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Post by sweyne1 on Dec 31, 2023 16:11:21 GMT
I have to ask what may be an incredibly stupid question, stupid because it appears i've been restringing my guitars wrongly forever. I just checked a youtube video which says this. The bridge pin is about an inch and a quarter long with a round head (the bit you can see above the bridge) and a post about an inch long which slides into the bridge to hold the string in place. The post has a groove which should face forward toward the fingerboard when you push the pin into the bridge. When you put the ball end of the string into the bridge hole and push the pin down the ball end of the string should then be pulled up so that it ends up just below the round head at the top of the bridge pin. In other words the string ball end is roughly at the level of the guitar top. My question is, how do you get the string ball end to slide up into that position ? The bass strings appeared to move up to some extent but I can't tell how much. The treble strings didn't seem to want to move at all. There must be a technique to this. Can someone enlighten me please ? Embarrassed of Swansea.
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Post by PistolPete on Dec 31, 2023 16:22:37 GMT
You may be over thinking it. Drop the ball end into the hole with a couple of inches of string, put in the bridge pin, then pull on the string until it stops moving. The ball end should naturally want to go into the correct position, ie wedged between the pin and the back of the bridge. It shouldn't need to be hooked on the pin or anything, once there is tension on the string then the pin will be enough to hold it in place.
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Dec 31, 2023 16:38:38 GMT
Give the very end bit of the string by the ball end a bend of 45 degrees or so before inserting it into the hole. Insert it so the ball end is pointing towards the neck. Then you can pull the string gently up until you feel it touch the bridgeplate. Insert the pin, which should then, as a result of the bend, go past the ball end then give the string a further gentle pull to ensure the ball end is still in the position shown in Pete's excellent graphic. This should avoid the ball end catching on the end of the pin - a common cause of pins lifting when string is tensioned.
The other cause of lifting pins can be the groove - if the groove in the pin is not wide/deep enough to accommodate the thick part of the string without friction, preventing the string from being pulled up correctly and/or preventing the pin from seating properly. A bit of filing on the groove will fix this easily. Ideally, the pins should be loose enough that they can be removed with finger and thumb when there is no tension on the string. In fact it is the tensioned string that holds the pin in place rather than the pin holding the string.
Keith
(Slotted bridge and unslotted or rotated 180 degree pin is probably a better way to do things but does require some careful work....)
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Post by PistolPete on Dec 31, 2023 16:53:02 GMT
<snip> Pete's excellent graphic. <snip> I can take no credit at all for that - it was the second result on Google images! sweyne1 Re-reading your post I suspect the Youtuber may have misspoken or not made it very clear. The ball end should be roughly level with the guitar top, but as the bridge is mounted onto the top it will be well below the level of the bridge, and should be a fair way from the head of the bridge pin.
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Post by sweyne1 on Dec 31, 2023 17:50:56 GMT
Brilliant. Thank you both. I've just checked the set up inside the guitar and the ball ends are in front of the ends of the pins as shown in the graphic. Your idea Keith about bending the end of the pin to ensure it doesn't get trapped under the pin is something i've noted for future reference. I've also made a little drawing of the graphic on my ingenious 'how to string a guitar guide' so i'll have it to hand every time I re-string. John
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Post by papadon on Jan 2, 2024 20:23:52 GMT
Give the very end bit of the string by the ball end a bend of 45 degrees or so before inserting it into the hole. Insert it so the ball end is pointing towards the neck. Then you can pull the string gently up until you feel it touch the bridgeplate. Insert the pin, which should then, as a result of the bend, go past the ball end then give the string a further gentle pull to ensure the ball end is still in the position shown in Pete's excellent graphic. This should avoid the ball end catching on the end of the pin - a common cause of pins lifting when string is tensioned. The other cause of lifting pins can be the groove - if the groove in the pin is not wide/deep enough to accommodate the thick part of the string without friction, preventing the string from being pulled up correctly and/or preventing the pin from seating properly. A bit of filing on the groove will fix this easily. Ideally, the pins should be loose enough that they can be removed with finger and thumb when there is no tension on the string. In fact it is the tensioned string that holds the pin in place rather than the pin holding the string. Keith (Slotted bridge and unslotted or rotated 180 degree pin is probably a better way to do things but does require some careful work....) This
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doc
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Post by doc on Jan 2, 2024 22:16:53 GMT
I want to hear Leo’s advice on restringing.
