I’m pretty picky about string wraps and that’s not enuf. I crimp. Insert and wind from the top down as suggested above.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
New string set-up poll - Not enough wraps or it is fine?
- Thread starter greengoblin
- Start date
Maybe someone originally had these strings on a short-scale, took them off, and put them on this.
Went through this a few weeks ago...
Three wraps. The three wraps push the string down increasing the pressure across the nut.
Post Diameter + String diameter x 3.141 gives you the distance around the tuning post x 3 for three wraps, there abouts.....
Three wraps. The three wraps push the string down increasing the pressure across the nut.
Post Diameter + String diameter x 3.141 gives you the distance around the tuning post x 3 for three wraps, there abouts.....
This is not enough wraps and it also violates my principles of aesthetics.
I'm pretty picky about set-ups. That's why I do my own.
I voted for more but as long as it can handle the abuse you may dish out then rock it. I say that only cos the bass in my lap at the moment has less on the E peg than you show and it's somehow still hanging in there by sheer magic yet sounds so good I'll never touch til it fails.
I also voted for “more wraps” and personally like to see three wraps per string peg, but sometimes other factors come into play. My Mike Lull is 35” and it’s a pain to find strings that are readily available in my area that are long enough to accommodate the 35” scale AND give me three wraps, so as long as the break angle over the nut is okay I’ll just call it good and rock it. I guess if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it. 
Unless you know of a way to add length back to the strings, rock the hell out of it. Do it right when it's time to replace them.
It's fine on the pic. After the stretch is out of the string it will sit just as tight as more wraps around it.
This is mine. Maybe too many wraps if everyone on here is correct, but I always make sure they end up at the bottom
Came back to check the poll results. Hard to imagine that 13 people think this ok.
Like many said 3 wraps or at least 2 1/2. I use the short side of an envelope as a guide and go about one inch longer than that.
I am in the more the merrier club. I tend to let it wrap all the way down the peg. I want that last wrap as low as possible on the peg. It's been my experience even with a string retainer the lower, the better the action on the lower frets. ymmv
Nothing you can do about it now. Play them until they don’t work for you anymore and then change them with the proper wraps.
Ive played friends basses with as few wraps. They worked fine, but, personally, I gotta have more wraps because I’m just like that.
I like 2 to 3 complete wraps, preferably 3. That said, onetime I took an almost brand new set of strings off of a 5 string bass I decided to get rid of (3+2) and put them on one I had that was 4+1. The D string barely made it one turn on the peg but once it settled in it stayed in tune just fine. So the moral of the story is, if it stays in tune, run it until the strings are done and put the next set on right (yourself).
I bend the string 4 inches past the tuner (4 thumb widths) - works out to 3 wraps on 3/8” tuner posts. If your bass has 1/2” posts, you might need more length.
If someone that had never changed the strings on any instrument before did that all on their own without any instruction I say good job let’s talk about improving next time.
Otherwise, and since you paid for someone to do it who should know what the heck they are doing, it’s totally awful and needs fixed
Otherwise, and since you paid for someone to do it who should know what the heck they are doing, it’s totally awful and needs fixed
