Restringing technique?

rgrice

What is the twist trick? Pardon mon ignorance.

Buco

I never tried it but with the loop Argies you loosen up the string, take it of the post, grab it by the loop and give it a few turns...was it clockwise or the other way?
Actually I did do it once to wake up a dead G from a new pack and it worked nicely.

Bob Holo

Buco wrote: »

...give it a few turns...was it clockwise or the other way?

Counterclockwise... yep, like two full turns - to tighten the wraps on the core. There's a point of diminishing returns. If two or three full counterclockwise rotations don't give the string some life, then something else is amiss - broken wrap, or damaged bridge slot, or popped fret, or worn zero fret, or the loop/ball of the string is coming unwound etc...

The locking technique is great though - just that one little caveat.

wim

Bob Holo wrote: »

The locking technique is great though - just that one little caveat.

In my experience there is still plenty enough slack to pop the string loop off and on again. I don't use this twist trick, but my guitar moves a lot and I often loosen or completely remove the strings loops to add or remove bridge shims.

woodamand

I am still waiting to get my GJ guitar so I need to ask a very uniformed question: this loosening of the strings is common for this style of guitar? Why is that? I played classical guitar for years, and while I know the bridges and tailpieces aren't the same, those guitars use similar strings. I never had a problem with the tension loosening, although it took days for the strings to cooperate and stay in tune. I am beginning to be convinced that these GJ guitars have almost nothing in common with any other type of guitar - crazy!

Bob Holo

It isn't common. It's a small caveat that I'm talking about, and as Wim says, you can do the twist lock with enough slack - though I find that many people don't, which is a PITA if you're trying to work on a guitar or do the counterclockwise twist trick to bring a little life back into strings. GJ strings are lighter and don't last as long as Western strings, so there's some value in being able to squeeze a little extra out of them. Also, the smaller a plain steel string is, the slinkier it is, and more prone to slipping on the pegs. Not a huge difference, but a little, which is why the twist lock tends to work better than the more traditional western style slot-head crossover-lock technique on GJ strings. Both work, but on thin slinky strings - the twist lock is a little more bombproof.

If you want to leave some slack, when you're doing the twist lock, put a finger or two across the first fret and pull the string over that finger and it will give you a small and predictable amount of slack. That's how I do it - and probably is how Wim does it - to get a small but consistent amount of slack without having to put too much thought into it. But if you leave too much slack when you do the locking technique, you will wind a good chunk of the double twisted section up on the peg and it's sloppy & crappy & doesn't work well. Do it a couple of times. You'll get it.

But I usually use a crossover-lock method because it allows you to get even more slack, which is good if you're working on a guitar, because if you put the palm of your hand down on a string that is pulled just to the side of the fretboard, you can dent the soundboard. So, I prefer to get a lot of slack and pull the strings way out to the sides and secure them there. Just a personal thing and probably not all that important to players.

The method I'm calling the "crossover-lock" is as follows: Leave a larger amount of slack (two or three fingers across the first fret... ie., a couple of inches... 3cm high etc... use more slack on smaller strings and less slack on larger strings which are bulkier and take up more room on the winding peg) Pull the string over your fingers and down, threading it through the hole in the peg and bend it on the back side of the peg to establish the place where the string grips the peg and hence the amount of slack. Then start winding the string and make one full revolution around the peg so that the string winds to the inside of the peg (toward the center of the neck from the hole in the peg) and then continue winding, but guide the string so that the next wrap passes on the ouside of the hole in the peg and continue wrapping the string so that the next revolution(s) also fall on the outside of the hole and the outside of the other wraps you've done. In doing this, the second revolution crosses the string over over your first wrap, and also over the part of the string coming directly out of the hole in the peg, effectively locking the string. Because you have two or three wraps on the outside of the hole, it also pushes the end of the string out farther on the peg so the string is less likely to rub against the center spire of the headstock. That's the crossover-lock.

Either technique works well if done properly, but the twist lock works brilliantly on thin strings and it's a lot quicker because I find that I need to get at least three or more wraps on a thin plain steel string to get it to lock properly when using the crossover-lock way of winding, whereas the twist-lock technique is bombproof unless you really screw it up.

But its all personal preference. Both work well if done properly. Both are simple. Do whichever floats your boat.

woodamand

Bob
The crossover lock is what I have used on my other guitars for years, but I will certainly remember these detailed instructions when I get my new guitar. Thanks much for all the detail

Jazzaferri

Great description @Bob Holo

Al Watsky

Thats also the best way to restring a classical guitar at the head stock, except we just wrap twice and the windings end up wrapped under the string on the tuner roller because the nylon strings stretch so much.
Its a good method for the slotted headstock.