String Ball ends

[lonnie james barber]

  First I would like to say hi, I havent posted on here in a while.Been following the freebie cheepie tools. Actually used on of the suggestions the other day though. I purchased a nice old Kay Swingmaster of the bay. Someone had ripped out all the frets and absconded with the electronics. Well I completly re-fretted the beautifull old Ebony fretboard inlayed with MOP. Leveled,and recrowned,got a set of fret erasers from Stewmac they did a great job.Personally I think the neck looks great now. They had drilled out the holes for the tuners to almost 1/2 inch. Nothing gonna fit in there very well. So I got a 1/2 inch hardwood dowell Now this is where it starts I used one of my wifes emory boards and while rubbing the dowel I slowly turned it untill it just fitted and a little titebond and in an hour I was drilling new holes for new tuners to fit. Perfecto so whoever gave that little tips thanks... I posted this on another forum because a friend from even another forum requested I do so. It ended up with people yelling at me and I really didn't do anything. completely blameless I swear :0). It has to do with daddrio strings. Seems my friend has had four sets of them where the balls came unraveled? Unwound? Whatever they came off rendering the string worthles. Seems he has been emailing the company for four months with no results. So he asked if I would post it on other forums. My question is has this ever happened to any of you? I woke up to an email from the vp for marketing for dadario talking really nice. Seems he joined that other forum just to put out the blaze. Boy he sure is a sweet talker. All of a sudden I became an "ass clown" amongst other things. My friend did make the statement and I repeated it on that forum that he was going to try and trash that company unless he got satisfaction. That's when the big boy stepped in.I'm not a vengefull guy but do belong to four guitar forums both here and in Europe. I personally have no gripe with dadario strings I bought one set once but never repeated. I don't remember why but it wasn't that problem. I did have tbe ball come off once but it was a different brand all I did was say Hmmm how bout that, On to other things. Not trying to stir things up just asking. Seems as though a lot of people have3 run into this problem with this company,,,,Just asking not wanting to offend anyone.

[Paul Verticchio]

Just one more comment & I'm done.....

Alex: You are dead on with the GHS info.  I've been hip to that since 1970, but the "user supplied materials" was a news flash for me.  That definitely answers my long standing question: "If GHS makes all of them, why the drastic variance among the brands?" Thanks man!

In minor defense of DR round core strings: There seems to be a trend in some tutorials and "civilian" forms to instruct users to cut the string to length before it's wound on the string post. I even encountered that bit of info at a Taylor Road Show presentation.  I called the presenter on it and he admitted that it doesn't apply to round core strings...only hex core, for the reason Alex stated, and added that point of clarification. I still don't buy into cutting before stringing.

I've also observed that "the average guitar owner/player" has insufficient knowledge or practices "quick 'n easy" string changes which cause more problems than a new set of strings cures.  This doesn't apply to nylon strings. The primary culprit are strings that don't have several winds on the post, strings wound over the post hole instead of under (lousy string break angle) and (my least favorite): 'tied-on' strings that have a mumbo-jumo ball-o-windings on the tuner shaft.  I'd like to add an up-charge when removing these rats-nests-o-windings, especially when they've been tied on and are now rusty or corroded....but......  These abominations are also common with "hack" techs who need more experience before 'going public'.

Could a few of you folks try my proprietary/non-scientific way of stringing a guitar and let me know how it works for you?  I've posted this on another forum several years ago;

This works with regular 6 & 12 string guitars with vertical tuning shafts and conventional machines.

Position the tuner shaft so the string hole is perpendicular to the nut.

Attach (anchor) the string to the tailpiece as you normally would.

Run the string through the tuner's shaft hole and pull it taught with one hand. Don't kill it(;

With the other hand, grab the string right in front [between the nut & 1st fret] of the nut .

The low E is pulled back until it just crosses the first fret. Now wind it and you should get 2-4 wraps on the shaft. btw: I do my wraps "once over, the remainder under" and get 3 wraps 'under' with this process. I also bend the string 'up' at a 90 degree angle to the post and trim it once the string has some tension on it.)

The A, D & G strings are done the same way but pull them until they just cross over the 2nd fret.

Same thing for the B & high E except go back 2&1/2 to 3 frets.

This process, with very few exceptions, yields a proper and even nut break angle on all strings and mechanically locks the string to the post. Essentially, I use the frets as rulers.

This works on Kluson, Waverley, Grover, Gotoh, Schaller, Ping etc. NON-locking tuners. 

And Lonnie, I don't think anyone can spend "too much" on a good set of nylon strings for a FINE classical guitar. $22 isn't bad at all.

My final best guess is that your friend, as indicated by several posters, got hold of counterfeit sets.  Tell him not to feel bad.  A friend of mine went against my advice* & recently ordered 10 brand new Shure SM-58 microphones for $40@.   He said that he couldn't pass up that kind of deal as they 'street' everywhere for about $100@.  Sure enough, they were cheap counterfeit knock offs that fed back like a banshee & sounded like a mic that came with a $20 cassette recorder in 1970. He now has ten $40 paperweights and a story to tell that ends with "and I fell for it like a thousand other suckers".

I really dislike counterfeiters but as the old saying goes: Caveat Emptor. And....given the difference in the way different countries enforce 'copyright' style protection laws (if they exist at all), prosecution of the counterfeiters is rare to non-existent and the $$$ penalties imposed do nothing to deter recidivism. It's seriously affecting all industries.

Everyone have a super weekend,

Paul

 *in this case, I e-mailed the seller and asked if he/they were authorized Shure dealers.  He said "No, but I got a great deal from a distributor on some over-stock items".  What I heard was "No, they're counterfeit!".

[lonnie james barber]

Good Posting Paul; if I can remember I'll give your stringup a try. If anyone would know the simplest most effiicient way to string a guitar,you for sure would. Your anecdote about your friend and his problem with the microphones reminds me of a saying my long gone father had ( if you go looking for a bargain that's probably what you will find). Happy Labor day everybody