Slik Windings?

John K. · #1 06-01-2002, 02:58 AM

What's their purpose? I did a search on here and the people that responded weren't quite sure.

Is it just for looks and to protect the tuners?

Flatwound · #2 06-01-2002, 12:12 PM

Not too long ago, there was a big thread about this over on the fidip. Apparently some manufacturers do this to help keep the outer winding tight, IIRC, but some may do it for looks as well.

neptoon · #3 06-01-2002, 12:56 PM

cuZ THeRe 733t.........aND thEY ROxOrZ.

and some of them even look cute...the blue steels and slowounds, in particular.

Thomguy · #4 06-03-2002, 04:09 PM

With Thomastik-Infeld strings they are indeed functional as well as look cool and help when you're winding. The functional part is that the silk is the last winding that helps lock the wrap to the core, extending life.

Rick Blanc · #5 06-05-2002, 07:43 AM

The Ken Smith's I have on my Ray5 have purple silk on them

JMX · #6 06-05-2002, 07:47 AM

I only buy strings without silk.

I jusdt don't like it, and some brands tend to break at the looser windings underneath the silk wrapping.

neptoon · #7 06-05-2002, 08:56 AM

or warwick red labels

neptoon · #8 06-05-2002, 11:43 AM

mebbe

Flatwound · #9 06-05-2002, 11:22 PM

I had an interesting experience that sheds new light on this silk thing, for me anyway. I recently completed a project bass. This bass has black Schaller BMFL tuning machines. These machines have big, fat, untapered string posts. I tried a set of Guild nickels I had laying around to see if the bass worked, how it sounded, etc. These are probably the same as Fender 7250's, but without the silk. The G string, after being tuned to pitch, suddenly launched itself off the bass with a bang. I tuned it back up, and the same thing happened a few minutes later as I was playing a riff. So I tried some Markley Fretmasters, which have silk - no problem. Apparently the unsilked ends were able to slip off the string post, but the friction of the silk keeps them on. Now I have a new set of Boomers on this bass, and I don't expect them to come flying off anytime soon. So, in this case, the silk seems to do some good. Also, when the G came flying off, it took some of the black finish with it. Again, the silk-wrapped strings will probably be easier on my black hardware.

LA · #10 06-07-2002, 03:06 PM

I'd say they're there for looks as well as brand recognition. I had to "scale back" some of the silk winding on my GHS Boomers (did it today as a matter of fact) because they were too long and actually rested over the nut. I don't know if that's a major problem but it didn't look good to me.