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String tree first


only4
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Just put new strings on my P bass and found the D string was acting funny when tuning.

It was sitting in tune but then would suddenly go sharp and when I was retuning there was a lag, I checked the nut slot which was ok so moved onto the string tree which also seemed fine.

I now have discovered that the taper on the string sits exactly on the edge of the string tree and is acting as a slight resistance point.

I’ve filed a small radius on the string tree which seems to have sorted this out but have never seen this before.

Has anyone else ever had this?

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22 minutes ago, JoeEvans said:

Is the string tree really necessary? For a bass with good, straight alignment between strings above and below the nut, what would happen if you just took the string tree off?

 

Yes - in 4 in line tuner headstocks which are flat (as in not angled), the break angle over the nut is insufficient for the D and G strings and you'll get rattles and other noise artifacts.  The string tree is there to create a sufficient break angle over the nut in those cases.  With enough wraps down the E and A tuners it's supposed to generate sufficient angle.

 

But hey, Leo got it right first time, right? ;)

 

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Yeah, I’ve had that happen before. Also had one with two grooves for the strings to run in, which gripped the thicker of the strings tight at the same taper point since the groove was only wide enough for its thinnest section. Took a bit of strength to get the string out, but it was an easy enough fix - just turned the top of the retainer through 90 degrees so the grooves were parallel to the nut and no longer involved with the strings.

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