Do you have a fear of breaking strings

[braud357]

I have been playing for 55 years - I have NEVER broken a string The closest I ever came was when I was installing a set of Carvin (LaBella) roundwounds on my Carvin LB70. When I was installing them the A snapped at the ball-end when it was brought up to tension. (Note: - they sent me another set !)

 

[39-Bassist]

Not in that scenario, (unless you tune bass an octave too hi, lol)
Now breaking a string while playing oh yes...it has happened a few times.
Now where is my backup bass? Oh yeah there you are

 

[micguy]

On a bass, no. On a violin, absolutely. Your face is right in line with the strings on those.

 

[InhumanResource]

Do you get nervous when tuning or restringing that the string might break

No sir. Never broke one I wasn't trying to break in 20+ years of doing this nonsense.

 

[GC34]

On a bass, no. On a violin, absolutely. Your face is right in line with the strings on those.

Especially the E string on violin. Link Removed If were not for this video I'd be off strings.

 

[Steven Ayres]

In 50 years I've broken one electric string; it was on my first bass, a well used Wurlitzer short-scale six-string. I recently had a LaBella break at the loop as I was tuning it up, as someone previously described, but I count that as a manufacturing error. That's it.

 

[Parzival]

No. I've only broken one string while playing a gig. Funny enough it was an E string. Got a little carried away that night I guess. I was lucky to have an extra bass with me. Now I just keep a pack of Ernie Ball slinky strings, that I got on sale, in my trunk just in case. They've been sitting in the trunk for about 2 years.

Leads me to a question I never thought about. How long do strings last if they are in the original packaging?

 

[ThudThudThud]

I've broken exactly three strings whilst playing a gig. Since 1979. And I've been known to dig in hard.
It can happen, so I carry spares (and worn-in spares).
Steinberger bridge failed on me once (D-String). That was interesting. Couldn't even restring for the rest of the gig.

 

[micguy]

Especially the E string on violin. Link Removed If were not for this video I'd be off strings.

If you understand the Physics of vibrating strings, when it comes to plain strings, there are a lot of things that "line up" in interesting ways. The frequency that a string vibrates at is governed by its tension, its mass, and its scale length. If we assume a fixed scale length, the tension that a string can handle is proportional to its cross sectional area. But so is it's mass. If you make a bunch of plain strings of the same alloy, what that means is....for a given scale length, the thickness of the string does not determine how high you can tune it - there is a hard limit, for a given scale and alloy, as to how high the string can be tuned that is independent of the gauge.

In practice, if there are small surface flaws (or rust), they will affect a smaller string more, but for the most part, as most steels are similar, if you've picked a scale length, you have set a maximum pitch to which you can tune an open string. Robert Fripp tunes his guitars in fifths for the most part, but the top string interval isn't a fifth - it's a third - he tunes it to G. Other people often add strings to the lower end of a guitar's range, but not going up. Why? You can't tune it much higher, or it will break, no matter what gauge string he uses. Violins are tuned an octave above a guitar, but the string has half the scale length - not a coincidence (empirically, this has been known for centuries). The previous video shows someone tuning things above G - not much further up, it snaps. Coincidence? nope.

 

[aguacateojos]

Fear of injury? No.

Fear for my wallet? Yes.

 

[BassikLee]

Not while installing or tuning, no. I've broken ONE string on a gig. Been gigging since about '89. I do bring a backup bass, but still. Nope.

 

[mikewalker]

Never any issues installing strings. Have only ever broken ONE string during a song, circa 1980 when I was boiling my rotosounds in baking soda water to recycle them ( it was a popular trend at the time...)

 

[onda'bass]

Only if i use DR strings

 

[KenSmithFan]

In 53 years I've never broken a string, so no.

 

[pcake]

no, i don't have a fear of breaking strings, probably because i've been playing bass for 30 years and have never broken one.

if you frequently break bass strings, i'd check the nut and saddle for sharp spots. bass strings are very thick - i've owned over 50 basses in 6 different scale lengths, and played hundreds of basses with a VERY wide variety of strings, and i've never had a string break. if someone is breaking a lot of bass strings, there's a reason.

 

[TOOL460002]

When I was new to the Musicman 3+1 headstock I managed to crank the D string tuning key while playing the G, thought my tuner was acting funny and then snap! You only do that once.

 

[Pauly 4001]

talkbass is not your best therapy option.

GC34 started all the threads -- check his posting history. He's either genuinely obsessed or a troll.

Perhaps this fixation on strings breaking is sort of like Dwayne in this clip

 

[MrLenny1]

No, not bass strings, Never happened in 30 years.
Broke one string awhile ago but it was already on & tunes.

d.

 

[Gabu]

Do you get nervous when tuning or restringing that the string might break

I don't think I ever broke a bass string.

 

[ebo]

I fear that when I'm wearing women's lingerie and my girlfriend is spanking me that a random bass player will take my picture through the window and post it on TB. The odds of that happening are the same as me breaking a string.