When you change strings, do you cut them or leave them?

What do you do with the excess part of the strings sticking out of the tuners?

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ghostrdr

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When you change the strings, the excess that sticks out of the tuner pegs on the head stock - what do you do?

Do you cut them, so they look neat and tidy? Do you leave them so they look all crazy?

I used to cut them, but I didn't have time the last time, and the look has kind of grown on me.

What do you all do?
 
I cut. Something has to look neat and tidy around here.
 
I cut them to make everything neat and tidy.

The only exception is my GCS nylon-wound strings which unravel when cut. I don't like their messy look, but I love their sublime sound.
 
I cut. And it bit me in the butt when I had to take off a brand new set of Aquilas to fix the electronics and then they were too short to put back on. Ah well, I'll save them for the soprano.
 
Yeppirs ...I'm a cutter, can't stand pulling a Deach! LOL...I tease him periodicaly about his string in the videos! Seriously though I have OCD about that! I might leave them curled up for a day or so to see if I have to shorten them after they stretch out (have had to once or twice)...I also like to have them wound down pretty close to the bottom of the peg....just looks better to me!
 
I'm a cutter, too. It drives me crazy when I watch people play ukes or guitars and the strings are flapping all over the dang place, or wind up sticking up particularly close to an eye or two. For me, it's super distracting, but then, I am anal retentive about everything.

Also, out of curiosity, what would fall under the "other" category in this case? :confused:
 
Cut.



What if you're running with your prized ukulele in the woods while being chased by an axe murderer and the extra strings get caught in the low-lying branches?




It COULD happen.
 
StereoJoker said:
I'm a cutter, too. It drives me crazy when I watch people play ukes or guitars and the strings are flapping all over the dang place, or wind up sticking up particularly close to an eye or two. For me, it's super distracting, but then, I am anal retentive about everything.
....
Click to expand...
Picture.jpg
My strings remind me of a joker's hat.
GVlog said:
Cut.
What if you're running with your prized ukulele in the woods while being chased by an axe murderer and the extra strings get caught in the low-lying branches?
....
Click to expand...
What if I AM the axe murderer?
 
Out of curiosity, why is it that some people like to keep them flailing around? Some people would probably think it's laziness, but if you took the time to re-string you're obviously not lazy
 
I'm with Dane's original post. Given the choice, I would coil the excess length around and then spiral the remaining length to bind the coils together. I've always done that with my guitars--just in case a string breaks at the bridge. You just snip the string off the bead, and run the string back through the bead's hole, twisting it back onto itself. Sure, you might even have tweaked string between the nut and the bridge (normally, but you also just saved yourself between a week to over a month of string life and money).

I know what it's like to live hand to mouth. That's the story of my twenties and thirties. This is no more than one of those ways to keep your guitar or uke playing within a tight and meager budget. It ain't pretty, but it works.

--Dave E
 
Deach, how do you find your way through that jungle? Even the most murderous of axe fiends would get tangled up in that!... Jeezer!
 
I don't normally cut I like to just wrap the excess into rings. then it's fun watching the rings grow out wild over time:p
 
eleuke said:
Deach, how do you find your way through that jungle? Even the most murderous of axe fiends would get tangled up in that!... Jeezer!
Click to expand...

I wonder if Deach leaves the excess on the stringsets that are made for doubles. You should decorate them! You could put beads on them, or make a lanyard and hang it off, or wrap hemp or colorful string around them, you could weave them together into a beautiful string sculpture, just so many options!
 
I cut. Ukes must be neat. And my strings must be wound from the top to the bottom of the tuning peg, no overlapping allowed.
 
Neatness Counts ! I really hate seeing the excess string sticking out, It's especially bad with metal strings. Ouch !
 

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