Do You Ever Break Strings??

[Bruce_M]

I used to break D & G strings back in the 70's and 80's playing funk and jazz...lots of slapping and picking. It's no longer a problem because I rarely play old school funk today.

 

[nico485]

Never while playing. Once when I was first starting out 15 years ago, while tuning. And then about 2 months ago I was tuning and a string snapped. Different bass. And this last time, my strings were getting old and I was tuning from standard at home practicing to a half step down when jamming with a friend. After doing this a couple times a week back and forth for a while, I guess the string just got stressed and couldn't take anymore.

 

[jjmuckluckjr]

During the punk era, let's just say my playing was a bit more heavy-handed. I buzz sawed through an E string using a pick the last song of an especially raucous set. Frankly it caught me by surprise, and I had a good laugh at it. There have been a few times over the years when I've tried to pull an E or A apart with my fingers, for the most part they hang in there.

Since then, the only one I broke was the first B string I ever replaced. The tension went from "wet noodle" to sharp flying object surprisingly fast. Musician's Friend was kind enough to send me a free replacement, so props to them seeing it was my fault. The representative on the phone said it was pretty common among first time 5er owners. Lesson learned.

 

[twinjet]

I've broken 1 string in 15 years. It was an E string I dropped to C, and it was on the very first note of the first song of a gig. (of course!)

How does that happen? I thought strings broke because of burrs or excessive tension?

I've broken maybe one string, when I was new. A second string I bought broke while I was tuning. It was a C string and it just broke before it even got to pitch. Whoops.

 

[Nev375]

When I was young and played like a spastic monkey I broke a few here and there.

I discovered the solution was growing up and learning how to play actual music.

 

[beaglesandbass]

How does that happen? I thought strings broke because of burrs or excessive tension?

I have no idea. It was so long ago, I don't remember specifics. I was a poor freshman in college so maybe it was old. Maybe it was just one of those things.

 

[Rimbaud88]

My friend plays in a funk band where he slaps almost all the time and where the bass is the main instrument. He told me he breaks strings more often than the guitarists do.

 

[petergales]

In 30 years of playing bass I've never broken a string. The only incident I've ever had like that was a string failure with a Fender Taper Wound 110 E string that just unwound itself mid song. Never used TW110s again!

 

[MegaSwing]

I've never broken a string while playing. In my very earliest days as a musician I inadvertently broke one on someone else's instrument by over-tightening it. As I recall, it sort of gave way slowly.

FWIW, I have never used light gauge strings, always regular or medium.

 

[baileyboy]

I have never, ever, broken a bass string...

Same here, been playing since early 80s, never have broken a string.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Nope, never ever

 

[Blister]

Only once or twice when I was in my first couple years of playing and I would dig in really hard. That's in over 25 years of playin'

 

[mikeyjm2]

Only once in ~35 years of playing and the once was right after I started (playing stupidly aggressively as a youngster).

 

[stonewall]

never have

 

[Nephilymbass]

Back when I was gigging (70s-80s-90s) I would occasionally get all excited end end up yanking a D or G string completely off my Jazz Bass-- the other bass cats around would behave like what I had done was extraordinary, sure didn't seem like it to me. Playing six nights a week with two basses, I discovered that I had to change my Rotos about every ten days or so or the risk of a "flat" would go way up, usually right at the end ball, so I was buying a set of Rotos a week for alternate basses. Is it a big deal to blow a bass string? Have you done it recently?

Been playing over 20 years and have never broken a string. But I also have to add I've never gone more than a couple months without new strings

 

[bassliner50]

3 strings let go in 50 years. Still I carry spares in my gig bag.

 

[Fingerpickingood]

I'm thinking that maybe... Juuuuust maybe... I dig in too hard.

 

[quickervicar]

Back when I started out I would break strings all the time. (maybe a dozen?) My bass was a short scale cheapo Hohner running medium-gauge GHS Bass Boomers. Live, practice, whenever, they just broke right at the saddle. I checked for burrs. None. It wasn't just the G or D either. No warning, just SPRONNNNNGGGGGGG. Very strange. No one could figure it out. (I'm guessing it was a poor bridge design with a very steep break angle)

After I got my first G&L I threw that Hohner down an elevator shaft. Glorious noise. Should have been plugged in.

 

[Jim Nazium]

I can't remember ever breaking one. Definitely none in the last 8 years (since I re-started playing); maybe one or two when I was a kid.

 

[BonesawMcgraw13]

I've never broken a string. I once kept tuning too high because I totally went past the octave where I was supposed to be and didn't realize it. The "forks" on my tuning machine broke before the string did. I was quite displeased.