Book a gig at Herb's Bar in downtown Denver on a summer night. It's a sweaty gig; I will kill the tone on a set of strings in there in one night every time.
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How to break in strings faster?
- Thread starter Leo Thunder
- Start date
Just learn how to properly spot stretch each new string.. its an art, because simply pulling at the string will damage the string in small ways that could effect intonation
I think this is a great question / thread. I have wanted to learn techniques to accelerate this myself, and clearly there are many people who have similar desires.
The people who have mentioned the stretching - of course we should all be stretching the strings when we install them and after - to get the strings stable. But once strings reach stability, they still often have the zing some of us want to get rid of quicker. And sorry those of you who mention the tone control, but that's only part of the equation. There is no substitute for aged strings as far as getting the zing out - and the comfort that comes from having The Funk on the strings. [look up James Jamerson]
Someone mentioned body lotion. I gotta believe something like that, with the right ingredients, would indeed achieve this quicker, in a safe manner.
I came up with a way recently to mellow the strings out, and they feel Awesome, but I hesitate to share it because I don't know if it is truly safe.
If anyone has Successfully come up with lubes/lotions that have worked well and not killed the fretboard or caused fret lift, do share.
The people who have mentioned the stretching - of course we should all be stretching the strings when we install them and after - to get the strings stable. But once strings reach stability, they still often have the zing some of us want to get rid of quicker. And sorry those of you who mention the tone control, but that's only part of the equation. There is no substitute for aged strings as far as getting the zing out - and the comfort that comes from having The Funk on the strings. [look up James Jamerson]
Someone mentioned body lotion. I gotta believe something like that, with the right ingredients, would indeed achieve this quicker, in a safe manner.
I came up with a way recently to mellow the strings out, and they feel Awesome, but I hesitate to share it because I don't know if it is truly safe.
If anyone has Successfully come up with lubes/lotions that have worked well and not killed the fretboard or caused fret lift, do share.
I just EQ to taste when I have new strings. Today I spent some 2 hours with my brand new Dingwall Afterburner (I got it some 2 weeks ago, but I didn't really play much more than 10min. in total to "try it out", until I finally finished putting a custom pickguard on it), which comes with brand new, super sparkly, Dingwall rounds. They're excellent strings, but as all new strings...too bright. And apparently they leave a little bit of "residue" in the first few plays:
Geez.....
No oil.
No butter.
No boiling.
No skin cream.
No fowl, grilled or fried.
No fish.
No dangling, stretching, banging, etc
I just play the things. A lot. A whole lot.
I change strings every few weeks.
The strings I use (Ernie Ball Power Slinkies) aren’t fingernail-on-chalkboard bright right out of the package, but they hold that state of brightness for quite a while. So apparently, no arduous break-in period or exercise is necessary.
Yay, lucky me, judging by the 4 pages I just read through...
No oil.
No butter.
No boiling.
No skin cream.
No fowl, grilled or fried.
No fish.
No dangling, stretching, banging, etc
I just play the things. A lot. A whole lot.
I change strings every few weeks.
The strings I use (Ernie Ball Power Slinkies) aren’t fingernail-on-chalkboard bright right out of the package, but they hold that state of brightness for quite a while. So apparently, no arduous break-in period or exercise is necessary.
Yay, lucky me, judging by the 4 pages I just read through...
