Broke my D string.....:(

totaldoughnut · #1 06-09-2011, 02:57 AM

Damn broke the D string of my brand new set of Dáddario chromes while trying to tune. Im 39yo and have been practicing for about 2 months. Ive been a diesel mechanic since 19 so ofcourse very mechanically inclined. Ive got a cheaper p clone as a first base. Took it apart rewired, installed qp pups, and shielded with no problems. Got my new set of flatwounds in the mail today yay. Broke the D string while trying to tune. Going to take it to my local gc for strings and full tuning. Do they sell individual strings there? What the usual going price for setup? Live and learn I guess, sad that string was only about 45mins old before I broke it. Got to say though the flatwounds feel so sexy on the fingers, cant wait to test out in the garage.

slaphappychappy · #2 06-09-2011, 03:22 AM

most guitar shops i've been to sell separate strings. Did you over tighten it and tune an octave or 2 higher? or does it just need a good set up?

fhm555 · #3 06-09-2011, 06:11 AM

Did it fail where the string breaks over the bridge saddle or the nut? If so you may need to soften the edge(s) of the offending saddle or nut slot.

totaldoughnut · #4 06-09-2011, 10:09 PM

It broke up at the nut. Im actually thinking the nut should probably be replaced. I know its not a high end base, but I want it to be setup correctly and make it play the best it possibly can. The nut is supposed to slant back slightly towards the tuners isnt it? Mine slants towards the frets. Its a lefty bass, im thinking they just took the same cheapo nut used on the right hand and flipped it around causing the slant to go the wrong way. Any thoughts on this? I may just go ahead and but a whole set of strings from gc and keep the other three for spares.

slaphappychappy · #5 06-09-2011, 11:37 PM

Bass btw. A base is at the bottom of a lamp.

totaldoughnut · #6 06-10-2011, 12:51 AM

makkE · #7 06-10-2011, 05:16 AM

You're right about the nut I think. Weird. Do you have a photo of it?
The sharp angle could have caused the breakage.

totaldoughnut · #8 06-12-2011, 02:03 AM

Well I went to my local guitar center today and bought another set of strings. I wanted to drop the bass off and have them set it up, but they wanted $40 just to install the strings and about $150 for a full setup. The tech did give me a couple of blank nuts to play around with though. He confirmed that the nut is jacked up, and cracked. I spent a couple hours playing around with the setup at home, learned alot from this site. I set the truss rod using a straight edge. Set intonation, string height, and pickup height. Managed to get it in tune without breaking my D string this time. Sounds really good with the new pups and chromes. Still could not get the action as low as I wanted without buzz. So far for a low end bass the neck seems to be stable and its holding tune. Thinking that after I replace the junk nut I would try to shim the neck a hair to see if I can get the action lower.

When the action was set nice and low the buzz was caused by the 20th fret, was hitting that fret enough to cancel out three notes above it. Meaning that 20,19,18,17 were all the same note. Was thinking of the neck shim or possibly just sanding down fret 20 slightly.

makkE · #9 06-12-2011, 05:23 AM

Cool. Always cheaper to learn to set-up oneself

Concerning buzz and low action (your 20th fret-prob aside): It's always a compromise - you can't have extreme low action and no buzz.(at least not on a low-end instrument).

What helps is technique. The lower you want your action, the lighter your touch should be. Also, hitting the strings in the right angle - perpendicular to the strings will help to have less buzz. Some players have their strings on "always buzz and clack mode" and just incorporate it into their sound - depends on genre though

.

Before you start sanding that fret, I'd make a photo and post it here - you will possibly be suggested alternate solutions from the experts here (wich I am not). Shim might help, yes, but I am not too familar with that either.

slaphappychappy · #10 06-12-2011, 05:35 AM

in other words, work with what you have

JLS · #11 06-12-2011, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by totaldoughnut

Well I went to my local guitar center today and bought another set of strings. I wanted to drop the bass off and have them set it up, but they wanted $40 just to install the strings and about $150 for a full setup. The tech did give me a couple of blank nuts to play around with though. He confirmed that the nut is jacked up, and cracked. I spent a couple hours playing around with the setup at home, learned alot from this site. I set the truss rod using a straight edge. Set intonation, string height, and pickup height. Managed to get it in tune without breaking my D string this time. Sounds really good with the new pups and chromes. Still could not get the action as low as I wanted without buzz. So far for a low end bass the neck seems to be stable and its holding tune. Thinking that after I replace the junk nut I would try to shim the neck a hair to see if I can get the action lower.

When the action was set nice and low the buzz was caused by the 20th fret, was hitting that fret enough to cancel out three notes above it. Meaning that 20,19,18,17 were all the same note. Was thinking of the neck shim or possibly just sanding down fret 20 slightly.

A neck shim will not fix this--why do you think it would?

If F20 is high, it needs to be filed, and at this point, it would be a good idea to have some fallaway introduced into the frets after F15, especially if you're going for super low action. I would think that a $150 setup at GC would have to include this--and $40, to change strings?

MrSaturdayNight · #12 06-12-2011, 10:38 AM

$190 for a set up and a restring is CRAZY expensive.

I've had my restrung, cleaned (mostly fretboard) and professionally set up for less then
$35 (including the cost of strings).

$190 for that amount of work is out of the question. Id go as far as to say any more then $50 is out of the question.

It took about half an hour for the tech to finish all the work done to my bass. So he made about $20 for one half hour worth of work. Not bad... he still made good money and I didn't ripped off either.

totaldoughnut · #13 06-12-2011, 02:32 PM

I did more research on neck shimming, I didnt completely understand it. I was thinking a shim at the top of the pocket would tilt the neck slightly forward and help raise the strings at the lower fret. I dont have an issue with the bridge saddles not lowering enough, so for now I will not be playing with shims. I ordered a pre slotted pbass tusq nut to replace the damaged plastic one. I will play around again with the settings after the new nut is in. Ill prob pick up some small nail files and play around with the lower frets. Ill get it right eventually.

Jls, could you explain to me what the term fallaway is?

bass9454 · #14 06-12-2011, 02:52 PM

I broke my E string while playing the Star Wars theme.
EPIC

totaldoughnut · #15 06-13-2011, 02:00 AM

Got it setup even better now. Checked the neck with my machinist straight edge and noticed it still wasnt quite straight. Got the neck set with about .010" relief. Got the action really low now. I slightly worked over the buzzing frets with my small set of jewelers files, works great. Im really liking how it sounds now with the flatwounds, new pups, and foam mute. The files are small enough that just sticking my finger under the strings and taping the board around the fret gave me plenty of room to carefull take off the high spots.

Downside is that ill have to recheck it all after I replace the nut. Ohwell, good practice and its fun to tinker with.

Popbumper · #16 06-13-2011, 09:46 AM

Had my Squier P set up, neck strobed, adjusted, cleaned, added some missing screws, installed a new set of Ernie Ball Slinkys for $65 total. I did not consider that expensive.

Chris