The Steel Guitar Forum

Got a great tip from a friend at the Rhode Island Steel Guitar show yesterday. I would like to pass it on to you folks out there in Steel Guitarland.Go down to Radio Shack and buy some Heat-shrink tubing'cost was 2.59. The pack I bought had different sizes in there;you want to use the smallest tube.The tubing goes over the wound part of the string at the ball. You do not want the tubing past that pount! Take care when measuring lenght needed.Worked for me. Thanks again Sam for the tip.Ringing is gone



Ron C.

Sorry re. the mispelled words above. I do not type very often; If you have that problem, try the above!Ron C.

Well Duh!! Ron that's one this old dinosaur has never heard of. Wonder if you or someone can explain the rationale behind this?

I'm assuming the heat shrink "does not" interfere with the contact the string makes with the changer finger. Just don't 'unnerstan'.
Phred

I've used a variant of this idea on problematic 'whining' plain strings.
I put a very thin piece of plastic under the string, where it passes over the changer
finger.
This cuts out the whining tail-end of the note.
Look at the 4th string in this pic:
<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by richard burton on 29 October 2005 at 03:22 AM.]</p></FONT>

Sounds to me like you are cutting off your tone. The whole idea is to have steel string to steel roller. If you put plastic between the string and the roller you lose all your tone......Don't get it at all????<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Ron Sodos on 27 October 2005 at 08:36 AM.]</p></FONT>

Here's the tone I get.
Tone is subjective, I like this tone, others may find it objectional. http://www.freefilehosting.net/?id=r9D1kKjQ
http://www.freefilehosting.net/?id=rd32kazQ <font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by richard burton on 27 October 2005 at 11:39 AM.]</p></FONT>

very nice richard...
carlos

Hey guys... To most, this is a post they would pass by. But to me it is one of the most important I have read. I have buffed down the finger, got new pickups etc. etc... and have always had the "E" string whining. I hate it because I always get a great tone in the treble range that opens my bass strings up also but I have to always back off because of the whining string. I hope one of these methods works for me so I can adjust my tone back to the clarity that is so great. This has gone on for years and probably the most irritating delima for me.
Ronald... do I actually apply heat to the shrink rap after putting it on? If I follow your directions then the wrap will not go over the top of the finger and the string will still be on the steel part of the finger on top.... right?
Richard... what type of plastic are you using there. Can I get something at a hardware store. Looks like your's is molded over the finger.
I'm going to try both options until the problem is corrected. I really appreciate your posting this message. I almost started crying when I read it because my hopes went sky high..... again, thanks a million!!!


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Rick
Kline U-12, Session 500, Goodrich L-10k


<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Rick Nicklas on 28 October 2005 at 06:19 AM.]</p></FONT><font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Rick Nicklas on 28 October 2005 at 06:23 AM.]</p></FONT>

Hi Rick,

I think there exists some confusion as to the material I am talking about! This is not wrap. These tubes are like plastic straws of various sizes.The best I can suggest is for you to go down to your local Radio Shack ,and ask for " Heat Shink Tubing" .There are different colored tubes in the package, the cost is 2.59 .Then follow instructions in my above post

Good luck, Ron C.

Hi Rick,
I should have mentioned, You do not apply any heat to this tubing,at least not for our purpose. Just use the smallest tube in the pack that will fit ,Then cut a piece a piece just long enough to cover the wound portion of the string at the ball. My old Marlen sounds clean to me again! Hope this helps, Then put sring on as normal.
Ron C.

To Ron Sodos;

Your statement is the reason why you do not want to cut that tube any longer than the wound portion of that string.

Ron C.

One more thing! Using tubing will stop the gouging and pitting of those bridge rollers on top of those fingers.Have not tried this on wound strings, there has been no need.

Ron C.

Another way to make the wrapped ends less likely to be a problem is to to tin them. By this I mean: Get out the soldering iron, flux and solder. Apply a thin film of flux, heat the wrapped area, and touch it with the solder when hot. The solder will run into the area nicely and make the end one solid mass. It is definitely more labor than heat shrink, but I do a few sets at a time. The solder does not increase the diameter of the wrap, and can actually reduce string breakage somewhat. Good luck.

Rick,
It's trial and error with the plastic.
Nylon is too soft, and mutes the string too much.
The type of plastic I use comes from Kodak film canisters.
R B

Rick, I agree many would pass by this post but I (and my pocketbook) have benefited greatly by trying this.

I have a pre-BCT Carter D-10 that had some really nasty "sitaring" on strings 3-4-5. There are an extremely small amount of groove marks on the changer fingers but the string twinge kept me from ever getting a good tone, particularly higher up the neck. I had tried eq'ing it, hiding it with chorus/delay, changing bar pressure and screwing with my technique, all to no avail.

After reading Ronald's post, I had some small nylon insulating tubing and put enough on the ends of the troublesome strings to cover the windings. Miracle of miracles the string ring is GONE! I will still get this guitar back to Carter someday for a BCT conversion (which includes machining the changer fingers), but now don't feel compelled to do it right away! Thanks Ronald for a truly useful tip with amazingly positive results!

Miracles do happen - Thom

Peter,
Thanks for your idea of tinning the wound ends of the plain strings-works great! I've been plagued with this problem for years, no matter what guitar! I was beginning to think it was something I was doing as a player. Years ago on my D10 emmons p/p I went so far as to buy a new e9 pickup, and then a complete new changer, neither worked. I'm happy now, better late than never!

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Jon
Uncle Jons Music

Geo. L's makes an .011 string with the ball end wrapped with nylon thread. I used a few of them but they got to muting out the tone so I stopped using them. The nylon wrapping would protrude past the finger which dampened the tone.

Peter and Jon,

Do you use a torch or soldering iron to heat the ends after the flux is applied?

I had not noticed the problem until I got my new guitar. Now I hear it on my old one as well. I don't fully understand the mechanics of the problem but it appears to be somewhat universal. I absolutely love the tone of my new guitar and the idea of correcting the problem at the individual string level seems to be the way to go.

Thanks to all for your input.

Ol' Fred

Fred, I use a 25 watt soldering iron and rosin core solder, the same stuff I use for soldering wires. Works great!

Good luck

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Jon
Uncle Jons Music