Ok, in the last 2 weeks i've snapped the strings on two instruments. The first was the B on a friends guitar. The 2nd was the A on an antique fiddle that was given to me. Both of these strings snapped before they reached their note(hence the term "Premature"). What would cause this? To my knowledge, the strings were new and not played much at all. They were steel. Ive had my fiddle for a while now and the strings are old and beat up, i've tuned it a lot and the strings haven't snapped yet. So why would fresh new strings?
Could be a sharp edge on the nut, or the bridge (guitar saddle), or the strings were kinked in the process of putting them on, or they were just lemons, bad strings.
Or it could be you thought they're weren't up to pitch yet, and in fact you'd gone by it. Or maybe the string wasn't really a B or an A--they were the wrong gauges, and they couldn't stand the tension.
It happens.
You can sometimes figure out the cause by looking at where the string broke. Breaks at the nut are almost always due to a sharp edge or pinching. Same with breaks down at the saddle on a guitar.
Ok, thanks. I'll have to be a little less confident in my ear next time. I looked at the snap on the fiddle. It broke at the fine tuner. The part that torn isn't even steel, it's some thread like material...
It may just be a coincidence. I haven't broken a string in years, I figure I'm due.
How often do you break strings? If it's just these two, I wouldn't worry about it, sometimes they just break. If you break another in the next few months, check your setup, like Will said.
"How often do you break strings? Let me see.... Hmmm, i've been playing stringed instruments for near 2 years and i've snapped 3 strings. In all cases the strings were new, and on instruments that hadn't been played in a while. But in the first case, it was because i was turning the wrong peg. The next two times i made for sure i was on the right peg(gear). Could a string snap before it reached its note?
Ha. The worst I have done to cause this is to absent-mindedly turn the peg for one string, but think i'm tuning another. Twang, crack, etc. Easily done on an unfamiliar instrument, or when not very awake.
In my experience: on a fiddle I almost never break strings, though I do notice when they start to wear out and replace them. On mandolin I haven't broken one since about 1970 (replace when they go dead, assuming I notice-- I don't play mandolin much any more). On viola d'amore I've broken a few of the sympathetic strings. They're fairly fine steel and they go under the fingerboard and around three nuts to get to the tuning pegs. It's easy to get the string too tight between nuts if you don't tune gently. They are a major pain to replace! I've also had some trouble with viola d'amore strings breaking at the tailpiece.
Jerone, the fiddle string that broke at the fine tuner--sometimes they do that. The wrapping separates from the core and they go. It was likely a bad string, although sometimes it's because the wrapping was broken when it was jammed into the fine tuner.
I break guitar strings now and then because I play them till they're dead, and sometimes they break from being picked hard.
Rarely ever break mandolin, fiddle, or banjo strings.
I'm fairly nit picky about set up and making sure all the string contact points are in good shape, so I never see breaks due to nut and saddle problems (and, ahem, I am still talking about strings.....)
I once put an A string in the E position by mistake. When I tried
to get it up to E it didn't snap but the bridge did! Sounded like
a gunshot. I still cringe every time I put on a new E string - it's
a kind of PTSD.
How easily did the string slot into the fine tuner? If you had to jam it in there it could easily nick the winding, and that would be the weak spot when it came up to tension. I use a Wittner Multi-system tail piece which has the fine tuners built in, and is also adjustable length-wise to get the best distance from bridge to tailpiece.
In forty years or so playing various stringed instruments I've snapped my fair share of strings, but I've not had a single string snap in the last twenty years. (I suppose Sod's Law will kick in now.) Pinching, kinking, over-tightening and ferocious playing are the usual culprits, and easily avoided.
I'm not a string breaker and I put that down to set up. I'm no fiddler either (but I have changed a few sets of fiddle strings in my time) but reading from above I'd say set up is also just as important for the fiddle as well.
I've a couple of pals who do break strings and it never ceases to amaze me that when I offer to sort it they decline and continue busting strings. A fractional amount of dressing at the nut or bridge is usually all thats required to remedy the issue, fear of altering the sound I suppose but there is no need to remove sound altering quantities to fix it.
Of course, should you change strings whilst a little out of it and either over tension or, lo, muddle the strings. Then thats a different issue entirely.
Avoiding PREMATURE events: Try distracting yourself by naming (in your head) all the 1970 Chelsea squad or (again in one’s head) build in detail a custom motor bike or try and remember all the hits (and ‘B’ sides) in reverse chronological order that Cliff Richard had or, of course, mentally re-catalogue your wig glue collection.
