Why does my Jazz Bass eat strings?

[Jakedog]

I’m baffled. I’ve never had a bass do this before. But I’ve only been playing since 1987 so I’m still kinda new. Ha!

I’ve been using my L1000 for all my gigs since I got it at the first of the year. I also host a jam every Monday, and I’ve let plenty of other people play it there. I’m just changing the factory strings today. They’re not totally destroyed yet, but they’re getting there fast. So two months on a set of strings.

My American Elite Jazz eats a set of strings every time I take it to a gig. After 2-3 hours of play time, they’re like old rubber bands. Just totally and completely dead. I’ve tried different brands, different gauges, string through, and top loading, and nothing makes a difference. One gig and the strings are toast.

Is this an issue other people have encountered? Is there a remedy? Or is this bass just a string eater?

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I’m baffled. I’ve never had a bass do this before. But I’ve only been playing since 1987 so I’m still kinda new. Ha!

I’ve been using my L1000 for all my gigs since I got it at the first of the year. I also host a jam every Monday, and I’ve let plenty of other people play it there. I’m just changing the factory strings today. They’re not totally destroyed yet, but they’re getting there fast. So two months on a set of strings.

My American Elite Jazz eats a set of strings every time I take it to a gig. After 2-3 hours of play time, they’re like old rubber bands. Just totally and completely dead. I’ve tried different brands, different gauges, string through, and top loading, and nothing makes a difference. One gig and the strings are toast.

Is this an issue other people have encountered? Is there a remedy? Or is this bass just a string eater?

I don’t think a bass kills strings. Maybe the sweat in your hands and the strings you have on the bass don’t get along?

 

[bobyoung53]

Are you an extreme weight lifter?

 

[Jakedog]

I don’t a bass kills strings. Maybe the sweat in your hands and the strings you have on the bass don’t get along?

I have extremely dry hands. Not greasy, not sweaty. It’s weird that it’s only this particular bass. Doesn’t happen on my G&L. Hasn’t ever happened on any other bass I’ve owned.

 

[Jakedog]

Are you an extreme weight lifter?


View attachment 4604884

Now there’s a man that eats his wheaties. At least I hope that’s a man…

 

[bobyoung53]

Now there’s a man that eats his wheaties. At least I hope that’s a man…

Seriously though, when I was a kid I used to go through a set of Rotos in about a month but I was a very hard player back then (still not light now in fact) but I think that was common when they first started making them. That's a weird one.

 

[jd56hawk]

Only one solution.

 

[SleepyShark]

Is this a feel thing or a sound thing?

I'm suspecting that the strings aren't shot; you may just not like the sound of the pickup once the strings have lost that fresh metallic zing. Almost every pickup sounds great with that fresh punch, but once the strings settle you hear their true voice.

If you love the feel of the bass, maybe try a (reversible) drop-in pickup replacement, see if they sound dead after that.

 

[bobyoung53]

Strings go dead when the covering gets stretched more than the inner windings, sometimes twisting them while putting them on can cause them cause strings to sound bad and go dead. But all four of them going dead at once is kind of stretch.

 

[Titch]

When you say "they're like old rubber bands" what springs to my mind is a string installation problem.
I do apologise if I come across a bit brash but could it be possible you may need to revisit your string installation technique?
Ensure you have 3 or more winds around the tuning peg post.
Make sure you bend the string 90° at the tuning peg end, before snipping it. This prevents the inner coils from slipping away from the exterior coil.
Really bed the string in at the bridge/saddle. Ensure the slack is taken out of the strings by pulling each string away from the fretboard, starting at the bridge and working up towards the nut, then retuning... this may need several goes to remove all the slack...

 

[Killing Floor]

Jazz has more notes?

 

[Jakedog]

When you say "they're like old rubber bands" what springs to my mind is a string installation problem.
I do apologise if I come across a bit brash but could it be possible you may need to revisit your string installation technique?
Ensure you have 3 or more winds around the tuning peg post.
Make sure you bend the string 90° at the tuning peg end, before snipping it. This prevents the inner coils from slipping away from the exterior coil.
Really bed the string in at the bridge/saddle. Ensure the slack is taken out of the strings by pulling each string away from the fretboard, starting at the bridge and working up towards the nut, then retuning... this may need several goes to remove all the slack...

No need to apologize. It’s a legit suggestion. I think if this were the issue however, it wouldn’t just affect one instrument. The technique you’ve laid out here is pretty much dead on with what I’ve been doing for 35 years. Except the three wraps part. As long as I get good/correct break angle over the nut I never go more than two.

I’m also a pretty good bass/guitar mechanic. I’ve been working on stuff for a long time. I am not a noob when it comes to sorting out weird problems and quirks related to stringed instruments. I’ve never seen anything like this. I’ve never even heard of anything like this, which is why I was wondering if anyone else had.

When I say rubber bands, I mean DEAD. No life at all. Completely useless and destroyed. I like new strings, it’s true. But I’m not talking about losing that new string zing, here. I mean deader than dead.

