Bloody Shame of Stringing a Twelve

admin · Post by **admin** » Sat May 24, 2003 7:30 am

Why is it that, on numerous occasions, I end up drawing blood when restringing my Rickenbacker 12 string? Let's hear you patented method of avoiding injury when carrying out this task. Would having the slots routed out clear through help?

grsnovi · Post by **grsnovi** » Sat May 24, 2003 12:49 pm

Fumble thumbs!

Here is what I do:

- I restring one at a time (as opposed to all at once - unless all of 'em are off for some other reason).

- I start on the bass side and work my way across (in sequence bass to treble)

- normal strings (ie: the three bass normal strings and the three treble octaves), I just do normally (I feed through, bend a kink in the string, apply tension with my right hand - always keeping tension on the string and with my left hand crank to pitch, then I cut the string)

- The ones in the hole... After years of guitar stringing, I know about where to cut new strings so that I get the right number of wraps, so 1st I cut the string

- Then I bend over a flat of approx. 0.25" using my slender needle nose pliers

- I hook that into the string post and apply tension using my right hand and tune to pitch with my left

I typically use a string crank of some sort.

I rarely draw blood anymore, but its been known to happen...

rick12dr · Post by **rick12dr** » Sat May 24, 2003 3:23 pm

Peter ,are you drawing blood Before you clip the strings[AKA "getting a haircut"], or After clipping? FWIW, I asked McGuinn in an email once how often he jabs himself restringing, and I think he said something like, "More times than I can count", and this from a man who has probably changed more strings on Rick 12s than anyone on earth....

admin · Post by **admin** » Sat May 24, 2003 4:26 pm

After, Don. I clip the strings but often not short enough and then while stringing the next, somehow get jabbed by a stubby end of a previously installed string. The solution is simple, but I still seem to get nicked from time to time.

jerrymac · Post by **jerrymac** » Sat May 24, 2003 8:28 pm

The problem as I see it is that the normal strings block the slot, and that's what makes it difficult to change the slotted strings. So here's what I do. Change the E string (it does not block the channel). Then remove the A & D strings, leaving access to the slots clear. Change the three octave strings one at a time, and then replace the A & D strings. (I'll let you figure out the other side of the head).

I normally knot my strings, but that's just about impossible with the strings in the slots. So what I do is cut those strings first, do a few windings on on the left, and then the rest of the windings on the right side of the string sticking throug the tuner hole. I don't know if I'm explaining this clearly, but you'll end up with a few windings on the left of the hole, then the end of the string sticking through the hole, and then some more windings on the other side of the hole. As you tighten the tuner, the windings will sandwich the end of the string, kinda sorta locking it place.

jerrymac

grsnovi · Post by **grsnovi** » Sat May 24, 2003 10:17 pm

OK, I lied...

I've never changed the strings where I haven't already had all of them off (to do the bridges).

And, I forget if I did the slots first to avoid working over myself (or under).

I also used to "knot" my high B/E strings, but I haven't been doing that lately.

rick12dr · Post by **rick12dr** » Sun May 25, 2003 8:34 am

Peter;
sounds like we more or less do the same thing.It's usually the Es or Bs or hi Gs that get ya.Next time you go to the Dr. for a physical, take your guitar with and restring it while waiting for your appt. Then, by the time you get in, you will have stuck your finger yourself and have a handy blood sample ready to go....[LOL]

grsnovi · Post by **grsnovi** » Sun May 25, 2003 9:18 am

Gee Don, You only have time to string one while waiting? lol

admin · Post by **admin** » Sun May 25, 2003 4:06 pm

You are right Don. It is the 10s and 13s that pack a wallop! Sort of Rickenpuncture therapy.

rick12dr · Post by **rick12dr** » Sun May 25, 2003 4:11 pm

Sort of Rickenpuncture therapy

... or maybe "Ricken pricker" therapy

Yeah, Gary, probably Do have time to restring the whole thing while waiting...

profjeff · Post by **profjeff** » Mon May 26, 2003 6:25 pm

I jab myself every time I string ANY guitar. Even if I restring all six (or twelve) without injury, I manage to puncture my finger while stuffing the old strings in the trash.

gypsy_dave · Post by **gypsy_dave** » Thu Jun 05, 2003 6:20 pm

How about a bloody eyeball? I was watching my stringing a little too closely on my 381V69/12 last year, and ended up neatly "injecting my eyeball" to the tune of about a centimetre. Man I sang after that...... luckily I had a girlfriend at the time and was driven to the docs. Had a nice red spot for a month or so afterwards. All good now though. I wear specs whenever I restring the beast these days

rick12dr · Post by **rick12dr** » Thu Jun 05, 2003 9:11 pm

Geez, Dave! that's crazy! Oww!! I'd forgotten about incidents with restringing; most are the old fingerjabs. I had one of the Bs or Es break on me one time as I was starting to detune it to restring, and I guess it snapped somewhere around the bridge, or maybe busted loose off the ball end.What happened next[ it was so fast] was that the broken end of the string, somehow sprung
around and stuck itself somewhere in the back of my right hand,and must have hit some really sensitive nerve, cause momentarily, the grip in my right hand just went limp.Totally bizarre.
I've never heard of That happening before.Not a bad idea to wear goggles when restringing....

melibreits · Post by **melibreits** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 5:46 am

Hey guys, just reviving an old thread, as I finally got around to doing something I had been dreading and putting off for a long time--restringing my 360-12.... I was just getting really tired of the Pyramids that were on it, because my hand would cramp up if I played it for more than 10 minutes at a time.... Anyway, I remembered reading this thread last summer and referred back to it before doing the job this weekend, and I am quite pleased to say that I didn't draw any blood, and the whole operation was free of pain and headaches! I had always had trouble with winding the slot strings, but cutting them first made a huge difference--just put the ball end of the string in the tailpiece slot and stretch the string to the desired length, and then leave about a fist's width of slack before cutting.....Perfect! Also, I discovered that using a capo works really well for keeping tension on the string to hold it in the "R" tailpiece until the string is wound tightly to the tuning peg--I pull the string up from the tailpiece and clamp the capo on about the 15th fret to hold it in place, and then I don't find myself saying bad words to the tailpiece! Anyway, the advice here helped me to painlessly restring my 12, and I hope it helps others as well!

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 6:26 am

I've restrung my 660/12 4 times since getting it last summer, and happily, no injuries. It's just boring.