Gretch Baritone string breakage!

[tbone409]

So here's the story, i have a low end Gretsch baritone, 30" scale tuned EADGbe. i bought it about 6 months ago, and havn't changed the strings yet due to availability and time constraints.

It was strung with fender's own 95-25 string set
and i was always extremely dissatisfied with the string to string balance, not to mention that after 6 months the tone was muffled and hollow and it went out of tune frequently.

so i went to juststrings dot com to see what i could do. i bought a Ken Smith SS balanced shortscale set 106-44 E-G and then bought a Ken Smith .28 High C for my b string, then i went to singles to shop around and bought a SIT .18 and a GHS .20 on the logic that SIT makes Conklin's high F in .18 and GHS manufactures Ken smith strings

The Problem is this bad boy


i didn't even get to tune up before the A string snapped followed by the SIT high e. a quick restring of the high e then 5 seconds later the GHS .20. all the strings are breaking right at the tremolo

now im using this method from bigsby


but i need help

any solutions?

different strings? operator error? take it to a tech?

[tbone409]

morning bump

[perogato02]

Hmmm, I have the same baritone Gretsch for about a year and only encountered a snapped high E ... so my guess is that a tech is the best option.
Maybe a sharp edge on the tremelo-bar (or whatever it is called :$)

[hasbeen]

you say they're breaking right at the trem. Where at the trem? Is it where it takes the sharp angle?...as noted by the letter A in you diagram?

[tbone409]

Originally Posted by hasbeen

you say they're breaking right at the trem. Where at the trem? Is it where it takes the sharp angle?...as noted by the letter A in you diagram?

yes right at the end where the silk wrapping ends on the ken smith strings, where the solid string turns into a double helix-ish thing. there was a loud pop and then the string just all turned into a mess of jumbled wire right at the end.

on the high e it cleanly snapped off right where the wire becomes a double helix well before it got anywhere near in tune