Broke my first ever string

[static0verdrive]

Going to start carrying some spare strings, looks like the wisest thing to do!

95% I don't play with a pick but I can sometimes play aggressively down at the bridge.

I'm guilty of changing the strings that broke, swapping them to other basses that aren't string thru - my hunch is that from all the bending (Down where the strings go through the body) had caused the string to lose it's strength and give way. I will definitely check for those sharp burrs though as they probably didn't help the situation.

Thanks for the advice guys, will definitely, start carrying some spares - I must have 10 sets of strings under my bed!

Cheers

I broke a G-string once ( ) popping it. Since then, just in case, I keep my previous set of strings in the case after I restring - I never had the money to keep a brand new set unused, and it just makes the most sense to me to have the most recent used ones be the backup set.

 

[akukulich]

I'd bet that it broke because you went through the body with the string. Labella makes a set of flats designed specifically to go through the body. Otherwise I'd go through the bridge is that's an option for you. Your lucky it didn't happen on a gig.

 

[mr15x3]

I boiled my strings, this was the first and so far only time, and a week later the E popped down at the ball... I wasn't playing hard or anything, just thumping away, and BAM! It was so unexpected I couldn't help but smile about it!

Taught me to always carry spares though, old or new, they'll get you through.

 

[beaglesandbass]

I've only broken one string. It just happened to be the very first note of the very first song of the set. Since then I always travel with two basses, just in case.

 

[Hevy T]

Happened to me once years ago. Was slsmming on the e string playing either sone judas oriest or quiet riot and next thing you know bloink flop flop flop! I have snapped many a g string but that was the first and only e

 

[Matt O]

 

[TheLowEndMedic]

I used to break strings on a fairly regular basis, usually during regular playing (although I am a slapper). I would break a string every few months, with everything I tried (black diamond, EB, cleartone, rotosound, etc...) and with every bass. I switched to La Bella nylon tapewound strings about a year and a half ago, and haven't broken one since (I gig weekly).

 

[fakeneckplate'65]

I didn't think flatwound strings, unless otherwise specified, are supposed to be strung through the body. The angle is too severe without damaging the wrap/core.

I would string through the bridge.

 

[Treadstone71]

The E snaps. Erg 2 days before a gig.

That's life cutting you a break right there. It snapped two days before, and not AT the gig. Two days is ample time to restring and break in the new set before the show.

 

[Mattrill]

That's life cutting you a break right there. It snapped two days before, and not AT the gig. Two days is ample time to restring and break in the new set before the show.

You're quite right. The bass gods have blessed me....

 

[Mattrill]

I didn't think flatwound strings, unless otherwise specified, are supposed to be strung through the body. The angle is too severe without damaging the wrap. I would string through the bridge.

I think this is the case. Also when I restrung the strings on another bass that wasn't string through, the strings were getting pulled straight again (before they were angled). Like when you bend a paper clip back and forth, at first it holds it strength but after a while it will snap. I'm pretty sure this has happend here.

Well we learn from our mistakes and I know not to keep swapping strings now!

 

[buldog5151bass]

Never tried Roto flats only their rounds. But I'm sure I will in the future - flats are my favourite type of strings!

I must ask Wallace, are you a Hammers fan? Or that fact Harris has that bass

Roto flats feel like steel cables - STIFF.

 

[Mattrill]

Roto flats feel like steel cables - STIFF.

So I've heard. One of the basses I practise with is strung with heavy gauge LaBellas. The action is super high but It really does help improve the conditioning in your fingers. Going to a lighter gauge string feels like butter after!

 

[Slpbass81]

My guitarist kept breaking his D string at gigs. The tech took some graphite lubricant or a pencil to it and the problem was solved.

 

[mistergoats]

I was just talking to my guitar player the other day about how I've never broken a bass string. One time at an outdoor show in October in Canada (it was pretty cold, maybe like 7 Celsius) the very bass side of my Jazz's nut broke and the E string somehow peeled up the neck binding and got hooked in there. I barely noticed, because the string was pretty taught still, so I kept trying to tune it until the bassist from the next band brought me his up to the stage. Hahaha.

I sill carry and extra set of strings to shows for safety, even though I've still never had it happen in over 20 years playing. KNOCK ON WOOD!

 

[bassfran]

Welcome to the club, Bub! Luckily, it wasn't on a gig.

I can count on one hand the number of bass strings that've broken in 30+ years of playing.
The weirdest being the 'B' on my 5string once at a rehearsal- had to have come from a bum batch.

 

[buldog5151bass]

I didn't think flatwound strings, unless otherwise specified, are supposed to be strung through the body. The angle is too severe without damaging the wrap/core.

'51 Ps were stringthru, and only flat around then.

 

[hifibass]

I bought a new Guild JSII/Stereo, made to order, around 1974. I'd broken one string in the prior 6 years and none after 1976 (up to now). During the 2 years I gigged this bass (5-7 nights per week) I must have broken 50+ strings. Never owned another Guild after that, I laid it off to the Rosewood saddles. Ken

 

[sxaxsx]

Going to start carrying some spare strings, looks like the wisest thing to do!
Cheers

I always hated when i'd break a string and change just that one string so I could keep playing the gig/rehersal, and that one string is brighter than the rest because it is new. Everything tonally and even volume seems out of balance.
So the soloution is that I carry in my gig bag a broken in old pair, that way if I break a string I can throw a replacement on that sounds the same as the rest.

 

[fakeneckplate'65]

'51 Ps were stringthru, and only flat around then.

Hmm, I didn't realize. I thought string through body for basses was a later " innovation ".

I was under the inpression that most present day flatwound strings are top load only unless otherwise specified.

With that being said, I've only ever used Labella's DTF-FS flatwounds so I'm unsure about other manufacturers.