• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

When's the last time you broke a string?

#61
A few years ago I had an idea that a bass string might make good weed eater line. So I trimmed an old string to the right length and fed it in.

When I fired up the weed eater, the string came apart gloriously and almost immediately. I’m probably lucky I didn’t hurt myself. So nobody do that.

As far as breaking a string in the process of playing a bass? 80s maybe? It’s only happened to me once or twice.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ProbablyTooLoud and Slough Feg Bass
#67
JazzyJacuzzi said:
I remember breaking strings the first four or five years I started playing bass, but I can't recall ever breaking a string in the past 10 years.

When's the last time you broke a string? How did it happen?
Click to expand...

Mid 1990s, tuning up out of the box.

About two years ago with a set that I was unsure about and had been on and off a bass over a dozen times.
 
#68
In my younger days I played with a pick and hammered pretty heavily at the bridge. Had many a string separate at the ball end on the bridge. Once it happened at a gig - 1 string at the end of a song and a second at the beginning of the next song. And I only had the one bass. Once I switched to finger style the problem went away.
 
#70
I was VERY aggressive in the 80`s, playing a Westone bass with (as I see it now) a very sharp transition on the bridge. I`d break A`s and D`s regularly (I was playing mostly Boomers and Blue Steels, not that it really mattered).
Now that I`ve learned how to play properly and maintain my basses, I`ve not had that problem.
 
#71
Ron Berenato said:
In my younger days I played with a pick and hammered pretty heavily at the bridge. Had many a string separate at the ball end on the bridge. Once it happened at a gig - 1 string at the end of a song and a second at the beginning of the next song. And I only had the one bass. Once I switched to finger style the problem went away.
Click to expand...

Jeez man, you must have been REALLY clacking away in that ONE spot, but that's not unheard of. I'm just amazed it happened at the ball ends and not at the bridge. That's new.
 
#72
Geddaric said:
I was VERY aggressive in the 80`s, playing a Westone bass with (as I see it now) a very sharp transition on the bridge. I`d break A`s and D`s regularly (I was playing mostly Boomers and Blue Steels, not that it really mattered).
Now that I`ve learned how to play properly and maintain my basses, I`ve not had that problem.
Click to expand...

Now normally, there's a HUGE difference between Blues and Boomers.
 
#74
JazzyJacuzzi said:
I recently noticed whenever an interviewer asks a bass player if they change their flatwounds they always say "only when one breaks." Got me wondering when does that ever happen? I can actually only remember breaking a string once, during rehearsal, when I was like 15, trying to slap...
Click to expand...
got it! most of us aren't breaking strings frequently/regularly, and even if that was the case for a few = they wouldn't admit it without also admitting that their technique is questionable! ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: SixtyCycleHum and SteveCS
#76
It’s been ~9 years. I used to break A strings every 6 to 12 months on my Jazz Bass, but I never found any burrs on the bridge. I think my Jazz doesn’t respond that dynamically and the notes around the 5th to 7th frets are quiet, so I was just digging in as it was hard for me to hear.

Since switching to active basses as my main players I have broken strings far less frequently, although it was on my Warwick 9 years ago that I broke a D string. In that case the strings were old, but I don’t remember playing particularly loudly or forcefully when it happened.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back