string2000's Ultimate Guitar String Snapping Thread!

[TSJMajesty]

We talking G-strings? Shoe strings? String beans? String theory? String along-ding-dong? String quartets? String of bad luck? Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins? Or just your common twine?

He's just stringing us along.

 

[bucephalus]

Your mind tbh.

 

[unix-guy]

Do you have a string fetish?

I asked the same thing in another of his threads...

 

[Frodebro]

I rarely break strings anymore, but back in my bar band days I can honestly say that there was a direct correlation between alcohol consumed and string breakage.

 

[unix-guy]

Probably 30 years ago I was at band rehearsal.

I was playing a Floyd Rose equipped Charvel Fusion Deluxe (in era-appropriate Rainbow Crackle finish, to complete your visual).

I started playing the solo to one of our original songs when BAM! I snapped a string...

If you've ever used a guitar with a floating bridge you know that's the end cuz everything is totally out of tune.

Without missing a beat, the singer, bassist and rhythm guitarist step up to the mics and proceed to sing the rest of my solo and then finish the song!

It was that day that I learned the true power of melodic guitar solos, which most of mine were and still are.

 

[OrganicZed]

I'm left handed. It was too hard and expensive to get my hands on a lefty in grade school so I learned right handed and still play that way to this day.. which is probably why my playing is meh...

Your story is way cooler.

I know that its anecdotal, but one of my good childhood friends took up guitar at the same time I did. He is left handed and learned to play right handed guitars. He took to the instrument much faster than I did and he remains a better guitarist than I am all these years later.

It seems like using your dominant hand as the fretting hand would make guitar playing easier.

 

[TSJMajesty]

I know that its anecdotal, but one of my good childhood friends took up guitar at the same time I did. He is left handed and learned to play right handed guitars. He took to the instrument much faster than I did and he remains a better guitarist than I am all these years later.

It seems like using your dominant hand as the fretting hand would make guitar playing easier.

If I was a teacher, and some newbie came to me for lessons playing left-handed, I'd tell him to switch. Even if it took some time to get comfortable, the vast choices of right-handed guitars so outnumber the lefties, I feel it would be worth it. No matter which hand is dominant.

Kiko Loureino is left-handed, btw.

Just look at what Orv is willing to do to get a left-handed Silverburst! https://thegearforum.com/threads/wh...bloody-left-handed-les-paul-silverburst.9455/

 

[Sascha Franck]

If I was a teacher, and some newbie came to me for lessons playing left-handed, I'd tell him to switch.

Nah. Seriously, you don't do that. There's a fundamental difference whether your strong hand is guiding (aka the picking hand, at least in 90% of all cases) or following (aka the fingering hand).
I had two decent leftie students in my teaching career. Both of them started playing right handed and were pretty decent already when they came to me. One of them took the plunge and re-learned from start, hence playing left handed, the other one didn't. The one who changed made rapid progress. The other one (which is still a friend of mine) still at least sort of regrets not having changed.

Sure, there's exceptions. There's players that can play in any orientation and even on stock and upside-down stringed instruments. But in the vast majority of cases, it's the best idea when your strong hand does the picking.

 

[strings2000]

Nylon or Steel

 

[Alex Kenivel]

The G string

 

[Alex Kenivel]

I assume you're speaking in the context of acoustic guitars?

Steel strings, IME.

Although it's hard to tell what with the breakage resonating the entire instrument. Much less apparent with an electric

 

[strings2000]

I assume you're speaking in the context of acoustic guitars?

Steel strings, IME.

Although it's hard to tell what with the breakage resonating the entire instrument. Much less apparent with an electric

Yes

 

[strings2000]

Is knowing how high you can tune a hi e string helpful for knowing how high you can safely tune up?

 

[HotRats]

My lord, man. Give it a brake

 

[jellodog]

Is knowing how high you can tune a hi e string helpful for knowing how high you can safely tune up?

Only in very general terms.

Different manufacturers use different techniques and material compositions in their strings and there are even small variances within strings from the same manufacturer. And then there may be imperfections or rough spots in the bridge that cause unexpected string breakage. There are just too many variables involved.

Most people expect to be able to bend 2 or 3 steps above standard on a high E string, so perhaps that is a good enough as rule of thumb as to how high you can reasonably go.

 

[strings2000]

I fear breaking the hi e and g on my acoustic. I'm still scared of tuning them sometimes. Do you get goosebumps from tuning? I was nervous of tuning the hi e for sometime.

 

[jellodog]

Given that I tend to overthink things which is a cause of my anxiety issue, I dread bringing the high E up to pitch when I put on fresh strings.

I know it's weird, but the anxiety of it possibly happening is enough to ruin the activity for me.

The High E does seem like the most over-stressed of all the strings!

Fortunately, I use good strings that almost never break. I also constantly bend the E string up 2 steps as I bring it up to pitch. It's ridiculous really, but it seems like I'm proving to myself that everything is perfectly okay by my performing a "normal" string bend up to the pitch that I'm ultimately going to tune the string to, to sort of prove to myself that it will be fine.

 

[strings2000]

Given that I tend to overthink things which is a cause of my anxiety issue, I dread bringing the high E up to pitch when I put on fresh strings.

I know it's weird, but the anxiety of it possibly happening is enough to ruin the activity for me.

The High E does seem like the most over-stressed of all the strings!

Fortunately, I use good strings that almost never break. I also constantly bend the E string up 2 steps as I bring it up to pitch. It's ridiculous really, but it seems like I'm proving to myself that everything is perfectly okay by my performing a "normal" string bend up to the pitch that I'm ultimately going to tune the string to, to sort of prove to myself that it will be fine.

For me it's the G on acoustic. That's the one I break the most.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I fear breaking the hi e and g on my acoustic. I'm still scared of tuning them sometimes. Do you get goosebumps from tuning? I was nervous of tuning the hi e for sometime.

I tune up to the desired pitch (typically standard E) and call it a day. Sometimes a string may break during the process, but that's like in 0.01% of all cases and it's usually cheap strings. Also, very often the ball end is the culprit here, which is why I often (whenever I remember) add some extra soldering to the E1 string ball end windings.

 

[Sascha Franck]

For me it's the G on acoustic. That's the one I break the most.

Possibly time to check your bridge for sharp edges.