Stringing Techniques.. which works better for you ?

[8STRINGR]

Hello Folks,

Been quite a while since I've posted anything. I guess I've been content with all of the posts I've checked out. I have a question about which restringing technique works for you (effective short cuts of changing out a broken string, technique that prevents new string stretching etc). I know that the D'Addarrio String website has a video on restinging instruments (mandolin and guitar) but I was curious to any other methods out there.

Mine has always been making 2 & 1/2 wraps around the tuner post, running my string end between the first and second wrap and out the other side of the post. I would usually pull what I'm threading through tight to the post with a pair of needle pliers to ensure the last 1/2 wrap is snug to the post, then start with the tightening/tuning to match the other string pitch. Have done it this way for years and haven't had a problem with slippage. Any other ideas?

[AlanN]

Charlie Derrington showed me this trick: orient the post hole East-West, then proceed as normal. Seems to seat the string a bit better on the post.

[CES]

I typically use the method at frets.com, at least for the unwound strings. Another trick I've used on occasion is to use a capo to keep the loop ends from slipping off, but usually only resort to this when I'm having a problem. I usually tune to pitch, then stretch a little, then retune, then play until it's out of tune, retune, and at that point it's usually pretty good to go...

[John Flynn]

I use the Frets.com method also, except that recently I have stopped doing that locking bend on the G strings. I find the G's are heavy enough they will hold just fine without it.

[Ivan Kelsall]

For 46 years,i've strung up every instrument i've ever had simply by cutting the string to about 1 1/2 " to 2" long past the binding post,pushing the string through the hole until about 3/16" sticks out the other side & then tightening the string up with the tuner. As soon as the string 'kinks' around the binding post it won't come off. The only time i've ever had the Frank Ford
stringing method on a Mandolin that the store i bought it from had strung up,i had to cut the strings off with snips & use pliers to pull them off the posts.The strings had almost knotted themselves round the posts,
Ivan

[jim_n_virginia]

I too use frets.com method. I found that I didn't need to retune as much when I started using the locking method to lock the strings to the post.

I too find the strings sometimes hard to get off the post using the locking method but now I just carry a tiny pair of snippers (need them anyways to snip off excess string) and when one gets hung up I just pull it off with the tips of the snippers. Never yet have had a problem.

I used to use a capo to hold strings on but now it seems I have figured out to pull up on the strings with my fingers to take the slack out until the strings gets tight enough that I can let go.

And I do use the second hooks on the A and E strings because it helps to hold the loops on the hooks going through two hooks instead of one.

I give Fat Dad credit for figuring that one out for me in one of his posts because I used to wonder why the two hooks!

[Jim]

For 46 years,i've strung up every instrument i've ever had simply by cutting the string to about 1 1/2 " to 2" long past the binding post,pushing the string through the hole until about 3/16" sticks out the other side & then tightening the string up with the tuner. As soon as the string 'kinks' around the binding post it won't come off.

This approximates how I've done it since 1968 and string slipping has never been a problem.

[Steve L]

I orient the post holes so that they are about a 45 degree angle and attatch the string to the tailpiece. I hold the string at the tuner where I'm going to install the string and make a right angle bend in the string about the distance of 2 posts up. I insert the string into the post and make a right angle bend against the post in the opposite direction. This will give me about 3 winds on the post. I then line up the string in the bridge saddle, use my last 3 fingers to hold the slack and my index finger to guide the first turn so the string winds downwards. It's elaborate to explain but easy to do.

I haven't been bending any of the strings over themselves since the early 80's when I read an article in guitar player magazine by jazz guitarist Johnny Smith about how he strings up guitars. He ran a music store for years after he got out of perfoming. In the countless string-ups I've done in the music store where I work or on my own mind numbing chores of restringing bouzoukis, mandolins, guitars and tenor banjos I've never had a string slip and you remove them with one gentle pull for the next change. Conventional wisdom is the bending is a given and it certainly doesn't hurt anything, but I've never needed it and it's a pain when you take them off.

