stretch is the enemy?

[SamJ]

So in my never ending quest for keeping the bright sound of my steels longer and longer, I came across something that said that the single biggest enemy (short term) to the sound of a string, and it's brightness is stretch.. that is to say, stretching of the string is what ruins its tone..

Does anyone go as far as carefully put their strings on so as not to over shoot the E A D G? That is to say, do you wind it up slowly to arrive at E, or do you over shoot to get the string stretched a bit, say to a F# G, and then back down to E? I've been doing the latter, thinking it would keep the bass in tune longer when the strings are new, but now I'm wondering if this is contributing to their faster demise?

Your thoughts..

[bkief1]

When installing new strings (bass, guitar), I tune up 1 whole step (E-F#) for example, for anywhere from 30 - 60 minutes. Works for me every time and has for quite some time. Strings, to me, stay in tune longer and extends life of string.

I am not familiar with the "notion" that tuning up a whole step to stretch a string ruins string brightness.

HTH

[SamJ]

Originally Posted by bkief1

I am not familiar with the "notion" that tuning up a whole step to stretch a string ruins string brightness.

HTH

I'm not for sure, but I think I read this on the back of a box of DR's, not so much the 1/2 step, but they talked about "Stretching" being the leading cause of bad sound.. I'll have to find a box of DR's now and see exactly what was said.

[spudmaster34]

just ran off and read a box of dr's, they said no such thing

[Jazzin']

I think it's only the round core DR's that come with instructions which include "do not stretch the string" or something like that. They're inside the box.

[spudmaster34]

ok, i dont really feel like going back to check the inside to

[SamJ]

Originally Posted by Jazzin'

I think it's only the round core DR's that come with instructions which include "do not stretch the string" or something like that. They're inside the box.

Bingo! That was them.. maybe it's just a round core thing??? I can't see how though..

I set up an experiment now, with my Roscoe Beck having stretched new set of D'addario pro-steels, and my Classic Jazz having a set that was tuned up to EADG with minimal or no overshoot.. I'll see which set sounds best longest, and I'll try to play them both the same amount of time every day (key word, try! )

[ArwinH]

The roundcore ox says that you jsut don't need to overstretch the strings beause of the design, nothin about brightness.

I do know that when you kill your strings, they are dead not only because of the dirt encrusted in them but also because you have been stretching out the strings and they aren't the same as when they were new. This comes from playing the strings, not from initially stretching the strings.