Just bought a decent ($800-$900) bass off of CL the other night. All strings had like 8 wraps around the tuner (some overlapping) and the ADG strings were wrapped to the wrong side of the tuner. Its something I see all the time with guys who should know better. With all the complaints of tuning issues and how often I see headstocks like this I wonder how many times its just user error and not the equipment.
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Is restringing really that easy to be bad at?
- Thread starter therhodeo
- Start date
There's a reason silica gel says do not eat, curling irons say for external use only, and most of the other warning labels you see. Yes. It can be that hard for some. Smh.
I've seen a lot of humorous posts here of re-stringing horror stories - my fave being cutting them too short ... I mean how does that happen? ... it seems like a no-brainer to me. 
All of the above (and more) are why I don't understand the general thinking on TB that anyone can learn to do set up and repair on their bass.
Having spent most of my life fixing one thing or another, I know there are PLENTY of people in this world that just don't have the proper mindset to do such things. It doesn't make them stupid, lazy or anything but uninterested and/or unable to grasp certain concepts.
There is also the rather large group of folks who think they know how to do something when the actual truth of the matter is they know just enough to make a mess.
Having spent most of my life fixing one thing or another, I know there are PLENTY of people in this world that just don't have the proper mindset to do such things. It doesn't make them stupid, lazy or anything but uninterested and/or unable to grasp certain concepts.
There is also the rather large group of folks who think they know how to do something when the actual truth of the matter is they know just enough to make a mess.
I think it's because anyone can learn to do setups on their basses
Repairs are a different story, though. I'm lousy at soldering. I try and try and try, and I can't. But you have to be of really low intelligence not to be able to use a screwdriver or an Allen wrench, and considering that there are only eleventy hundred setup guides available with a net search, then I don't see how anyone of semi-reasonable intelligence can't do their own setups. I think if you can figure out how to log onto TB, you can do setups.The qualities of the iron make a huge difference. One that is too weak (or too powerful) for the particular job can make it pointless to even try. There's a reason repair shops have temperature-adjustable irons. That said, don't ask me to braze anything...
Jazzdogg
Less barking, more wagging!
I think it's because anyone can learn to do setups on their basses
I used to entertain similar thoughts before I began teaching college.
I have students every semester whose lack of basic life skills is absolutely flabbergasting; I wonder if some of them will survive, much less thrive, as adults. 
The two most abundant elements in the universe?
Hydrogen and stupidity.
Turnaround
Commercial User
I think it's because anyone can learn to do setups on their basses
It should be true. Truth is, some folks should stay away from even simple tools. It's amazing to me how someone following clear directions on a simple procedure with simple tools can screw the whole thing up so badly!
Then again, I suck at plumbing.
Huh. On Fender-style headstocks with no retainer on the E and A strings, I've always given myself enough wraps so that it pushes the string to the bottom of the tuning post, giving me better downward pressure over the nut. Does that mean I've been doing it wrong all these years?
I am continuously amazed at the number of players I encounter who are clueless as to how to string a bass. Apparently it's ok if Billy Sheehan just twists them on for a photo shoot as if he had a mid show string break without any other options. Do some digging in the Show Your Basses threads from way back for some real horror stories.
Turnaround
Commercial User
It's not bass, but I always get a giggle from this photo courtesy of Frank Ford:
http://frets.com/FretsPages/Musicia.../Stringing/StStringingViews/tanglestrings.jpg
http://frets.com/FretsPages/Musicia.../Stringing/StStringingViews/tanglestrings.jpg
There is a giant difference between what you're doing and wrapping and wrapping an uncut string around a post a bazillion times.
I think it's because anyone can learn to do setups on their basses
That. If you have the tools and the Gary Willis setup guide (which relies on feel and "about a credit card height" instead of "0.000102312342341230123100 inches" for measurements), you can do a setup.
I've seen a lot of humorous posts here of re-stringing horror stories - my fave being cutting them too short ... I mean how does that happen? ... it seems like a no-brainer to me.
I cut a string too short once, but that was because I wasn't paying attention (I was watching a movie as I was performing what I also considered a "no brainer"). From not paying attention I mistakenly measured the E string up to the A strings tuning post. Just after the sound of the string cutting I realized my mistake. DOH!
I struggled the first time I restrung a bass, overcome with confidence from having restrung guitars a bazillion times. (And somehow unaware there are a thousand tutorial videos on youTube...)
I've never cut a guitar string - I just curl them into folksy loops. I knew that approach wasn't going to fly. And faced with the open-slotted peg rather than a through-hole was different. Poke the end into the axial hole in the peg - who knew!
(And yes - what I should have done was photographed the pegs before I unwrapped anything... Live and learn...)
So the first was functional but not 'expert.' And I've since learned there are two techniques - the stick the end in the hole technique, and the over-once-then-under technique, which I'll try next.
But the big think I learned was to write down the lengths of the strings as they came off so I could duplicate them. And I plan to transfer those lengths to a bit of white gaffer's tape stuck inside the travel case so I won't even have to measure next time - just hold 'em up to the pre-measured lines...
I've never cut a guitar string - I just curl them into folksy loops. I knew that approach wasn't going to fly. And faced with the open-slotted peg rather than a through-hole was different. Poke the end into the axial hole in the peg - who knew!
(And yes - what I should have done was photographed the pegs before I unwrapped anything... Live and learn...)
So the first was functional but not 'expert.' And I've since learned there are two techniques - the stick the end in the hole technique, and the over-once-then-under technique, which I'll try next.
But the big think I learned was to write down the lengths of the strings as they came off so I could duplicate them. And I plan to transfer those lengths to a bit of white gaffer's tape stuck inside the travel case so I won't even have to measure next time - just hold 'em up to the pre-measured lines...
Unless he's admitting to wrapping to the wrong side and overlapping wraps back up the post.
And talking about slotted shaft tuners. Just be glad you're using them on a bass. Getting a 9 or 8 to hold still on a vintage guitar with split shaft tuners is quite an adventure. Not bad once you get the hang of it but frustrating to learn.
