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Lining up silks - It's definitely possible, any tips?


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22 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

The easiest way to get the silks to line up is to use strings without silks:

Yes but we haven't found any flatwounds with no silks. And TBH I prefer to have the feel and compliance I like, as opposed to a neater look, when the choice is one OR the other. :)

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Never thought I'd find myself posting in this thread but here we are. 

Looks to me string brand might be a factor. You have daddario chrome's on the Stingray right? The chromes on @Silvia Bluejay basses match up well and below are the chromes on my precision. So maybe chromes are designed to line up somehow? Or maybe this is all just nonsense. 

IMG_20200422_120626.jpg

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20200422_192906.thumb.jpg.f2bab0d2867a236f89035d57fdf26ff2.jpg

My P with Chromes, though the silks are beginning to fray as they're so old and it's my home go to bass. 

So the best advice so far has to be get a set of Chromes. 

There is no way, short of physically trimming the silks away, to adjust how the silks line up. The string is anchored with no adjustment in the bridge, how far along the string the silk starts is up to the manufacturer, whether you have two inches or two foot of string after that has no bearing on it. You can have one wind of string around the post or five winds, it has no bearing on where the silk starts. 

Just for the absolute pedants among us, raising the saddle height will minutely bring the silk towards the nut, but that's just rediculous. 

🙂

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Hey come on Basschat we're better than this. Kudos to those of you who tried to help but taking the 4X out of a guy for asking for help, that's not why I I love this forum. 

For what it's worth I have three basses where the silks line up, and no I hadn't paid any attention before this thread. 

However, 2 of them  (strung with Deroit Flats) only technically have three in line because on a P Bass the silk on the G string disappears entirely. Maybe on a 3+1 it might not? 

The other one has 4 beautifully aligned red silks but I can't remember what they are 😕

Probably best I don't discuss the bass pictured below with the OP though... 

15875865591953107839705885184562.thumb.jpg.88ea4e030b138b6c77fa1e2b3efabf76.jpg

They're Fenders and probably painful to look at for those who like neatness but like the Detroits they line up and so might the G on a 3+1

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  • 2 weeks later...

Now I’m worried. Like a few people commenting, I’ve never even thought about string wrap alignment before, but from this day forward, that will be the first thing I notice on a bass, and my OCD will cause me to do unspeakable things...

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This might be the most pointless thread on BC I've seen (apart from some of the OFF Topic ones where I simply don't understand what they are about and why they go on for years), and I absolutely am loving it. 

 

Is there going to be a difference in silks lining up or not between different string manufacturers, ultra precise production line vs not so much? Genuinely intrigued now.

 

No pics from me, currently al basses strung with DRs, no silk :(

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Right - I’ve read this thread a few times.

heres my suggestion.

tune the bass up to desired pitch.

slide some masking tape under the strings - behind the nut.

dab some clear nail varnish around where you want the silks to end.

then get a craft knife or scalpel and trim the excess silk off. 
 

should stop the fraying and mean the silks all match.

someone mentioned heat shrink tubing too.

nice idea.

Each to their own.

 

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This ^ seems like an excellent use of downtime during Lockdown. I hope to see a huge out-pouring of photos of carefully doctored strings.

What we're far more like to get is a huge out-pouring of carefully doctored photos of strings ...

 

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17 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

Right - I’ve read this thread a few times.

heres my suggestion.

tune the bass up to desired pitch.

slide some masking tape under the strings - behind the nut.

dab some clear nail varnish around where you want the silks to end.

then get a craft knife or scalpel and trim the excess silk off. 
 

should stop the fraying and mean the silks all match.

someone mentioned heat shrink tubing too.

nice idea.

Each to their own.

 

Alternatively, dab a spot of glue at the start of the bare string and wrap some excess silk from the end cut-offs of the string around it.

A kindof bass player's equivalent of a comb-over!

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