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Over tightened E string by accident

#41
I did the Peter Cetera thing back in the day when I first took up bass about 1989. My first bass was an early G&L L2000 my Dad bought from a coworker. It had an old set of flats on it (one busted) and the guy who helped me start playing gave me a new pack of strings and loaned me a tuner. I took them off before even plucking a note and did what he said, tuning it EADG. Of course I ended up tuning it up an octave and must have had it tuned that way for a few days before seeing him again. He picked it up and plucked a note and had that strange look on his face. He immediately knew what had happened and started to laugh. We got it properly tuned and he was amazed/impressed that the old G&L neck stayed true. It was a learning experience for sure.
 
#48
Wood is ridiculously strong. My father was a Highway Patrolman and saw more than his fair share of auto accidents. He always said, "You got a choice between hitting a tree or hitting anything else? Miss that tree, they have no give and will kill you dead."
 
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#49
I did that on my first bass. A B.C. Rich... I also wound the string in the wrong direction(away from the headstock instead if towards it) and the tension cracked the tuning peg. The repair guy I brought it to had a good laugh.

Now do my own full setups. I've even had a couple of guys who've played my bass ask me to give them my tech's name.
 
#51
AgressivePassiv said:
I did that on my first bass. A B.C. Rich... I also wound the string in the wrong direction(away from the headstock instead if towards it) and the tension cracked the tuning peg. The repair guy I brought it to had a good laugh.

Now do my own full setups. I've even had a couple of guys who've played my bass ask me to give them my tech's name.
Click to expand...

Hadn't considered a compromised peg post. That's a new one on me, but totally plausible with smaller, tapered peg posts and a flaw in the cast metal.
 
#54
paparoof said:
Reminds me of that episode of Mythbusters trying to slice hanging pig bodies in half with snapping cables. OUCH!

That said, every bass string I ever broke just kinda unraveled gently - never seen one actually snap and go sproinging like that.
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Am I the only one that had a string fly?

Been playing a few years at the time, working out some slap/pop funk line and the D string broke right at the tuner. Flew off and cut my cheek.
The strings were probably a month old. I just figured it happens all the time, and grabbed a new set.

I have to believe there was a bad core and the single winding over the core at the point of breakage just broke. IIRC that is the last string I have broken.
 
#55
MegaSwing said:
Hadn't considered a compromised peg post. That's a new one on me, but totally plausible with smaller, tapered peg posts and a flaw in the cast metal.
Click to expand...

That reminds me... I went to change my strings a while back, and the E string tuning peg popped right out of its hole. Had to take the tuner apart and screw the damn thing back together. And I wasn't even close to E yet. Thankfully it didn't fly in my face...
 
#56
I must stress that I was young.... and dumb. Stanley Clarke had just made a splash with his piccolo bass.
I figured, what could be easier? Just tune the strings on my Fender MusicMaster up an octave.

Luckily the D or G string snapped and I came to my senses. :D
 
#57
The only bass string I ever broke was on someone else's bass before I ever started playing bass. He was a lefty playing a righty Gibson Thunderbird and had crossed the A and D strings on the tuners (to optimize string length?). Anyway, I was tightening the A without realizing it, and the string, a RotoSound 66, quietly came unraveled within the silks. It took me a month to find a replacement. (This was the mid-70s; today I could find one in five minutes—without leaving the room.) That damned string cost $10 in real 1976 currency, too. What a pain!

I told y'all that to tell you this: I've never once broken a bass string in the time that I've been playing.
 
#58
My brain farted in a similar way trying to tune my brand new Squier Affinity 5 string.... Only got to like 2.5 steps above the low E or so before my brain closed its ***hole, and also the B-string was probably like 4 steps downtuned during this gas leak, should be fine right?
 

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