Another stupid bass question?

[JayDawg]

So for Christmas, I got a whole bunch of Ernie Ball strings for my basses. I restrung most of the basses the other day and they sound great but I got to thinking about something. My basses never go out of tune or if they do, it's just barely but when people re-string their guitars or basses, does it help the bass stay in tune the more string there is wound around the peg? Or does it not matter if you cut the ends shorter and only have maybe 2 or 3 wraps around the pegs?

 

[mmbassplayer]

Jay, I remember reading somewhere you had to have winds on the tuning pegs due to windings of strings separating from the core. This was a problem with older strings and not so much with modern strings. I have never popped the windings on a round wound string and have done it only once with a flat wound.

 

[strummer]

I cant imagine why more wraps would make the bass stay in tune better. Once the string is stretched it should stay in tune unless you change the temp of the string (stage lights, hands) or in extreme cases when the neck changes with the seasons.
On EBMM instruments I use 1,5 to 2 wraps, and the strings stay in tune

 

[keko]

On EBMM instruments I use 1,5 to 2 wraps, and the strings stay in tune

+1

 

[JayDawg]

Thanks guys for your replies. I never have had an issue but it was just one of those things that got me thinking? Kind of like when Arsenio Hall had on his late night show the things that make you go hmmmm? The other brand of basses that I used to use had different tuning pegs so I would often times cut the strings on them and have maybe only 2 wraps around the peg but the tuning keys on the Music Man basses are a little bit bigger and are different so it made me wonder if there would be anything different. I did notice this though compared to the other brand. The Music Man basses stay in straight tune a lot better. I'm not sure if it is the bass, the strings or a combo of both since my Music Man basses will only ever see Ernie Ball's on them but when I pluck a note to tune the bass, the basses were staying in complete tune throughout the duration of the note sustaining. On my other brand of bass, I would usually tune just slightly sharp by maybe 2 megahertz because when the note was sustaining, it would usually then go slightly flat after a short while. This is just another area though where the quality of Music Man has really blown me away.

 

[five7]

Look at how many wraps the factory used, I think they know best. 2 wraps work for me.

 

[bovinehost]

Also, tune for how you play. Don't watch the sustain unless you use lots of long, droning notes. I tune for the intial THUMP, since that's really what I use. Make sense?

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

Two wraps works for me, including my non-MusicMan basses.

I've only ever had one string's outer wraps separate from the core, and it was a different brand and over 15 years ago.

 

[JayDawg]

Also, tune for how you play. Don't watch the sustain unless you use lots of long, droning notes. I tune for the intial THUMP, since that's really what I use. Make sense?

My style of playing is kind of a mixture between Michael Anthony of Van Halen er Chickenfoot where you have constant driving bass lines and Duff McKagen of GNR where he has some really cool fills and leads with his bass lines. I can play the thump and slap stuff to save my life. Maybe a generic Seinfeld intro bass line but that is probably it. But what your saying does make sense.

 

[kamakazee]

I also find about 2 wraps works for me. I also find you can speed up the natural "stretching" process of new strings by bringing your string up to tune, then pulling up on it (kind of like popping but pulling harder). Even after a week or 2 of not tuning, my Bongo 6 rarely needs to be tuned - it makes my Strat playing friends so jealous! haha

 

[AnthonyD]

I measure and cut my strings 4 1/2" past the post on the Bongo. That gives me about 2+ very neat, and very stable wraps. I add 1/2" for flats (but haven't been there for a while!).

 

[MK Bass Weed]

Hmm, fer Me, and this is just me, the "need" for 4 wraps around a peg was for basses built long long ago, not that long, I have a few. This was for basses built before the Tapered Post, Headstock angle, Modern Headstocks etc.. You put 4 winds around the post to make sure there was a good 'break angle' on the nut, which, did/does help with intonation on guitars that need that.

Now this is my own belief system, not some nutty Internet Science.

 

[Golem]

`

+1 on the extra winds .... like 4 [or more].

I just LIKE having the extra, but you hafta
kinda "massage" it around the peg so that
there's no loose winds in all that piling on.


`

 

[nurnay]

2 times around works great for me. I had a total brain fart last time I strung my 5er - I accidentally grabbed the E string from the package, cut it to the B tuner length and wound it, then did the same with A & D strings on the E & A tuners. I realized my mistake, removed then BARELY had enough room to string them on the correct tuners. So my 5er has actually been going for a few weeks now with less than one time around the post on 2 of the tuners, and about once around on the other. No issues with going out of tune or anything! Almost wasted a brand new set of strings.

 

[Holdsg]

oh snap, that's similar to the time I bought medium scale strings and didn't realize that until I opened the package and found all the strings were too short. can't return opened string packages. that was a "learning opportunity".

 

[nurnay]

oh snap, that's similar to the time I bought medium scale strings and didn't realize that until I opened the package and found all the strings were too short. can't return opened string packages. that was a "learning opportunity".

LOL, yep. Learning opportunity indeed.