Stringing up so the keys lay flat...???

[cazksbass]

Is there a trick to re-stringing my bass so that the tuning keys end up laying flat after tuning? I'm betting that it's impossible.....
Enlighten me!

[trunkshope6]

dude ive always wondered the same thing so if u ever go out of tune itll be easier to retune because u have a reference point,but i think even after we get the intonation right with the tuners set flat,temperature and humid. changes can also effect where eventually the notes will be at.

[TortillaChip520]

Also, new strings stretch. So you'd have to use used strings.

[Beginner Bass]

The strings will naturally move. Tensions change. Not even locking tuners will hold them in tune forever.

[cazksbass]

Yeah, that's what I thought too. I think it's just a luck of the draw - maybe sometime in the next 40 years I'll get them to all line up. But, I suspect that one key might be to buy the same brand of strings next time but before taking the old strings off, try to notice how many winds on the machine is on there and then try to compensate.

[Jazz Ad]

Headless bass is a good fix for this kind of concern.

[taliesin]

Originally Posted by cazksbass

Yeah, that's what I thought too. I think it's just a luck of the draw - maybe sometime in the next 40 years I'll get them to all line up. But, I suspect that one key might be to buy the same brand of strings next time but before taking the old strings off, try to notice how many winds on the machine is on there and then try to compensate.

Why?

[Govier966]

my friend got his bass repaired and the luthier insisted on lining up all the tuners, it took him like an hour and after a little while the tuners were no longer all in line.

[nealw]

You have to suffer to achieve something so obviously important. Learn to enjoy playing horribly out of tune.

[cazksbass]

Originally Posted by taliesin

Why?

To wrap fewer or more windings resulting in the key laying flat. Probably pointless.

Originally Posted by nealw

You have to suffer to achieve something so obviously important. Learn to enjoy playing horribly out of tune.

LOL! Yeah, the whole topic is ridiculous - I'd rather practice to become a better musician than agonize over something so trivial. It's just that I've seen basses hanging high on the wall at GC, and they all look like the keys are flat. Bet they're out of tune..........

[Roy Vogt]

I mimed a perfomance on a television show in the UK and at the urging of my bandmates and after several pints at the local I proceeded to turn all of my tuning pegs the same direction. I'm sure it would have sounded like Chinese if I had tried to play my bass line on "Please Release Me" on that bass but I did look like the molded plastic figurine of Paul McCartney on my 8th birthday cake with all of the pegs lined up....

[ThunderV]

Uhhhhh, Nevermind.

[dwm74]

Unintentionally, I actually ended up with all four keys in the same orientation when stringing my P once, but they were not flat. They were all at about a 15 degree angle in relation to the headstock.

It lasted about three days before the stretching/retuning made them all end up in the usual random alignment.

[Atomik Rooster]

I'd say you have a serious case of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). If you really do, you probably know it as CDO. Same disease, but the letters are in alphabetical order as they should be.

[somegeezer]

Originally Posted by Atomik Rooster

I'd say you have a serious case of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). If you really do, you probably know it as CDO. Same disease, but the letters are in alphabetical order as they should be.

Haha! I also agree. It's crazy to think you will keep them straight. They all will stretch and you'll have to tune them up some more. It's pointless trying. If you really do have OCD, it's something that will just haunt you to your grave. Which probably wouldn't be long with all the stress from not having physics stand down to your almightiness.

[Darkstrike]

Get a bass with modern Grover style tuners, make sure they're ones with the screw in the top of the peg.

Tune up. undo the screw, align the peg, re tighten the screw.

[mongo2]

The bass sounds much better if the tuner paddles all lineup flat and the wimmins will throw themselves at you.

[Pilgrim]

Originally Posted by cazksbass

Is there a trick to re-stringing my bass so that the tuning keys end up laying flat after tuning? I'm betting that it's impossible.....
Enlighten me!

You should be very, very concerned that this question even occurred to you.

If it happens again, therapy is indicated.

OR - it just came to me - just ALWAYS turn them flat. Play the bass with the tuning you achieve, whatever it is. The challenge will surely make you a better player!

No need to thank me.

[donut]

I once managed to re-string and tune a bass so three of the four tuners were flat, and the fourth was pretty much perpendicular. Looked a bit stupid to me.

Originally Posted by Jazz Ad

Headless bass is a good fix for this kind of concern.

This, with a fake headstock.

[sdoow]

To butcher a quote from Fernando's Hideaway (old SNL skit for you young folks). Dahling it's not how you play, it's how you look, and Dahling you look mahvelous.