The 60lb. Rule......?

[ZenG]

60lb. Rule..........
Heard quite a bit about this here..........

I know it is the poundage on string tension.

Who invented the rule?

and....

Why?

Visiting string sites I see there are tension combos that go over that.

Do certain necks have poundage limits?

 

[joelb79]

I've never heard of it and I'm going to google it but maybe you can post a good abstract of the material?

EDIT: Google search only returns this thread. Please cite and explain the material.

 

[Jay2U]

I think that 60 pounds rule belongs Here

 

[ZenG]

I forget exactly what thread I read it in......I'm sure I read it here on this site......

I think I've read references to it elsewhere as well.....

I visit all kinds of guitar/bass sites during the day ..


Something to do with never exceeding 60lbs on a string.....

Maybe it was all humor and I'm the last one to get it......

 

[knuckle_head]

Exceeding 60 pounds approaches or exceeds tensile strength of most strings.

Anything much over 55 pounds stresses the left hand unduly.

 

[Bent77]

Exceeding 60 pounds approaches or exceeds tensile strength of most strings.

Anything much over 55 pounds stresses the left hand unduly.

+1, I try to stay under 50. There are enough variation in strings out there to get good tone without using suspension bridge quality cable...

 

[ixlramp]

I have mentioned 60 pounds a few times as a *very rough* upper limit, perhaps i have been misunderstood, i have never meant 'don't ever exceed'. People should experiment and use what they like, and are free to screw up their body with an unecessarily high tension if they want heh Some heavy sets approach 70 pounds on the D string. It depends on the string design, core size etc. Personally i find 105-45 unplayably tight, and consider your average 'medium' string set to be too tight, some kind of vicious-circle bad tradition that has persisted from early basses mimicking the tension of an acoustic contrabass.

 

[khutch]

Exceeding 60 pounds approaches or exceeds tensile strength of most strings.

I have broken exactly one string. Here is how it happened. I decided to try tuning in fifths, which I love as it turns out but that is another story. On my first attempt I thought I would drop the low strings by a half step and three half steps and then raise the high strings by the same amount to keep the total tension on the neck about the same. It seemed reasonable and all went well until I got to the G string. G#, no problem, A, no problem, I was about half a turn from A# when SNAP!! Big problem! The tension needed for A# was just about 60 lbs so while I have never heard anyone here mention a 60 lb rule I have held that to be about the limit ever since. I try to keep them all as close to 40 lbs as I can. Everything works well for me at that tension, YMMV.

 

[JustForSport]

Seems that I saw a "60# rule", possibly in ref to string making-
maybe it was GHS or someone that had a 'rule' which included a tolerance for tension in their manuf'g specs. Searched for it, but didn't find it yet.

 

[Pilgrim]

Never heard of any "60 pound" rule since I started playing electric bass in 1967.

What I do know is that here are people who agonize over completely irrelevant things, and about beliefs (many of which they invent out of thin air) which are no more than ju-ju. I strongly suspect that this may fall into one of those categories.

Either that, or the string manufacturers have their own version of it, and they're already taking it into account. In that case I don't need to know anything about it, and...once again...it's irrelevant to me.

 

[superheavyfunk]

I've never, ever thought about string tension insofar as making/considering that there any be a "rule" about it.

The only 60lbs rule that I have is the weight limit in gear that I'm willing to carry up stairs to a gig.

 

[knuckle_head]

Speaking as one who makes the things, and have broken them to see what limits there are - 60 pounds is anything but arbitrary, specifically where 'normal' gauges are concerned. The further down from B you go the lower the tensile strength gets - it's far worse on the treble side as you enter guitar gauge territory. Under .030 it drops precipitously.