Ever done this when a string breaks?

[JayBee1404]

What Silly Moustache and AndrewG said. I always have a spare everything with me.

I haven't broken a string at all in at least twenty-five years, except I've had a couple go at the tuner-post as I was slackening them off to remove them during a string-change! But break a string during playing? Nah!

[Mooh]

Never break strings, always have a backup set anyway, just in case.

[lt20dbl]

This thread has me thinking that strings must be better than they were 25 years ago. Seems like lots of people no longer break them.

[JayBee1404]

Originally Posted by lt20dbl

This thread has me thinking that strings must be better than they were 25 years ago. Seems like lots of people no longer break them.

I think you're right. Plus many of us have learned that it's unnecessary to beat seven bells out of a guitar, and that technique trumps brute force and ignorance every time!

[nedray]

If you're playing in Texas, why bother? Just leave the string off--maybe break another one--and make a point of telling your audience about it and how no one can make you toe the line, by gum. You can make 'em dance with what you got. They'll love it and tell their friends about you. You'll be a star.

Or just invest in an extra set of strings if you don't care about advancing your career.

[mr. beaumont]

Definitely not.

[Jambi]

I have not done this per say, but I do get creative with strings. I don't make it to the music store as much as I would like, so I save old strings for temporary re-purposing.

[Truckjohn]

No... I would never do that.... And those knots you see on some of my strings up between the nut and the tuners are from my kids... Yeah... Kids... I promise.

[RustyAxe]

Uh, no. I just always carry extra sets of strings, and a few single spares. I can't remember the last time I broke a string on stage ... it's been decades.

[StevenL]

Originally Posted by JayBee1404

I think you're right. Plus many of us have learned that it's unnecessary to beat seven bells out of a guitar, and that technique trumps brute force and ignorance every time!

Very true. But that brute force was SO MUCH FUN!

[JayBee1404]

Originally Posted by StevenL

Very true. But that brute force was SO MUCH FUN!

LOL!

[Photojeep]

I've never done that (but that was quite ingenious) but in the past I used to break many strings and had no idea why.

Then I discovered this forum.

Who knew frets wore out???

I had read a post about worn frets, checked mine, and found 3 with grooves worn so deeply that the low spots were about a millimeter above the fretboard. And two of these had sharp edges that just sawed through strings about every 2-3 weeks.

I had all 3 replaced and haven't broken a string since. (Not counting the ones I broke as I was learning how to run my powered string winder...)

Best,
PJ

[island texan]

Originally Posted by island texan

If you're like me the most likely string to break is the e. Well, while not paying enough attention the other evening, while moving to an alternative tuning I managed to break the G. With no extra strings I had to use my imagination. I took the B off its tuner and, sure enough, there was just enough length to get a couple of wraps going on what should be the G tuner. Then I was able to do the same by putting the G on the B tuner. Once the strings settled down about another wrap made it around each tuner stem. I was a little concerned the torque on the nut's grooves might make a string jump out, but nope - they've been on now, all cattywampus for a week. I'll get home tomorrow and replace that G string, but in the meantime it seems to have been a good makeshift strategy. I'm sure there are some of you out there who had already done this maneuver, but it was new to me. Very pleased with my creativity.

I've gotten defensive. I didn't break the string by banging on it. I was tuning the string up and wasn't paying attention, pulled it too tight and it snapped.