I just changed my strings....SILLY QUESTION

[BornboreD]

Well, I just received my new sets of Chromes in the mail today, and I was restringin my Jazz, when I noticed that the silk/thread wrapping on the strings has ended up in my nut, and is even a little exposed in my first fret.

I've never had this happen before, and find it odd considering the chromes are long scale (34"), just like my Jazz.

Now obviously this must be having some sort of negative effect on the tone/sound/feel of the strings. What should I do about it?? Just cut it away?? Kind of a shame really cause the colour of the wrapping matches the colour of my bass.

Anways, thanks in advance...

[meev992]

I think you should take a quick picture, because, what you're describing, sounds like something went really bad

[BornboreD]

I'm not sure a picture is really necessary here. plus, I have to charge my camera's batteries first.

Basically, after getting three wraps on each post, and tuning to pitch, the silk/thread wrap on the ends of the strings is still down the strings enough, that it covers the part of the string that is sitting in the nut, plus a little more.

[Thor]

Sounds like you were actually shipped a medium or short scale set.
They should be free of wrap all the way up the scale and
past the nut. Complain and return them.

[Erick Lam]

Are those D'Addario by any chance?

[BornboreD]

The strings I'm using are D'adario Crhomes. Long scale, medium gauge.

I'm almost thining that this wouldn't be an issue if I wasn't stringing through the body, with a Badass III.

[anon_6j591b0]

Originally Posted by BornboreD

The strings I'm using are D'adario Crhomes. Long scale, medium gauge.

I'm almost thining that this wouldn't be an issue if I wasn't stringing through the body, with a Badass III.

I was just gonna ask if you had a string through mod going on. That's yer problem. If the string diameter doesn't taper where it sits on the nut you can do this: pop the string off the tuner, put a VERY SMALL amount of super glue on the silk back to where you want the string to be bare just to keep it from unraveling and remove the silk in front of the nut with a razor knife of some sort. I've done it before and if you go slow and don't do anything extreme it works fine.

[BornboreD]

I guess that's what I'm gonna have to do.

So should I purchase super long scale Chromes the next time I get a new set to avoid this problem?? Or would that be too much extra string??

[uethanian]

Originally Posted by BornboreD

I guess that's what I'm gonna have to do.

So should I purchase super long scale Chromes the next time I get a new set to avoid this problem?? Or would that be too much extra string??

well they'd probably only be an inch or two longer. its not like many people are playing 36" or 37" basses...

[anon_6j591b0]

Originally Posted by BornboreD

So should I purchase super long scale Chromes the next time I get a new set to avoid this problem?? Or would that be too much extra string??

Never used Chromes so I couldn't say for sure but I use extra long scale (36") TI jazz flats on a 34" scale bass that if I use the regular 34" long scale ones I have the same problem you've got....that's why I know the trimming trick. With the 36" scale ones I have half a wrap of bare string around the post on the E string only...all the others are a great fit. Been doing this for seven years on this bass with no problems at all so I say next time try the extra longs. As long as there's some silk left after you cut them and you don't have to cut the fat part of the string (and you shouldn't have to) you'll be fine. Having bare string on the post isn't really an issue.

[BornboreD]

Apparently the medium gauge chromes only come in 34" scale. Guess I'll just be trimming the thread off forever, cause I'm totally diggin' these strings.

[OlSkewl56]

Last set of chromes I bought for my stock P, had the post taper past the nut on the "D" halfway thru the fret (.100's).

[Insomnia_Junkie]

Cant you just trim the silk wrapping, instead of going through all this jazz? (no pun intended)

[KevinMG]

So instead of starting a new thread I figure I'll ask here...

So what if the taper is still on the nut? I have a regular long scale set of D'addarios that i took off my 'Ray5 to try on my American Deluxe P5 and the B string is just a hair too short. The string tapers in 2 steps and the first step just before the actual string is on the nut. It plays fine and intonation seems on, but will this damage the nut slot over time? Couldn't be much different than going with a smaller guage B string, right?

Why doesn't D'Addario just add the add'l 1/4" to their strings like Ernie Ball and others do so it fits a through body Fender?! {sigh}

[Rattlehead]

Originally Posted by KevinMG

So instead of starting a new thread I figure I'll ask here...

So what if the taper is still on the nut? I have a regular long scale set of D'addarios that i took off my 'Ray5 to try on my American Deluxe P5 and the B string is just a hair too short. The string tapers in 2 steps and the first step just before the actual string is on the nut. It plays fine and intonation seems on, but will this damage the nut slot over time? Couldn't be much different than going with a smaller guage B string, right?