 

[David Demby]

I’m baffled. I’ve never had a bass do this before. But I’ve only been playing since 1987 so I’m still kinda new. Ha!

I’ve been using my L1000 for all my gigs since I got it at the first of the year. I also host a jam every Monday, and I’ve let plenty of other people play it there. I’m just changing the factory strings today. They’re not totally destroyed yet, but they’re getting there fast. So two months on a set of strings.

My American Elite Jazz eats a set of strings every time I take it to a gig. After 2-3 hours of play time, they’re like old rubber bands. Just totally and completely dead. I’ve tried different brands, different gauges, string through, and top loading, and nothing makes a difference. One gig and the strings are toast.

Is this an issue other people have encountered? Is there a remedy? Or is this bass just a string eater?

Causes by a bur on the brigade saddle. File and fixed

 

[Jakedog]

Causes by a bur on the brigade saddle. File and fixed

On all four strings at once? I’ll look at it tonight for sure but I am skeptical.

 

[Speakz]

That is an expensive problem... It would helpful and interesting to hear a recording of the same set of strings when they're fresh and then one right when they go Dead. Maybe that could offer more clues as to what might be happening..?

 

[Alivefor5]

My opinion here only. I have a bass that does something like this only on just the G and D strings. I have lots of basses. I like the bass in question and put a new set of strings on it last Friday and played it Saturday night. By the 2nd set the G string was dead from 2nd to 10th frets. End of the 3rd set both D and G strings gone compared to the A and E strings.

I don't play this bass much but Saturday I was really interested in why this happens to only this bass.

I believe the problem is the neck and in it being somewhat soft as far as the maple is concerned. It simply eats string vibration. I have basses that have rock solid necks with no or very minor dead spots. Strings last many months on these basses. I'm a big fan of Allparts and Warmoth necks. They are big and chunky and made of very hard maple.

My bass in question is a 2006 Highway 1. It's had a ski jump early on and fret work to make it playable. So not a stranger to neck issues.

Sunday morning I ordered a new Allparts neck for this bass. Tired of one night on a set of strings. My opinion, YMMV.

 

[Jakedog]

My opinion here only. I have a bass that does something like this only on just the G and D strings. I have lots of basses. I like the bass in question and put a new set of strings on it last Friday and played it Saturday night. By the 2nd set the G string was dead from 2nd to 10th frets. End of the 3rd set both D and G strings gone compared to the A and E strings.

I don't play this bass much but Saturday I was really interested in why this happens to only this bass.

I believe the problem is the neck and in it being somewhat soft as far as the maple is concerned. It simply eats string vibration. I have basses that have rock solid necks with no or very minor dead spots. Strings last many months on these basses. I'm a big fan of Allparts and Warmoth necks. They are big and chunky and made of very hard maple.

My bass in question is a 2006 Highway 1. It's had a ski jump early on and fret work to make it playable. So not a stranger to neck issues.

Sunday morning I ordered a new Allparts neck for this bass. Tired of one night on a set of strings. My opinion, YMMV.

This is a very interesting theory/idea. And not one I’d thought of or considered.

I like my Jazz, but I’ve pretty much stopped playing it. Because yes, it’s a very expensive problem. And I really like my Wunkay so I don’t mind sticking with it. Bonus- strings last a couple months, even with all the jam night punters playing it.

 

[Pilgrim]

I'm still trying to figure out what "eats" strings means. (Edited...)

I thought maybe it was breaking them. Nope.

What I got from the first post is that the strings get loose "like old rubber bands." Nope.

In post #12 it's clarified - the strings go dead. I'm wondering how that is diagnosed, and whether they are rounds or flats. Does it mean that the strings no longer have the brightness of new strings? In flats, that would be a feature, not a problem. With rounds, I guess it would be a problem.

As a flats player, I'm not sure how to describe dead strings. I like mine after they've been on the bass a few months. If it's lack of brightness, I get it.

Dick Dale had his bass player install new strings (Ernie Ball brand) every day. I guess he liked the brightest strings possible on the bass.

 

[bobyoung53]

I'm still trying to figure out what "east" strings means.

I thought maybe it was breaking them. Nope.

What I got from the first post is that the strings get loose "like old rubber bands." Nope.

In post #12 it's clarified - the strings go dead. I'm wondering how that is diagnosed, and whether they are rounds or flats. Does it mean that the strings no longer have the brightness of new strings? In flats, that would be a feature, not a problem. With rounds, I guess it would be a problem.

As a flats player, I'm not sure how to describe dead strings. I like mine after they've been on the bass a few months. If it's lack of brightness, I get it.

Dick Dale had his bass player install new strings (Ernie Ball brand) every day. I guess he liked the brightest strings possible on the bass.

I think he wrote 'eats' strings

 

[Pilgrim]

I think he wrote 'eats' strings

Thank you!! Edited and corrected...