Bill; I haven't strung a guitar in quite a long time, but if I recall correctly, attaching the strings to the tuners on a bass is done differently than on a guitar.
How I do it (again by memory; I haven't changed strings in a year).
Place the ball end into the tailpiece. Pull the string taut past the tuner. Hold the string in your left hand so that your fingers are grasping the string about three inches or so past the tuner.
While still holding the string taut, take a pair of needle nose pliers in your right hand and make a 90 degree bend in the string where your left hand is holding it about three inches past the tuner.
Take the needle nose pliers and cut the string about a half inch beyond the 90 degree bend.
Take this short bent end and place it in the hole in the center of the tuner, with the remaining portion of the string fed out through one of the side slots, preferable the slot that's furthest away from the tailpiece.
Checking to make sure the ball end is still firmly in place in the tailpiece slot, hold the string in your right hand about a third of the distance from the tailpiece to the tuner and pull up toward the ceiling until the string is taut. Actually I use my thumb to keep the nut end of the string lower so that the wraps don't slip off the tuner, while my fingers keep the bridge end of the string higher to take up the slack.
Begin turning the tuner with your left hand so that the wrap is to the inside of the headstock, keeping the string taut with your right hand. You want your wraps to neatly stack, not overlapping each other. Keep an eye on the tailpiece end to make sure the string falls into the saddle groove; and keep your other eye on the nut to make sure the string threads don't get caught on the edge, and that the string falls into the nut slot once you have the string tight.
Ideally you'll want to end up with three wraps on each tuner.
