• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Breaking strings too often

#21
nacho- said:
Hi there, i'm playing from a few years and in this last months i've been breaking strings too often, I mean, once a week. A, E, B strings, from a fender mb-5.

I use .040 .060 .075 .095 .125, should i move to .045 .065 .085 .105 .130?? Or should i moderate myt techiche?

Nacho, from Argentina.
Click to expand...
I've never broken an A, E, or B string. If one was going to go, it would be a G string. (Broke a D string maybe once or twice.)

Try a better brand of string.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Helix
#22
nacho- said:
Hi there, i'm playing from a few years and in this last months i've been breaking strings too often, I mean, once a week. A, E, B strings, from a fender mb-5.

I use .040 .060 .075 .095 .125, should i move to .045 .065 .085 .105 .130?? Or should i moderate myt techiche?

Nacho, from Argentina.
Click to expand...
Try rounding off the area where the string is breaking with a file, as for string gauges use what you like, I like the 45.65.85.105.130. Size. Go to MUSICIANS FRIEND and get their Rogue Stainless steel round wound strings, they come in 3 OF THE SAME STRINGS A PACK FOR LIKE $4.00 FOR 3 SMALL GAUGE STRINGS AND $10.00 FOR 3 BIG SIZE STRINGS, HELL OF A DEAL. I can get my 3-45's 3-65's 3-85's 3-105's and 3-130's for like $30 some $40 some dollors, they last me forever and I play pretty hard at times and every day I jam.
 
#24
Gorn said:
How exactly did you tie a broken string in a way that let it still work afterwards?
Click to expand...

Since they're breaking at the bridge, I'm guessing he's got enough string around the tuning post to back it off and give him enough length to tie a knot in the back that holds it in the bridge. That or something like the way a classical guitar's strings are tied at the bridge.
 
#25
Mr Gaston said:
Ok, I'm calling BS. Can't believe I'm the first one.

He's breaking B strings? And then he's tying them back together?

The only thing he's playing is this forum.
Click to expand...
He's apparently willing to make a video demonstrating how to tie a broken bass string back together. I also don't think it's possible, but we'll see.
CGremlin said:
Since they're breaking at the bridge, I'm guessing he's got enough string around the tuning post to back it off and give him enough length to tie a knot in the back that holds it in the bridge. That or something like the way a classical guitar's strings are tied at the bridge.
Click to expand...
Maybe. I'm looking forward to the video.
 
#27
I've been playing for 30-ish years and I broke one string. That was on a bass with a whammy. Something isn't right. Either the strings are incredibly bad, you have extremely sharp saddles or your playing technique needs some major work.
 
#29
Mr Gaston said:
Ok, I'm calling BS. Can't believe I'm the first one.

He's breaking B strings? And then he's tying them back together?

The only thing he's playing is this forum.
Click to expand...
I was thinking that too, because I have in the past broken D and G strings that have been on my Bass to long and I kept tuning up and down and up and down doing drop tune stuff and my strings broke at the key where I could take another string fold it in half wind it around and use it again. NOW THIS GUY IS BREAKING 5- STRING BASS STRING GAUGES 125. B STRING AND 95. GAUGE AT THE SADDLE, YOU CAN'T TIE IT BACK AND USE IT RIGHT WHERE IT BROKE ON THE SADDLE. I AGREE!!!!
 
#30
We don't know the scale after all. Is it an extra long scale? B E A and D strings but not never ever the tiny G??! This - believe me - is a first. Don't know if he plays with a pick. The saddles at the bridge can be inadvertently switched "front to back" and thus makes the angle of the string touch a sharper part of the saddle. But not the G-string.

I've seen this on certain regular guitars though. 6 string electrics. Where they have turned on the saddles to make the string be as far back as it can be, due to intonation, but then they'll break for breakfast. You should make sure you are buying the set of strings appropriate for the scale. You can't buy short scale strings and put'em on there. And vice cersa
 
Last edited:
#31
samson3382 said:
I used to break strings when I had a combination of:
1. Having dead, dull strings with no tone, I played too hard to try and compensate.
2. Having low power amps and trying to play too hard to be louder. These resulted in:
3. Bad technique. Once I started buying elixirs, (about once a year) and playing through VERY loud amps, my technique cleaned up. Let the strings and the amp do the heavy lifting.
Click to expand...
I have a six string Schecter bass. Bought it brand new in 2008! The Elixir strings that came with it never broke, including the C string which is still on the bass to this day.

+1 on loud amps. Lighten your touch and let the electronics do what they are supposed to do. Turn the gain up just a smidge and save yourself some painful wrist problems later down the road.
 
#32
Does the bass looks something like this?

FenderMB56-vi.jpg


I mean, the saddle and bridge part? The angle isn't that steep. I don't know if this is the only version it comes in, or if it has body through string inserts which calls for a very steep and sharp angle. If it has done like this since it was new, I'd say have it serviced. Something's wrong with the saddles.

What you forgot to tell us all, is whether this has happened too, whenever you can afford D'addario strings? I think you should check out all Stainless Steel strings. And go up a gauge. D'addario makes them too.They don't corrode as much in damp and humid Argentina.

Since it does this with all except the G-string, I figure it must be the saddles that has been reversed, or that you don't use the saddles for its intended string gauge. Maybe you use the D saddle for B string, and the G is the sole one that's a happy camper because that gauge can reside in any of the larger slots.

You can't use the same saddle for the b-string as for the g-string. The slot must fit accordingly. My suspicion is that one, rather than the sharp edges or turned around saddles. The largest slot in the saddle must be "run over" by the thick B-string and so on, and the slots get smaller in diameter as you go down to the g-string. Maybe the g-string is the only one having its right slot and saddle?
 
#34
nacho- said:
They're breaking near the saddless, always.

my strings are some argentinian-made, not so good brand. when they break, i use to tie them in order to spend less money. Sometimes i save money and buy d'Addario .040.

And i play hard... i mean, i play many many many hours a week and i guess i dont realize the fact that i play very hard.
Click to expand...

Do you play with a pick? Or fingers? You should guide us to whatever Argentinian brand of strings you use. They might have a site. And guide us to the direct link to exact same set that you use. FWIW go up to 045 and try Stainless Steel too, but before you try anything like that, check the saddles.
 
#40
I am starting to think of the latter too. Do you play the thin G-string just as often as the lower ones too? Those low slung "punk image" basses played with a pick doesn't play the string that is farthest from the reach. I suspect that "learn how to play" is an elusive one for you.

Remember that jazz great Pat Martino was (is) so heavy in his picking that he actually broke his guitar strings in no time. Only when he put a 016 set on (high E 016) and a barbed wire as thick e it held up to his brutal force. You can't accuse him for not being able to play. And it's jazz even, not any kind of punk or heavy metal. This is strange to me. Because tuning up a 016 to high E would be the thing actually causing it to break. But he broke them midway, not at the bridge. Where the pick struck.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back