least for a little while...
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I prefer tuners with a hole into the axis of the capstan to push the end of the (trimmed) string into, bend 90 degrees, then start winding. Nice clean look, stays well locked, stable tuning and no string end to poke your fingers or chew up the inside of the gig bag. My Tele and GB10 have these. Works fine with round core strings.
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Last edited by Eric Rowland; 01-11-2017 at 11:38 PM.
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