String breakage stories

I clearly remember when i first broke a string. I was nervous. I broke the g by loosening it. Probably an Old string. That's when the fascination took off. I still break the g the most.
 
strings2000 said:
I clearly remember when i first broke a string. I was nervous. I broke the g by loosening it. Probably an Old string. That's when the fascination took off. I still break the g the most.
Click to expand...
meg ryan orgasm GIF
 
strings2000 said:
Did you ever have a string break midsong. How did you react when you first broke a string? Were scared for a while?
Click to expand...
Yes, a handful of times. The first time was on a vintage style trem. When the string broke it sent everything else out of tune, I gave it a quick and dirty tune-up while the song was still playing and got right back to it.

The few times after that was either on a non-floating or decked Bridge so retuning wasn't really necessary. I just kind of ignore it and keep playing. Every time I end up doing that, someone comes up after the set to tell me how badass it was that I broke a string and kept playing. :clint
 
I had a covers band in Vietnam and we were playing some Zack Wylde stuff. There were so many pinch harmonics with wide vibratos it was hilarious (I loved it). Very hot weather too.

Long story short, I didn't quite cut a string -- but what happened was that after a while, I hit a pinched harmonic with crazy vibrato...

.. And suddenly the low E string ended up like a spaghetti. It literally expanded, hanging like a wet noodle. And it hadn't come off the (locking) tuning pegs or anything. No, the string seemed to have come unwound somehow, perhaps (!) and also gotten much, much longer. I had never seen this before, anywhere.

And I still don't really know what happened exactly. Not a string expert. But it was quite funny.

These days, there's times I expect it happening again, but I've toned down my pinched harmonic/vibrato mix a little, so we're fine so far.
 
Last edited:
I thought I broke a string once, but it was the guitar neck.

Good thing I keep rubber bands in my guitar case for just such a crisis. I break a neck at nearly every show.
It's easy to fix with scotch tape when I get home.
 
Mikael Dez said:
serious note: I have only broken one string and it was because of a burr on my saddle. Idk wtf y’all are doing lmao
Click to expand...
Idk WTF it is, but I'm on my 2nd Majesty that breaks high e strings with too much regularity for it to be my fault.

My Enchanted Forest did it when new, and someone on the Fractal forum told me about abrasive cord, which after a few tries, fixed the problem, which I assume was a burr. Lately it's been happening on my Blue Honu. Same deal.

And my cat, for some strange reason, comes running when he hears the string snap, and wants to play with it. I suppose the first time he was close by, he saw the light reflecting off the loose string, and it caught his eye.

So now he associates that sound with it. :rofl
 
TSJMajesty said:
Other than those burrs, and leaving them on too long, I don't break strings.
Click to expand...
I haven't broken any in a while either tbh. But when I played 3 or 4 nights a week in FL years ago, I'd at least break 2 a night. Sometimes on the same song even, but I'd keep going best I could. Now I'm not saying my guitar saddles were perfect back then by any means, but I did attack harder then and used left hand vibrato a lot. Mix that with salt air and corroding strings = breakage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

strings2000
Tuned a 105 E string up to C on a 34
Replies
11
Views
247
BahamaDada
B
B
What impacts bend distance:pitch change ratio?
Replies
8
Views
369
EOengineer
E
TSJMajesty
Anyone Tune a 7-String As a 6?
2 3
Replies
48
Views
2K
Ed DeGenaro
Ed DeGenaro
W
Tell me about the Strandberg endurneck
2 3
Replies
40
Views
4K
Ed DeGenaro
Ed DeGenaro
TSJMajesty
Larger Low B String Question
Replies
17
Views
550
DrewJD82
DrewJD82
Back
Top