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Do you use a string winder?


michael saulnier

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nope, cause I'm too broke to put it on my list of needs, and even when I have the cash I can't get to the store cause I don't gots no lisense.

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After 30+ years of never using one...a couple of months ago I finally bought one of those plastic ones with the built-in string stretchers (which really sucks...so still use my fingers to stretch).

 

Just in the last week I was doing some maintenance on 3 of my guitars...and of course, I changed out the strings on 'em.

 

I find that I'm mostly using the winder on the 3 high string...because there is usually more windings with them. But when I do the 3 low strings...it's pretty quick/easy to wind them by hand.

 

Also...even though they make the winders "universal fitting"...it doesn't sit well on the tuners of some of my guitars...kinda' flops around when you're tuning it...so then I resort to using only my hand.

 

If I never got one...I don't think I would have missed it...but it OK to have around for those high strings...and I can see where it would be help in a live-gig situation where you might need change out a broken string ASAP.

miroslav - miroslavmusic.com

 

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I change my strings like pro instrument techs. No string winder necessary. But I have a few lying around, mostly for fun. In fact, I have a turbo-tune one that disassembles into a handle and drill-driver tuning bit.

 

To change strings without a winder:

 

  1. Thread the ball end under the bridge pin or through the appropriate bridge hardware.
  2. Thread the end through the tuning machine post and pull until most slack is taken out of the string.
  3. Wind the end around the post and thread under the string as it curls around the post and tighten the string by hand. In seconds you'll lock down the leading end of the string under the initial wind around the post.
  4. Tune to pitch

The secret is to learn how much slack provides just enough windings to provide a solid attachment between string and tuner without overdoing it or risking the end slipping out of the stranglehold made by the trailing end.

 

Without this technique, it would take minutes instead of seconds for techs to replace strings in the middle of a performance.

 

I've never been able to hear a difference in the timbre of any guitar strung this way against one where 3+ winds are made on a post.

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Originally posted by fantasticsound:

The secret is to learn how much slack provides just enough windings to provide a solid attachment between string and tuner without overdoing it or risking the end slipping out of the stranglehold made by the trailing end.

Funny...in 30+ years, I never tried tucking the end under the winding...or any type of over/under method of securing the end of the string???

 

After many string changes...I know by eye how much length I need to leave for each gauge so that the windings all fit properly around the post...a

then I just stick the end through the hole about 1/4" out the other end...

...and I just wind the rest nice and neat so that the windings work their way down, without any overlaps in the windings.

 

After that...a few good pulls on each string to take out it's natural stretchiness...and the strings are good to go and stay in tune pretty damn good!

I've never had a-one slip out of the hole.

 

I guess there are a few techniques that can work! :D

miroslav - miroslavmusic.com

 

"Just because it happened to you, it doesn't mean it's important."

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Yeah, I use a winder I've had for years going on decades, a black ABS-plastic one that may or may not have been a Dunlop. I always wind the strings as neatly and tightly as possible, in a way similar to that described by neil/fantasticsound.

 

Someday I'll probably upgrade to locking tuners, once I get over fetishizing the "vintage" look...

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

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