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Post by Onechordtrick on Jan 2, 2024 22:24:11 GMT
I want to hear Leo’s advice on restringing. I fearLeo’s advice would be anecdotal rather than based on personal experience.
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francis
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Post by francis on Jan 2, 2024 22:49:23 GMT
I like to trim the bottom of the pin at circa 45 degrees which pushes the ball end towards the bridge plate away from the pin.
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leoroberts
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Post by leoroberts on Jan 3, 2024 0:11:18 GMT
Restringing is for:
a) professionals b) amateurs with more money than sense c) nerds who post endlessly on forums regarding tension, scale lengths, etc. d) me, but only when I’m bullied into it.
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Post by sweyne1 on Jan 25, 2024 17:44:28 GMT
A quick follow up to this but on a slightly different point. When I bought the guitar the previous owner told me that the strings were Elixir PB 12/53's. And it sounded fantastic.
When they were due for a change, because I had Newtones on my other guitars I decided to put Masterclass 12's on this one. Immediately the guitar lost it's sparkle. It still sounded good but not the same. So this time I went back to the Elixirs. And it sounds great again.
I imagine many of you have made exactly this point before, that you need the right strings for any particular guitar. Or maybe my taste is just changing.
John
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juliant
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Post by juliant on Jan 25, 2024 22:01:27 GMT
Restringing is for: a) professionals b) amateurs with more money than sense c) nerds who post endlessly on forums regarding tension, scale lengths, etc. d) me, but only when I’m bullied into it. I realised the other day that I've never restrung my lap steel in all the years (15?) I've owned it. In my defence, it is strung with stainless steel flat-wound strings that are only played with metal-to-metal contact (bar and finger picks) so I'm not sure why they'd ever go dead. But still.
I've also never had to tune it, either. A classic case of "it was in tune when I bought it"
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Post by onlythesound on Jan 28, 2024 13:51:56 GMT
Hello All,
New here.
I recently sold a D’Angelico 12 string acoustic which I’d had set up by a luthier and restrung. I asked him to replace the originals with Ernie Ball Earthwood Light 80/20 Bronze - 11-52 Gauge. I It sang so much that the gent who bought the guitar from me, asked what strings it had, as he wanted to keep the sound character. Certainly lends weight to the Particular strings suiting specific guitars argument.
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Post by borborygmus on Mar 4, 2024 9:46:40 GMT
I re-strung a guitar yesterday. I did one last weekend too. Radical behaviour. I will point you to this video by TJ Thompson (a, maybe the, leading repair guru): Note the technique of threading another ball end to the string. He does this on vintage guitars where the bridge plate may be beat up, or where the saddle is low. One advantage is that the overlapped winding on the lower string end stays shy of the saddle. Another is that you present a flat surface to the bridge plate, rather than a rounded one, and that may lead to less damage long term. A friend of mine does this on all guitars, not just vintage or vulnerable ones. What do you think? Where do you get the extra ball ends? Where do you buy them? I know what you're thinking, you can just harvest them from the old strings. Part of me says that life is too short to peel grapes, but then I should try... I can tell you that it is possible. My first attempts did include a ball end pinging across the room, and thumb piercing (some blood). Better eyesight than mine would be helpful. Some further misadventures in restringing include 1) the saddle and saddle gubbins falling out, which is always disconcerting 2) one bridge pin ejecting itself from its hole during tuning up, arcing up and down through the sound hole, landing inside the guitar 3) a nut sliding down in its slot, unnoticed by me until I was playing and couldn't figure out why the high E string kept falling off the fretboard. YMMV. I would still pay someone to come and restring my guitars... Peter
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Post by Onechordtrick on Mar 4, 2024 10:02:28 GMT
By chance I saw a bag of ball ends when I was looking for something else over the weekend.
Problem I see is that with the wrap at the end the added ball may not snugly fit with the ball on the string and it would either slip over time, not make great conact with the soundboard or leave a "tail" in the guitar that could vibrate/buzz.
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