Why doesn't D'Addario just add the add'l 1/4" to their strings like Ernie Ball and others do so it fits a through body Fender?! {sigh}

Actually I think this does mess with intonation. If you tune the B perfectly a first fret C should be a bit off. I say this because once my D string broke at the bridge, and I just unravelled it a bit and rewound the string (by hand ... it took pretty long), but the now shorter string's first layer of wire wrapping ended before the nut (these were Elixirs so the D had 2 layers of wrapping). If I recall correctly tuning the open string a bit sharp would could all of the fretted notes to be in tune ... I just had to remember never to use the open D ... that didn't last long.




And yes, like someone else said, there's no problem if the protective wrapping isn't long enough to cover the whole tuning peg - I think all that stuff does is protect the tuning peg from getting little marks on it from roundwound strings. Who cares. Many string manufactures don't bother even put that stuff on their strings. Do you think someone who you're in the future trying to sell the bass to is going to look at the tuning pegs and say "oooh. Looks like you didn't buy strings with the protective wrapping on them. That's got to bring the value down a couple hundred at least."



Back to my original topic:
Yeah those string-through problems make me angry too. My bass has the option of both but I've been going top-load for very long to avoid the issue. I just now remembered that the strings I currently use probably are long enough to use string through

Thanks guys (und gals!).

[JimmyM]

Taper over the nut = no good. The worst part is buzzing. The tapered part is thinner, so your string will be closer to the frets on the part of the neck where they're close enough.

That really sucks that your B doesn't fit. For the life of me I can't figure out why, even on a through-body stringer. I have a Jazz that strings through body and D'addarios work on it. You may need to buy 4-string long scale sets and get a separate extra long scale B. Probably works out to roughly the same price as a 5-string set.

[anon_6j591b0]

You try just stringing the B through the bridge not through the body? I've never been of the opinion going through body was worth the problems it causes for string length........and you may not notice any difference in sound in which case the problem's solved.

[JimmyM]

I agree with Jeff. On my 98 Jazz, it's not an option so I string it thru the body, but I think it would sound identical if I didn't.

[KevinMG]

Thanks for the replies. For the record, I experienced no buzzing, rattling or anything unnatural with the winding on the nut. In fact I could have played without noticing any issue whatsoever, except that I was concerned that having the first step of winding sitting on the nut might cause premature wear of the nut (which is cut just right and helps get a perfect setup easily). It was only slightly lower (1mm?) than usual and didn't even require a saddle adjustment. It was the first part of the taper, not the real thin part that wraps the peg. Intonation was correct, but I only checked the 12th and didn't think to check if the first position went flat. I took them off, but maybe I'll put on the B string just to check that little factoid.

I thought about top loading, but that is one of the strings where my ferrule is a little loose. Fender seems to not secure their ferrules tightly, so if you top load they'll fall out (my other 2 Fender through bodies are the same). I suppose I could just remove it and put it in the tool box. But then I figured that I wouldn't get a sense for the add'l tension you get through the body. Also, since I have several other sets of strings that all fit - EB Slinkies, Dean Markley NickelSteels, DR High Beams, Boomers - I just wanted to compare the XLs before I went out of my way to get a set of super long scale.

My biggest issue with D'Addario is that they require you to spend the additional 5-7 bucks a set for the super longs. I'll grant them for a 4 string set it makes sense to save the extra 1" per string to reduce cost over the millions of strings they sell of the regular long sets - particularly since they are priced quite low. But I would think that the average long scale 5 string sets would be longer, since the average 5 string is either through body, 35" scale, or both.

Since I have quite a supply of strings from all my experimenting (and still have 7 packs of nickelsteels from buying impulsively in bulk from eBay - $150 for 18 sets), it's hard to justify paying 5 bucks more on shipping from juststrings.com for one or two sets.

[anon_6j591b0]

Originally Posted by KevinMG

I thought about top loading, but that is one of the strings where my ferrule is a little loose. Fender seems to not secure their ferrules tightly, so if you top load they'll fall out (my other 2 Fender through bodies are the same). I suppose I could just remove it and put it in the tool box. But then I figured that I wouldn't get a sense for the add'l tension you get through the body. Also, since I have several other sets of strings that all fit - EB Slinkies, Dean Markley NickelSteels, DR High Beams, Boomers - I just wanted to compare the XLs before I went out of my way to get a set of super long scale.

Epoxy it in and try it.....I seriously doubt you'd notice any tension difference.