What happened to my B string?

[doran.dragic]

I was restringing my Ibanez SR505 with a new set of D'Addario EXL170-5SL. These are nickel wound hex core strings with .130 B string. I bent the string before I cut off the string like I always do. Just before the string was pitched to B I heard a short crack. It looks like the outer wrap broke just after the first bend of the string.

This have

never happened to me before, what can I do to prevent this in future?

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

Maybe it was too harsh of a bend and you broke the string?

I've been playing for about 28 years, and have never bent a string before cutting off the end while installing them by the way. I use nickel rounds.

 

[Jon Moody]

Was the full diameter wound around the tuning post, or did the string start to taper down before that?

 

[michael_t]

I was restringing my Ibanez SR505 with a new set of D'Addario EXL170-5SL.

You installed a set of "super long" on a 34" scale bass. That means some of the full winding on the B ended up wrapping around the post, something that should be avoided. You really need the regular "long scale" (EXL170) for that bass.

 

[michael_t]

D'Addario singles are relatively easy to find. Just get a "long scale" XL Nickel 130B to replace the broken one. The rest should be ok.

 

[doran.dragic]

Perfect, makes sense. Thanks everyone.

It was a set of strings I got with another bass and I didn't even notice that they were longer.

 

[bigdaddybass12]

You installed a set of "super long" on a 34" scale bass. That means some of the full winding on the B ended up wrapping around the post, something that should be avoided. You really need the regular "long scale" (EXL170) for that bass.

Good word! I did not know that!

 

[jimmydean]

I've only had a string brake on me once , I was flying near The Bermuda Triangle at the time .

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

I was restringing my Ibanez SR505 with a new set of D'Addario EXL170-5SL. These are nickel wound hex core strings with .130 B string. I bent the string before I cut off the string like I always do. Just before the string was pitched to B I heard a short crack. It looks like the outer wrap broke just after the first bend of the string.

This have View attachment 4994390 never happened to me before, what can I do to prevent this in future?

It happens. Shoot the manufacturer an email. They might send you a replacement pack

 

[Rumfoord]

Does anyone mind articulating why wrapping the untapered portion of the striing around the post will break it? (or just any reason why it's bad?)

I've had strings break like this, and what has always made more sense to me is that it's the core that breaks rather than the wrap (as the OP suggested)—and the wrap is the only thing holding it together. The only correlation that I believe I've noticed with this phenomenon is yanking around on the string too much. I always figured: if you bend the string too much and it gets weakened (like bending back and forth those "unbreakable" black plastic combs), then under tension it can lead to that kind of catastrophic failure. IME, some string materials are worse than others..cobalt seems to be the most susceptible.

Like the OP, it's happened to me when bending the string before installation. It's also happened to me at the bridge if I set the witness points too hard. Sometimes the tone of a new string is just not as good as others, and I've been wondering if the same thing might be happening but just not so much that it breaks the core.

I've never had any trouble wrapping the untapered part of the string around the post. (probably never more than half a turn or so fwiw).

 

[micguy]

I've only had a string brake on me once , I was flying near The Bermuda Triangle at the time .

Those gigs on planes can be rough.

 

[levis76]

In all my years I’ve never snapped a string or had a problem with the windings being too long or short.

Thank you Ernie Ball and GHS!

 

[bcbassman]

Back in the olden days, pre computerized string manufacturing, one string in every set was dead on arrival.
The windings have broken on my strings too and it sucks, The outer winding becomes a spring rattling on the core of the string. Pay attention to those length designations on strings. OTW it gets expensive.

 

[Thegreatzambini]

In all my years I’ve never snapped a string or had a problem with the windings being too long or short.

Thank you Ernie Ball and GHS!

Not daddarios fault on QC ,the OP did not get the right scale length designed for his instrument.

 

[ctmullins]

Does anyone mind articulating why wrapping the untapered portion of the striing around the post will break it? (or just any reason why it's bad?)

It depends on the particular string, and perhaps more importantly, it depends on the diameter of the tuning machine post. A large diameter post (like those ridiculously huge tuners that Fender is so fond of) means a gentler bend on the string, which reduces the likelihood of breakage. In @doran.dragic ’s photo above, that looks like an old-style waisted Gotoh mini tuner, which have a very small diameter post, meaning a much tighter bend in the string, and more chance of breakage.

 

[2F/2F]

You can see from your photo that you were winding the full width of a very thick string around your tuner post, at least one time. You also appear to have been bottoming out on the tuner post when it broke, which is probably the biggest contributor to its breakage. You weren't only bending it too sharply around the post (which you can usually get away with by itself IME), but you were also compressing it from two sides: from the tuner nut and from the next winding up the post. Try a set with a shorter wound length.

 

[Dust2Dust]

Thats what I was thinking. Too many wraps.
Maybe not the whole problem, but it sure doesn't help

 

[Rumfoord]

It depends on the particular string, and perhaps more importantly, it depends on the diameter of the tuning machine post. A large diameter post (like those ridiculously huge tuners that Fender is so fond of) means a gentler bend on the string, which reduces the likelihood of breakage. In @doran.dragic ’s photo above, that looks like an old-style waisted Gotoh mini tuner, which have a very small diameter post, meaning a much tighter bend in the string, and more chance of breakage.

Ohh, yes, that makes more sense. Thanks! I guess I already had this in mind for the extra small kind—like some violin basses, guitar tuners—but didn't make the connection to all the other variances of size.

 

[KidAmnesia]

Does anyone mind articulating why wrapping the untapered portion of the striing around the post will break it? (or just any reason why it's bad?)

I've had strings break like this, and what has always made more sense to me is that it's the core that breaks rather than the wrap (as the OP suggested)—and the wrap is the only thing holding it together. The only correlation that I believe I've noticed with this phenomenon is yanking around on the string too much. I always figured: if you bend the string too much and it gets weakened (like bending back and forth those "unbreakable" black plastic combs), then under tension it can lead to that kind of catastrophic failure. IME, some string materials are worse than others..cobalt seems to be the most susceptible.

Like the OP, it's happened to me when bending the string before installation. It's also happened to me at the bridge if I set the witness points too hard. Sometimes the tone of a new string is just not as good as others, and I've been wondering if the same thing might be happening but just not so much that it breaks the core.

I've never had any trouble wrapping the untapered part of the string around the post. (probably never more than half a turn or so fwiw).

Besides what Ctmullins said about post diameter, either the core or the wrap of the string can break. The core usually snaps if you bend it to a sharp angle or if you bend it and then try to reverse the bend. The wrap can break because when you bend it arround the post it compresses on the inside of the curve (against the post) and stretches on the outside; and you can't stretch an already tensioned wire that much before it breaks.

 

[micguy]

One of the advantages of having through body stringing available on a bass is that is can solve this dilemma - stringing through the body takes up an inch or more of string, and that can be enough if you have strings that are a bit too long to be anchored in the bridge. With a 4 on a side headstock, this is particularly helpful, as that design puts the tuner for the lowest string close to the nut - too close in a lot of cases. With string makers trying top make string sets that work for either 34 or 35 inch scales, this problem is becoming more common.