The Steel Guitar Forum

Hello, when winding strings is it proper to go over the tuners or under or is it just a personal preferance?

I've only heard and seen strings wound over the shafts. It appears to keep angles and tensions more in a straight line and less acute.

Just my $0.02 worth.

Ricky

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Emmons LeGrande - 8x4
Session 400 Ltd
Dan-Echo, E-Bow, Ibanez Distortion, Boss Comp./Sustain, Ibanez Auto-Wah

I was always taught that the string is wound from the outside toward the inside of the post with the string coming off the TOP of the post. I also wind the first turn of wound strings so that the end of the string goes under the first turn and locks the winding on the string.

Only exception would be as Ricky mentioned -- to avoid too great an angle from the post to the roller nut OR to put more pressure on the roller nut.

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<small>Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Larry Bell on 28 February 2003 at 07:07 AM.]</p></FONT>

what larry said; plus it has the added bonus of maintaining the classic "righty-tighty, lefty-loosey" protocol

Clockwise=tighten
Anti-clockwise=loosen

I agree with all above.

There's a excellent pictorial lesson on string changing at http://www.steelguitarinfo.com/strings/changeslideshow/scindex.html

That's how I do it.

Just cut off the string so that the length of it is approximately 2 1/2" to 3" longer than the distance to the peghead. One way to do this is just hook the string to the changer and then hold it over the peghead and then cut it off to the length needed. After you do that, slip a little of the string through the hole and begin to wind it over the top of the post. Do the first wind over the string towards the top of the tuner and then the rest of the winds toward the peghead and it'll hold just fine and stay in tune. I've seen some people tie loops in the strings and all kinds of stuff but it's totally unnecessary. This way if a string breaks you just pull it right off the tuner and it saves you time.

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Livin' in the Past and the Future with a 12 string Mooney Universal tuning.

Ideally, the strings should stay in as straight a line as possible. To wit, wind them over the top of the peg, and towards the inside or outside, as necessary, in order to keep the string straight. Winding them under the bottom of the peg, or having them turn to the left or right coming off the roller (as viewed from the end of the guitar) causes extra roller friction, and can cause "hysteresis" (the string returning either sharp or flat, after a pedal is activated).