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I use a very simple method. I poke the string through the hole, leave just enough slack to get a bit of traction on the peg, and wind it on with my left hand, using my right ring and little fingers to pull up on the string over the fretboard to keep the tension on, and my thumb to press it down towards the headstock so that it spirals downwards and has a good break angle. No loops, no knots, no tricks. I like to have at least one full turn for the plain strings (usually one and a half, give or take) and at least a half turn for the wound strings (usually one whole turn).
Then I tune up roughly, cut the ends off, stretch the strings by pressing down with my thumb, tune up roughly, stretch once more, and tune up for real. Then I'll play them in for 5 or 10 minutes, and if necessary adjust the tuning one more time.
You were saying you liked a wide neck, but 50mm was too much
I like 47mm-48mm
Up until a year or so ago I'd have said that my ideal nut would be 47-48mm, same as you. But I started running into muscular problems in my left arm, over-use mostly, but made worse by over-stretching on the baritone (730mm scale) and the 12-string (50mm wide). So I've backed off a bit and now would (in a perfect world) go for about 46mm. Having sworn that I would never buy another damn "narrow neck" guitar (43, 44, 45mm) and would find the extra cash to have wider-neck ones custom made, last week I paid a custom-made price for ....yep ... yet another standard size (44mm nut) guitar.
(Could I have ordered one the same only with a wider neck? Sure. It would have cost only a little extra, but there is a 6-12 month waiting list. Maybe next time. Or maybe, now that I only have six strings, I'll actually get used to 44mm. Wish me luck!
Now that you mention it, all three of them have very even, practically grainless, fretboards. I'm guessing here, but I reckon that would be down to careful selection of the woods. Maton makes about 10,000 guitars a year, but the Custom Shop makes fewer than 100: Andy gets first pick of the timbers and can reject 100 for every one he uses. Whether he then treats it as well to get such an even result I don't know.
"There are at least five ways to knead dough. They all work."
I'm starting to think the same applies to winding strings on!
I cant look at that "stripey" headstock without wincing and squinting
just because you do, doesn't mean you should.
Curiously, the action is quite high by my standards but I feel no urge to change it. I generally like around 2.0 to 2.3mm (bass) and about 1.6 to 1.8mm (treble). The May is 2.7mm and 2.0mm with just the tiniest smidgeon (0.12mm) of relief and that seems to suit it for some reason. I can dig in very hard (as I love to do) and it never complains. I have no plan to change it.
My three Matons: left to right, WA May, Messiah 808, SRS60C (custom). Tops, Sitka, Sitka, cedar.
And the back view: Backs: Blackwood, Indian Rosewood, Queensland Maple. Necks: Blackwood, mahogany. Queensland Maple.
Several methods work and work well, too. There *are* some weird ones, though. I've seen strings going to the wrong tuners with a spider's web effect in front of the headstock - and even *that* stayed in tune
https://www.acousticcentre.com.au/collections/new/products/cole-clark-fl2e-bunya-blackwood-12-string-with-case
Some nice pictures of it there. Here are a couple I took myself. This first one from 2020:
And from 2021, a close-up of that gorgeous River Sheoak fretboard. (Click to enlarge.) One of these days (and quite soon) I'll get another guitar with an interesting fretboard timber sheoak again, or Mulga perhaps.
I don't know if I mentioned this earlier in the thread, but for a long time I wanted a Maton Vera May.
WE (Bill) May and Vera were husband and wife. They founded the company together in 1949, Bill building and selling, Vera doing the books and managing the money. Bill died in 1993. Vera lived to be 102 and, still alert and active, died in April this year. For Vera's 100th birthday, Maton made 100 of a commemorative guitar, the Vera May. When those guitars were sold, they made a few more the same but these weren't the numbered special edition ones, making them less collectable. (Not that I really care about that.)
Anyway, I wanted a Vera May. I made enquiries at my local Maton dealer but not being a Custom Shop dealer they weren't sure if they could get one. Later on I spotted one for sale at a shop in Melbourne (a 24 hour drive - ship - drive north of here) and seeing as I was going up[ there in a week or so, planned to call in and try it, probably buy it. Some bugger bought it one day before I got there!