That's it! I'm sick of breaking strings!

[Casey C.]

I bought a set of blue steels less than a month ago and the E string broke. I had set everything up right when I was putting them on, I haven't down tuned it at all and my playing had become less aggressive. Whats going wrong? I haven't had trouble with my Carvin LB-75 as far as frequent string breakage until I had things adjusted by a local shop. The E string on the set of string he put on broke within 2 weeks. I replaced the whole set and put a new bridge on and reset it. The B on that set lasted a month or so. Before my troubles started, My strings would last ATLEAST 6 months. I switched from picking to fingering but my agressiveness has always been the same. Any tips? Suggestions? help at all?

[stop_drop_pop33]

uhhh...

-when you put on your strings, make sure the string wraps 2 or 3 times around the machine head to seat it tightly into the nut, and to prevent breakage

-tune your bass using an ELECTRONIC tuner

-tune the bridge to the right intonation

that should be it?

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Originally posted by stop_drop_pop33
uhhh...

-when you put on your strings, make sure the string wraps 2 or 3 times around the machine head to seat it tightly into the nut, and to prevent breakage

-tune your bass using an ELECTRONIC tuner

-tune the bridge to the right intonation

that should be it?

Detuning your bass won't break your strings-they're actually less likely to break because of the lack of tension. And intonation won't have anything to do with string breakage-although a sharp edge on a bridge saddle can lead to broken strings. But since you said you've recently switched bridges, this is probably not the reason. Do your strings break in the same place all the time or in different locations?

BTW, there are several links here about the same subject, so there is more available info in the archives.

[Casey C.]

All of my strings break at the bridge. Before and after the bridge swap.

-when you put on your strings, make sure the string wraps 2 or 3 times around the machine head to seat it tightly into the nut, and to prevent breakage

never heard that one, I'll make sure I do that next time. I always wrapped it around alittle more than one time.

Detuning your bass won't break your strings-they're actually less likely to break because of the lack of tension.

really? You would think that by dropping your bass out of standard tuning would create breakage problems by stretch the strings out and relieving them.

[Joe Nerve]

This must be a string kharma thing or something. I really don't understand how people break strings - especially E strings. I've been told by more than one salesperson that I play harder than most people they see. I've done everything imaginable to my basses, hit them, plucked them, smashed them, knocked the hell out of them with a pick, and ripped into them as hard as I could - I've only broken a string once - and I'm sure it was because it was the one time I boiled them.

My only guesses might be:

You may need to alter the way you're attacking the strings. You might be plucking or pulling at them as opposed to sorta letting your fingers slide off them.

Maybe the place you buy your strings at has them sitting on the shelf for years - or stores them right beneath a radiator or in some other unpleasant condtition that kills strings. Maybe he/she buys discount rejects or something. See if buying your strings elsewhere helps at all.

Lastly, if the person who replaced your bridge is the same person you buy strings from - perhaps they install little razors in the bridges to increase their string sales. Yeah, that's probably it.... or they file them into little blades....

Maybe they put a secret kind of acid on them that only heats up when the strings vibrate..... that could be it too........

I have to go take my medication now.

[KB]

Check for rough spots on your bridge where the string goes across the saddle. The Carvin LB70 I used to have would break strings (the G string) a lot and I founs a small rough spot on the bridge saddle.

-KB

[SwilsonR]

i experimented with different string heights on my Toby Pro-5 a few years ago. I raised the action, and subsequently broke three strings (E and B) in a relatively short time span. It turns out that the angle i was bending the strings at the bridge was too sharp... try moving you saddles out a little bit and see if that helps.

[stop_drop_pop33]

Originally posted by SwilsonR
i experimented with different string heights on my Toby Pro-5 a few years ago. I raised the action, and subsequently broke three strings (E and B) in a relatively short time span. It turns out that the angle i was bending the strings at the bridge was too sharp... try moving you saddles out a little bit and see if that helps.

precisely...diffy man, thats what i said.

yes. if he swapped bridges, either the bridge height or slider intonation causes the strings to break. the e string slider should be near the bottom, and the tops of the following sliders should be a centimeter above the slider before it. if the string is pressing against the very edge of the slider this causes breakage.

either that or the height of the bridge causes too much pressure on the slider, and the string cant handle that much psi, causing a break.

'tain't rocket science. 'tis BASS science!

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Sorry stop_drop! Actually, SwilsonR is talking about action and you had mentioned intonation, which is different altogether, but I'm sure that's what you meant.

Casey C., there shouldn't be a problem with breakage due to detuning because you aren't actually stretching the strings any more than they were, unless they were well above standard tuning to begin with. Bass strings are pretty tough; you should be able to change your tunings up or down at least a little without having to worry about breakage. Heck, you should be able to bend and slap the hell out of a good set and still expect them to last longer than a month.

[Casey C.]

I have my saddles sitting rather high, thats probably my problem. But I have them high because of my playing. I'm a pretty aggressive player I guess. I get alot of fret noise from my fingers when the saddles are low. What am I to do? I'm think about giving flat wounds a try.

[Bryan R. Tyler]

It could be your bass, but it's possible you just need a setup done. You shouldn't have to resort to incredibly high action or using flatwounds in order to get a non-buzzing bass with no excessive string breakage. Does the buzzing occur in specefic areas of the neck (ie. lowest frets, above the 12th fret, everywhere, etc)?

What exactly did the local shop DO to your bass?

[stop_drop_pop33]

your making me feel naked bryan, stop it you silly savage!

[Bryan R. Tyler]

[jasonbraatz]

if you're a pretty aggressive player, you're going to break strings.


drop your action to the point where you have to play lightly or else your bass will buzz, turn up your amp, and play lighter

[ldiezman]

you may also want to invest in buying numerous single strings....