Stringing a double locking trem

[Scooter]

I hadn't found this in anything I've read so far, and it may be old news, but here goes. A good many years ago (88-89?)I read an article (George Lynch's tech was interviewed) about stringing guitars and how different people go about it. If you're anything like me, you'd like to have each tuning peg uniform in the number of wraps the string has. A lot of people still end up with 1 or 2 on E, 3 on A, sometimes 5 on high E. What I do on all my guitars is this: instead of cutting the ball off the end, I run it through the tuning key down to the trem. Then cut the string at the end of the locking screw, this has always kept a uniform look without having to guess about how much to keep. I've never had any trouble this way, and I also think it looks kinda cool. Anyone else do this?

[Special-K]

I`ve heard this isn`t good for the tuning key and the strings can brake faster...

[MichaelLitvak]

I also heard it causes extra neck tension

[SEAN RAF]

I think that as long as the wound strings don't overlap each other, it doesn't matter about uniformity. I remember when I had an Ibanez Roadstar that had a Fender type fulcrum trem. Every time I used the trem (usually to dive bomb) it would go out of tune, sharp and flat. I wondered how come my favourite guitarist at the time, Bernie Torme, could abuse his strat without having a locking and fine tuning system. Then I read an article he'd written on stringing your guitar; not overlapping wound strings was the main advice. So as a matter of course, I string my Floyd Rose guitars in the same way; they stay pretty much in tune after dive bombing, even when they're un-clamped at the lock nut.

[Guitardude86]

I think Steve Vai has this done to his guitars? Saw a pic of him holding a JEM stringed like that once anyway..

[VitaminG]

I've always wondered what damage it might do to the tuning peg, having the ball end sitting against it under pressure. Never seen any advantage to doing it that way and, call me shallow, I think it looks hinky.

Stringing it up regular-style with a couple of wraps at the peg works fine for me. It's not like you have to worry about slippage - the lock nut takes care of that.

[Scooter]

I've never had any issues doing it this way. I do pay attetion to how it winds so there is no overlap. I've never noticed anything on the tuning keys, i.e. stress, wear, etc., never had any neck issues either. Will post pics of my Model 1 (OFR installed) soon, had it since '88, my main player until this month (got meself a new KV for Christmas!) If anyone has anything solid as to damage, let me know, but for 18 years I've had no issues. Thanks for the thoughts.

[HoWheels]

I'm more interested in how clean my windings are rather than the number of wraps. However it's mainly aesthetic. The locking nut pretty much renders everything else useless.



-a

[straycat]

I run the first wrap over the string then under 2 or 3 winds for wound strings and the same way for the rest but the thinner strings get 3 to 4 wraps.My trems stay in tune with no problems.When dealing with a locking nut I really don't think it makes much difference as long as you don't wrap 10 or 12 times!!!

[bsteff666]

What I do on all my guitars is this: instead of cutting the ball off the end, I run it through the tuning key down to the trem. Then cut the string at the end of the locking screw, this has always kept a uniform look without having to guess about how much to keep. I've never had any trouble this way, and I also think it looks kinda cool. Anyone else do this?

This is the way I have done it for at least 15 years....on the many many guitars I have owned in that time. I've never had any problems whatsoever. I think EVH did it that way...in fact I believe all the Peavey Wolfgangs came from the factory strung up that way.

To me...its just way easier to string up that way...plus it does in my opinion give a cleaner look with no worry of sharp string ends to stab yourself with.

[toejam]

Why bother with more than one wind around the peg? You're locking down the Floyd nut anyway.

[Nazgul]

Why bother with more than one wind around the peg? You're locking down the Floyd nut anyway.

So you can tune the guitar lower later if there's a need?

[Special-K]

So you can tune the guitar lower later if there's a need?

Yep you are right Nazgul

Btw: Nazgul is your guitar tuned DADGBe or DGCFAD??

[rEs]

ball end through tuner with lots of slack...if string breaks at the saddle, unwind string and reclamp

saves a lot of time

[Nazgul]

Yep you are right Nazgul

Btw: Nazgul is your guitar tuned DADGBe or DGCFAD??

Both of them are DGCFAD. I don't play in dropped [insert note here] tunings .