[Charley wild]

I've used the locking method off and on since I learned to do it from my banjo instructor way back when. I've never had a big problem removing the old strings. Like Jim I have a small pair of pliers (needle nose/cutter) in my case so no problem. I also use the wrap around method sometimes. I can deal with both. After years of restringing a Fender D8 steel with horizontal posts set into a dish or tray if you will a mandolin is child's play. I don't change strings on that steel unless I absolutely have to!

[Shelagh Moore]

Frets.com method without locking the G here. Never had a problem with slippage.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Richard - If you DON'T 'lock' the G strings,try my(& Jim Richmond's) method on the others. I have NEVER had the remotest indication of slipping & that's using the same method on Scruggs-Keith tuners on my Banjo, where the tension is relaxed & tightened up over & over. When you come to remove the strings all you do is simply un-wind the string from around the binding post on the tuner - no need for snips,pliers or any tools. I'm not knocking the 'locking' method,but that little 'turn back on itself', sure makes removing the string from the post a real pain,
Ivan

[Elliot Luber]

I used to do the formal 2 and a half turns and would try to be perfect, but my guitar teacher taught me a short cut to just pull the string back against itself tightly and wind, then snip the end. Jury's still out on whether this is secure enough for a mandolin. I'll give it a couple of sets before I recommend it to anyone here.

[terzinator]

I measure the string two posts past the head for the wound strings, three posts past it for the trebles. I wind the first loop on the post OVER the threading hole by hand, then hold it and do the rest of the winds UNDER the hole, using a stringwinder. Cut when taught. Fast, painless and secure.

an aside: I always want to make sure that the winds go from top to bottom, so the main force is against the base of the post, not the top.

[Jim MacDaniel]

I change strings a half-course at a time, and secure them per the string-changing clinic tutorial at frets.com.

[mandroid]

Lay it in my lap, pull on the string with my right hand. stays on the tailhook that way.

the distance up and over the back of my hand is enough to give me about 3 X around the peg.

Back-wind the plain strings over itself , as described elsewhere..

as tension is taken up by winding the wire around the capstan, I take out my right hand.

then cut off excess string . or coil it up until I am back with my wire cutter.

[icuker]

Picturing in my head Jim and Ivan's method, It seems similar to the method mentioned on the Taylor guitar website, their video showing string changing. If that is correct, you don't find a problem, obviously, with the thin wire strings slipping out of the post as you begin to wind.

I put a set of extra lights on a Tacoma Papoose, and had that problem with the thin unwound strings, so I didn't use that method on the Mando when I changed them, though, I think it would be easier.

I got around the problem on the Papoose by not clipping the string until it was wound on the post.

[Mike Scott]

Hello Folks,



Mine has always been making 2 & 1/2 wraps around the tuner post, running my string end between the first and second wrap and out the other side of the post. I would usually pull what I'm threading through tight to the post with a pair of needle pliers to ensure the last 1/2 wrap is snug to the post, then start with the tightening/tuning to match the other string pitch. Have done it this way for years and haven't had a problem with slippage. Any other ideas?

I have been using this method for both my mandolins and guitars for a while now. Seems to work just fine with no problems yet. I don't do the needle nose plier part though - just pull it tight by hand. I will admit to hating to change the mandolin strings though.

[Paul Kotapish]

I use the Frank Ford (frets.com) method with the post holes oriented east-west, as per the Derrington suggestion above. Works great. Strings come off just fine almost all the time.

I have a hinged tailpiece cover that neatly locks the strings in place while threading and tuning. The capo method also works well.

[farmerjones]

If you've seen a Martin fresh out of the box, i just copy that. What i've learned to do otherwise, is to push, pull and otherwise mash and smash the strings after i pull them into pitch the first time. That initial abuse seems to seat them sufficiently.