Dumb question, I know, but I've never encountered these types of tuners before. They've got a groove that cuts about halfway down the pole, and there's a small hole on the bottom of the groove. I looked at the strings on it before I took them off, and all I learned from that is that I'm doing something wrong. Looks like the end of the string goes in the hole. Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated. It's my only electric guitar at the moment

I think you have to judge how much slack you want or how many winds you want, then cut the string, put it in the hole and start winding. The judging is the tough part, if you leave too much you will have to unwind the string and cut and rewind.

I tried restringing it and it went pretty well at first...but then I got to the high E string, which popped off every time it got to a D or so. Aggravating. Then I tried to stretch out the strings, and the first one I did popped right off. The only guitar shop in town that I trust costs $50 to set up and restring a guitar...any more suggestions? I'm what you might call "impovershed".

That sounds fairly bizarre. But try this - pull the string tight, and then at about 3/4" or so past the tuning peg, give the string a sharp angled bend. On a right handed, "six tuners per side" guitar, the bends should be going to the left, as you face the guitar. After you've made several wraps with the string, finish it off with a "half wrap" - a wrap around half of the peg's diameter, and then through the slotted area. Tough to describe without drawing a picture, but maybe you get what I'm saying. This is a stabilizing method that I use, but I can't say I've encountered the popping off string thingy that you describe.

I have guitars with tuners like you describe. Off the top of my head, I can't say what lengths I pre-cut the strings to. But I use four full wraps on the high E and B; three full wraps on the G and D; two full wraps on the A and low E. Plus the additional "half wraps" on the unwound G, B, and E.

For maximum tuning stability, coil the wraps very neatly atop each other (like a coiled up snake), with no sloppy, bunched up stuff. It does indeed make a difference, particularly on the low E.

On my guitar, I cut the string about two tuners above the one the string goes in. Obviously you have to guess a bit for the last couple.

I usually start with groove parallel to the neck, put the string into the hole as far as it will go and make sure I have a nice 90 degree bend coming out of the hole. Then make a good bend as the string comes out of the groove.

I sometimes have the same problem with the high E string if I don't get the bends in the string right. I sometimes will do something like what Corleone mentioned, except I half wrap and run the string back through the groove before winding the rest of the wraps. I'm sure it works the same, but keeps the string angled more on the ones that don't have string trees.

The tuners on the G&L's work the same as the Fender "F" tuners.

I too have trouble with the high E wanting to pop out every once in a while.

After you put the sstring end in the tuner you have to pull it tight with one hand while winding the string.

I think from your description you've got split-shaft tuners. If this is true, musictoyz has a great article on how to string these vintage strat style tuners.

http://www.musictoyz.com/gearhead/gear16.php

Just load that page, and scroll down to the first couple diagrams to check if those are the type of tuners you've got. If so, I highly recommend this article, it worked great for me.

This article referenced above is a good one...In Dan Erhlewine's repair book, he sites another way to string up these Saf-T-Tuners...pull the string taught against the tuner post, wrap around three times then feed the remaining string through the slot and make sure to do a hard angle bend in the opposite direction of the string wind. Leave a little tail and clip and press against the post. Tune to pitch. This works surprising well and eliminates the length guess work using the hole in the post...are we allowed to post pics here?, I could scan the picture from the book, it makes more sense if you see the diagram.