Avoiding Overlapping String Wrap at Tuning Post

rlgph

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I've read that one should not allow a string wrapping on a tuning post to overlap itself. Since the strings stretch so much, how do you avoid that happening? I presume that one should not undo it after it has stretched and re-do the wrapping. Or maybe my presumption is wrong?
 
I've had no problem with taking a string off and resetting it if I allowed too much slack, but I've done it only when the string has been on for a short time (not more than a day or 2). After changing strings a few times you should get a feel for how much they'll stretch.
 
I've read that one should not allow a string wrapping on a tuning post to overlap itself. Since the strings stretch so much, how do you avoid that happening? I presume that one should not undo it after it has stretched and re-do the wrapping. Or maybe my presumption is wrong?

Honestly, I don't think you have to be too concerned about the "overlap" factor, RL. When I put new strings on my soprano, I run the new string up through the post hole, bring it around toward the inside part of the headstock and pass it underneath itself and back toward the outside of the headstock, give it a light upward pull to keep it secure, and then start cranking, so that the string locks onto itself as I crank, and I make sure that the initial winding and any subsequent windings go below the previous ones. Actually, doing it this way, I don't end up with many windings. And although I guess that "locking on" that I mentioned would constitute an "overlap", I've never had any noticeable problem with string slippage. It has been my experience that a new set of strings will be very much "on the move" every few minutes when first installed, and we just have to resign ourselves to checking them periodically until they decide to behave. But it's not unusual for mine to still be stretching out three or four days after installation; and every time I pick up the uke, I tweak the tuning. The third string (C) in particular takes a long time to get used to its new home! You'll develop your own approach as time goes on; seems like the learning never stops!! And that's what makes it fun!
 
I don't know for sure what is meant by overlapping. Does than mean the string runs over the top of itself as it wraps around the post? Because that is something that I would take care of while I was installing it, not after the strings have settled. So maybe I'm not understanding. But I have gotten so many wraps around the post that it got to the bottom and there was no more room. If that is what is being talked about. Over the years I've gotten better at it and that does not happen anymore. I just have a better feel for it. But I've unwrapped them, taken up some slack, and then rewrapped them again with no problems.
 
My technique is the same as Bill Sheehan's. However, as the string wrapped around and around the post, when it got to the bottom (and continued to stretch) it started a second layer of wrapping, this one going back up the post. This happened with strings 1-3 (the plain strings), and with two different sets of strings (the first nylguts, i assume, that came on the previously owned instrument, and now new Aquila sugars).

On the current set i finally unwound each and started again, pulling it pretty tight (as i did before) before winding it to pitch again. (There was more than an inch of excess string on each from the stretching.) Each of the strings 1-3 is again approaching the bottom of the post in its wrapping, though the stretching has mostly stopped now.
 
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I've read that one should not allow a string wrapping on a tuning post to overlap itself. Since the strings stretch so much, how do you avoid that happening? I presume that one should not undo it after it has stretched and re-do the wrapping. Or maybe my presumption is wrong?

First of all, we're talking about ukuleles here and not precision instruments. So just do what you do ( as long as it works) and enjoy your music.

That being said, if you want your strings to not overlap, it is easy. Just follow any online tutorial; they have already figured it out for you.

Here's what I do and my strings never overlap:

1. After I pass the string through the hole on the post of the tuning peg, I run it under itself two or three times. That creates a knot
2. When I start to tighten the string, I first make sure that the knot pops into the hole of the post. That locks everything up.
3. then as I wind the string it moves from the top of the post, where the knot is, downward. It never crosses itself.
 
Then your strings do not stretch as much as mine have. After undoing and redoing strings that had wrapped all the way to the bottom and started back up, i cut off an additional excess of 1-2 inches, and yet still the wraps go all the way to the bottom of the post. Had i not redone and cut off the additional excess, the wraps would have gone all the way to the bottom and substantially back up (overlapping the first layer of wrap).

But i will take your advice and "do what i do". Thanks.

ron
 
If you make sure there is no slack in the string as you start winding you should be ok. I even pull on the string to make sure it is tight and under tension before winding. I pull it tight then while holding it in place with my thumb I bring it around and put it through the hole again, this keeps it tight. This is with all non-wound strings.
 
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Then your strings do not stretch as much as mine have. After undoing and redoing strings that had wrapped all the way to the bottom and started back up, i cut off an additional excess of 1-2 inches, and yet still the wraps go all the way to the bottom of the post. Had i not redone and cut off the additional excess, the wraps would have gone all the way to the bottom and substantially back up (overlapping the first layer of wrap).

