What happened to my B string?

[GTHintz]

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).

Basically it will unravel because it's too much of a bend and it's a very thick string. They engineer the string to withstand a straight pull but not as much a steep bend. If it bends too sharp and there's that pull tension it just pops the outer wrap and starts to unravel. The only save you could make is to cut past the unravel and hope it's enough to get around the tuner post. However it it's too much of a bend past the taper you'll have the same results. That's why I will look every time on the b string to make sure. If it needs a shim I'll use a bead or even a metal ferrule to hold the string back far enough to keep that from happening. The key to that is getting something to essentially shorten the string at the ball and take up that space. Old school string through the hole bridges are good for that exact situation. Aside from that I prefer quick release such as Ibanez or Warwick style.

 

[Killing Floor]

We all need a sign from above once in a while to remind us to switch to TI Jazz Rounds.

 

[Yahboy]

Super long bass string on 34 scale bass with small tuning post = Snap !

I have same problem when i strung a standard scale DR Hi beam B on Cort Action DLX V , 38+ winding length B string are the problem on Ibanez SR and Cort Action/Artisan bass which has small tuning post.

I do love EB Cobalt flat and Group flat string end winding pattern.

 

[Spectre Gunner]

The only time I ever broke a bass string was when I was installing a new set. I was trying to do it quickly with the tuner on mute. So I'm twisting the tuning key bringing it up to pitch while watching the notes on the tuner. I'm getting close to the target "G" note when suddenly, the "G" string snapped and nearly hit me in the face. Right as it happened I realized I was over-tuning by a full octave.

When you learn something the hard way you never forget the lesson.