Not usually. I've been playing violin and viola for over 40 years and never broke a string while playing or tuning. However, I've had some speciality Sensicore Octave violin strings break with my fiddle in the case with a damp-it. I think the excessive humidity swelled the wood, grew the neck and bang! I also snapped the center D string on a 5 string viola simply by loosening the other 4 strings. As you loosen strings, there is less force pulling the pegbox toward the bridge, so the neck relaxes toward the back. This actually raises the tension on the strings.
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