Double Bass Help! Just busted the e string on my upright

[freemole]

About two minutes ago the e string on my eastman popped. I've never had this happen before. will keeping the other strings at tension harm my bass, or should I tune them down?
BTW, it was a spiro stark. my luthier keeps my tables under a lot of tension for some reason...

 

[Huy Nguyen]

Is it new? Maybe you just had a defective string?

If you plan on replacing the E-string yourself, I'd keep the tension on so your soundpost doesn't fall over.

 

[freemole]

Thanks for the quick reply.
No, it was about six months old. I will replace it myself but have to order the string - (i'll probably get a whole set) no one around here carries any. My thinking is the same as yours,
keep the strings at tension to keep the bridge and sound post in position.

 

[Huy Nguyen]

Yeah, my uneducated guess is that the bass will be fine with less tension. I mean, basses without tension simply aren't going to fall apart on you unless you happen to stick the bass in a sauna or something.

Remember that luthiers also have ancient basses lying around sans strings for months until they get restored. At least you have 3 strings on so the tension isn't totally offset to one side.

 

[Paul Warburton]

No, it won't hurt your bass. Many of us, including myself have finished gigs on three strings until we learned to always have extras in our bass bags.
DO check your bridge, making sure it's straight and the feet are level after putting on the new string.

 

[Joe Taylor]

In over 40 years of bass playing I only recall one string breaking on a friends bass. It just relaxed.

Check for sharp edge on the top side of the nut and make sure you put graphite on the gruve in the nut and on the bridge. Also check the tunning peg to make sure there are not sharp edges on the hole where the string passes through.

Joe