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kitarist -> RE: Changing strings (Feb. 20 2021 18:25:00)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: johnnefastis
That doesn't make sense though. Don't you end up with loads of winds on the tuner then?
No, what you do is, after you pass the loosely-wound (aka 'flexible') end through the tuner hole, you take up any string slack before you do the looping and tying. At that moment you have a secured fairly taut string, and some amount of string including the loosely-wound portion is free and flops around, but does not participate (it is not wound on the tuner) in the subsequent turning the tuner to tune to pitch as you've kind of locked that part out of that process (you can cut off that part later).
Now you need not just less turns to get the string to pitch, but also less adjustment time for it to get to stable pitch because the string wound on the tuner itself is a much smaller amount (that part also stretches some and has to get to equilibrium, so the less of it is there wound on the tuner the better). For that reason I do exactly the same (pull the string taut before tuning) for the trebles, which are much more stretchable.
I also went through experimenting with whether the loosely-wound end goes on the tuner side or the bridge side. I believe some teachers may have come up with the "loose wound end goes on the bridge" advice in order to avoid it being wound around the tuner and possibly falling apart there while trying to tune - however, the idea here is that you pull the string taut BEFORE you start tuning up, so that whole section wound not be part of any subsequent tuning.
Putting it on the bridge side is not particularly good advice UNLESS you add that none of that loosely-wound part should be tied on the bridge - it should be just a free end flopping around (and cut off later). But then I personally get worried I will not have enough length to tie the string on the other side, so really it is much better to "exclude" the loosely-wound end at the tuner side rather than at the bridge side.
I believe many people, in trying to follow the advice without the clarification, try to use that loose/flexible portion as part of their bridge tie, and this is not good as that part can easily fall apart and can take part of the strands inside with it. Then you try cutting the unravelling part off and if you are not careful may unravel it a bit more, and it gets hairy [:D]
For all these reasons, what Morante described is exactly right - the best way to tie a string is to "exclude" the loosely-wound end on the tuner side; pull the string taut before tuning so fewer tuning loops are needed.
BTW, if you find that the firm end is too straight and can't easily bend to pass through the bridge hole (passing the easily-bendable loosely-wound end is sometimes another reason given for why put that end on the bridge side), just bend the end a bit around some hard cylindrical object - I do it around the handle part of my plastic string winder. You just need the smallest bend of the firm end; a few degrees.
Lastly, what to do with the loose string sections (which include the loosely-wound section of the bass strings) hanging from the tuners? You can leave them on like a rock'n'roller, or cut them off. I found that if I leave them on, I sometimes get weird buzzing, and it turned out it was from these bits interacting with the head and tuning machines. Cutting them off removed that buzz. Same with the smaller bits left on the bridge side - I cut them off as they can rattle as well if left on (also looks neater but that's secondary).
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