But i will take your advice and "do what i do". Thanks.

ron

Oh, I think I see what you're saying. It appears that you are winding a lot more than I have ever needed to. I don't really have an answer to that. Could it be that you're tightening the strings an octave higher than they are intended? I don't know. As I said before, I just learned a methodology from a youtube video, follow it, and it works. I don't have any deeper knowledge. All I know is that I don't wind the strings too much and I always have a lot of string left over which I turn into pretty rosettes.
 
Ron, it's also possible that the tuning posts on your uke aren't as "tall" as those on other ukes, and maybe the windings "eat up the real estate" more quickly...
Not to :deadhorse: , but just to clarify something: the passing of the string thru the post hole is the very FIRST thing I do when I begin putting the new string on. And I make sure the hole is lined up so that the string can run right on through the hole after it passes across its appropriate nut slot. Then, with a medium-light amount of tension applied (to eliminate slack), I bring the string around toward the INNER part of the headstock, run it back underneath itself at the post, pull it lightly in an upward direction, and start cranking so that the post rotates in a counter-clockwise direction (for the G and C strings) / clockwise direction (for the E and A strings), thus allowing the string to "lock" onto itself as I continue to crank; and I keep an eye on things to make sure that each winding stays below the one before it. I don't try to get the strings cranked up to full pitch right away. I have better luck being patient, cranking them a little bit at a time, coming back about every five minutes and cranking them a little more, until finally (after maybe an hour or so) I have them up to pitch. At that point, I will fully expect them (especially the C string) to continue stretching and losing pitch over the next several days, until at last they are comfortable with their new home! From that point on, I'll check and tweak the tuning every time I pick up the uke, which I think is pretty much what all of us do...
 
That's what i do -- same method i learned from frets.com for stringing up steel string guitars (except that for the uke i pulled the strings taught before doing the under/over/wind, whereas i leave some slack on steel strings). The distinction is that on my uke i wind and wind and ..., with the result that the strings go around the post many times. Perhaps it is the height of the posts. Although my 1st string is tuned a full step up to B, the second string is tuned to E, and the 3rd string is tuned to a lower B, a half step lower than in standard GCEA.

Incidently, i haven't had this problem with my low tuned 4th string (probably because it is wound).
 
My understanding is that you don't want the string to overlap on the tuner peg and make an additional layer, like a garden hose on a reel, is because the strings can work themselves between the strings underneath and they never seem to maintain tuning. Or, they can twist over the first layer and it results in a not-so-firm tightness.

I use fluorocarbon strings almost exclusively on my tenors. I find that the Low-G and C strings don't stretch a lot compared to the E & A (& high-g) strings. I have read that about an extra inch to an inch and a half is about the right right amount of slack to leave in the strings. I find that a bit too much. I don't leave much slack in the thin E & A (+high-g) strings. Just a touch. because they will stretch a lot when I bring them up to tune, and over the next few days. The C and Low-G I give a full inch-ish. So they wrap two to three times with initial tuning.

Much depends upon the strings you use and the size category of the uke. My favorites, Living Waters, tend to stretch a lot over their lifespan. Worth clears and Browns not as much. Fremont Blackline, about like the LWs but seem to settle and not stretch as much. Martins about the same as the LWs. YMMV.

If you get too many wraps, loosen the string, pull it to reduce the slack and re-tighten. It won't hurt anything. If you wait and take out slack weeks later, you may get an uneven stretch. Or so I have read.

Strings are relatively inexpensive. As long as single layer of wraps are toward the bottom of the pegs, so that the string tension is lower on the peg, you're fine.
 
My word, that is atrocious. I'd want to buy that Martin just to get it off the hands of whoever did that to it. :D
 
The question has never been asked..........what ukulele is this and what exact strings are you using. As another said your posts might be short. My Gretsch tenor has the worst post design going, they are short and the hole is in the middle. Makes it tough to not overlap.
 
The instrument is an Ohana TK-50-5g. As i initially said, both the strings it had on it when i got it (nylgut?) and the Aquila Sugars that i now have on it stretched enough to start the second wrap layer before i undid them, pulled them taught, and rewound, eventually cutting off another 1-2 inches. Only the first string winding has reached the bottom of the post now.

It's clear to me now that when i first put them on i should have pulled them tight, not just taken up the slack, before winding.
 
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One of the problems with overlap is the strings don’t have a solid base and may not hold tuning.
I pull the string tight and loop the end back thru the post to hold it. I get 2-3 wraps after all the stretch.
 
I use the first wrap over, and all others under method, so the string end is sandwiched between the first wrap on top, and all the others below. I first pull the string tight before winding, not leaving much slack at all, but not too tight. In this way, I usually end up with 3-4 wraps max around the post, none overlapping. My wraps never go all the way to the bottom of the post, which would be 5-6; that seems excessive to me. I've found no problem loosening and rewrapping strings if I messed it up, and have also reused lots of string sets with no problems, but you need to leave enough extra string to reuse them on another uke.

I do this as well except I don’t reuse my strings.
 
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