Double Bass Material to cover exposed after length

[Sean Riddle]

Recently I’ve been noticing that the D string on my bass, I use a full set of Spiro Mittels, has been a bit inconsistent tuning wise when I start my practice sessions. Every other string stays stable like Spiros are known for. I did notice that there’s a portion of the silk afterlength missing in the peg box, which may be the culprit. Is there any material I could use to cover it or is it best to just leave it be?

 

[Don Kasper]

Sean,
You could try using a piece of Heat Shrink Tubing - but DON'T use the Teflon version (too slippery) - there are 2 types. Use the standard (non-Teflon) stuff. The diameter shrinks about 50%, as I recall. Use the tightest pre-shrunk diameter that you can find (1/8"?). Then heat over a stove burner. Maybe this will help?
Yes - Spiros are normally very stable, IME. Hmmmm......
See below:

 

[DoubleMIDI]

I rather think that there is some issue with the string core or the suspension of the string core.
The silk only covers the spreaded windings on the afterlength and peg box part of the string to make that part more flexible for the tuners.
Putting some shrink tube over the damaged silk is mainly cosmetic but does not help with your detune problem.

It might be that the string slips on the peg. Wind onto the peg in one direction and then make one turn to the other side and wind the rest over there. That way the string will not slip on the peg after the initial period of fastening the windings on the peg. If that still does not stabilize the tuning after some days of playing and retuning, the string might be defective.

 

[Don Kasper]

Wind like this....The last loop crosses over all of the previous loops. This puts tension on all of the loops. (You need to begin placing the loops AWAY from your final destination - so that the last loop (or 2) is placed so that there is minimal deflection of the string in the pegbox from the Nut to the Axel of the tuner. (See the lower of the 2 strings in the photo below.)
Like this:

 

[Sean Riddle]

I’ll try rewinding it again and see what happens.

 

[turf3]

Are you suspecting that tuning instability is because you've got exposed metal rather than silk wrap in contact with the axle? I just looked at mine, the E and G strings have bare metal on the axle, but my D is the one that moves the most. Partly I think it's because the way the key sticks out interferes a bit with the bag, but some of it's something else I don't know what.

I would suspect it's the wrapping pattern rather than whether bare metal or silk wrapping. Guitars don't have a silk wrapping up there.