Hi, new guitar "player" here. I need to change my strings for the first time. I've been told to wind the string down the post from the hole, making sure not to wind it on itself. My OM-40M came with the first turn of the string above the hole (and protruding cut end of the string) and the other 2 or 3 turns below the hole. The posts actually look like they might be too short to wrap the low E 2-3 times below the hole, so I'm wondering if this might be the reason, and if the post is tall enough, can I just wrap the string below the hole. TIA
There's many, many ways to do it. Here's 2 factors to consider;
The more winds, the less stable the tuning. It doesn't seem like it would matter but I've found that my guitars stay in tune far longer with minimal wraps. The unwounds take a few more wraps.
Another thing is that the lower it sits on the post, the better the break angle over the nut. Finding balance between getting it to sit lower w/o wrapping too many times isn't critical, but it helps. Better break angle can help the tone slightly but isn't as important as tuning stability, IMO.
Those are both deep into the weeds but I bring them up in regard to your question. Yes, if it will hold (and that sometimes varies depending on the string composition), you can just go below. The main thing is to get a good kink in the string so it locks into the post hole. I used to always do a wrap above the post but no longer do it on the wounds as I want a better break angle with fewer wraps.
Welcome Pez
After you have absorbed all the good information BOWIE imparted above, watch this (or other) YouTube videos.
Pez - My OM-40M came with the first turn of the string above the hole (and protruding cut end of the string) and the other 2 or 3 turns below the hole. The posts actually look like they might be too short to wrap the low E 2-3 times below the hole, so I'm wondering if this might be the reason, and if the post is tall enough, can I just wrap the string below the hole. TIA
I was about to make popcorn and watch the differing opinions roll in as I've seen this on AGF countless times, but instead I took some pictures of my harem to confirm that yes, Larrivee puts short posts on their guitars.
Time on my hands, plus I was curious, so here's a group pic of my 3 Larrivees. All 3 seem to barely get 3 wraps on the bass E.
(https://i.postimg.cc/65VFTd9h/tuners.jpg)
But there's one on the left where I snuck in a top wrap over the string hole which I'd forgotten about. This looks like what you describe on your guitar.
(https://i.postimg.cc/d0g551s1/oov.jpg)
So my take is 2 - 3 winds are sufficient for the bass E string as long as you used a crisp 90 degree bend to start the winding on the string post. A top wrap over the string stub works fine as long as the rest of the winds go below the string hole and don't overlap.
Additionally, it is so rare for me to have a wound bass string slip and detune even with 2 winds that I think it's safe to reassure you that however you do it for the bass wound strings, as long as the winds don't overlap and you have at least 2 winds you'll be fine.
I'll add that on the other side of the headstock I'm pretty promiscuous with going for 6 winds on the wound string and 6 winds plus an overlap on the unwound ones. Believe me, these puppies never slip out of tune. But that's me and not the general consensus.
And congrats on your new Larrivee! :beer
Great info, everyone - thanks! Queequeg, I actually watched one of Rob's videos from several years ago done in the Taylor shop. Good to see his consistency. That and a few others were very helpful, along with the replies here, and I was able to successfully make the swap today. Thanks again.