Hey yhaahouse, I've a sneeky suspicion that you mentally re-catalogue your wig glue collection will bring for you the same outcome as Michael Gambon's failed attempt in The Singing Detective.
I find that guitars strings break most often when they are new. This is true for both my six string and 12 string. Stange coincidence, but that seems to be when I have a problem. I've only broken strings, when I have been playing, twice in the last 5 years.
I do sometimes break strings on my guitar. It is almost always the D string, and when it happens I change all the strings (or at least all the wound strings).
Re: Premature string snapping ... or coiltus interruptus!
Hey, on the plus side, it's not nearly as dramatic when it happens on a Fiddle, as the Tail Gut snapping ... mid-tune!
Some cheaper Fiddles have horrible little nasty fine tuner gadgets actually attached to the strings, between the Bridge & the Tailpiece & I've regularly seen the sharp edges of those, or careless use of them, cause a Fiddle string to snap.
As I don't know, I've been attempting to research exactly what Michael Gambon's failed attempt in the Singing Detective is/ was! Wotteffah it is, it not gonna be good is it?!
Premature string snapping...
Premature string snapping...
Ok, in the last 2 weeks i've snapped the strings on two instruments. The first was the B on a friends guitar. The 2nd was the A on an antique fiddle that was given to me. Both of these strings snapped before they reached their note(hence the term "Premature"). What would cause this? To my knowledge, the strings were new and not played much at all. They were steel. Ive had my fiddle for a while now and the strings are old and beat up, i've tuned it a lot and the strings haven't snapped yet. So why would fresh new strings?
# Posted on July 6th 2011 by fiddlelearner
Re: Premature string snapping...
Could be a sharp edge on the nut, or the bridge (guitar saddle), or the strings were kinked in the process of putting them on, or they were just lemons, bad strings.
Or it could be you thought they're weren't up to pitch yet, and in fact you'd gone by it. Or maybe the string wasn't really a B or an A--they were the wrong gauges, and they couldn't stand the tension.
It happens.
You can sometimes figure out the cause by looking at where the string broke. Breaks at the nut are almost always due to a sharp edge or pinching. Same with breaks down at the saddle on a guitar.
# Posted on July 6th 2011 by Will Harmon
Re: Premature string snapping...
Ok, thanks. I'll have to be a little less confident in my ear next time. I looked at the snap on the fiddle. It broke at the fine tuner. The part that torn isn't even steel, it's some thread like material...
# Posted on July 6th 2011 by fiddlelearner
Re: Premature string snapping...
It may just be a coincidence. I haven't broken a string in years, I figure I'm due.
How often do you break strings? If it's just these two, I wouldn't worry about it, sometimes they just break. If you break another in the next few months, check your setup, like Will said.
# Posted on July 6th 2011 by CleverName
Re: Premature string snapping...
"How often do you break strings? Let me see.... Hmmm, i've been playing stringed instruments for near 2 years and i've snapped 3 strings. In all cases the strings were new, and on instruments that hadn't been played in a while. But in the first case, it was because i was turning the wrong peg. The next two times i made for sure i was on the right peg(gear). Could a string snap before it reached its note?
# Posted on July 6th 2011 by fiddlelearner
Re: Premature string snapping...
If I go a couple of weeks without breaking one, I'm lucky. Not like they cost a lot!
# Posted on July 6th 2011 by Mark Harmer
Re: Premature string snapping...
I would like to open this discussion up for all string players, since i plan on playing instruments that would use different strings.
# Posted on July 6th 2011 by fiddlelearner
Re: Premature string snapping...
Ha. The worst I have done to cause this is to absent-mindedly turn the peg for one string, but think i'm tuning another. Twang, crack, etc. Easily done on an unfamiliar instrument, or when not very awake.
Was it that?
# Posted on July 6th 2011 by ewallace
Re: Premature string snapping...
In my experience: on a fiddle I almost never break strings, though I do notice when they start to wear out and replace them. On mandolin I haven't broken one since about 1970 (replace when they go dead, assuming I notice-- I don't play mandolin much any more). On viola d'amore I've broken a few of the sympathetic strings. They're fairly fine steel and they go under the fingerboard and around three nuts to get to the tuning pegs. It's easy to get the string too tight between nuts if you don't tune gently. They are a major pain to replace! I've also had some trouble with viola d'amore strings breaking at the tailpiece.
# Posted on July 6th 2011 by fiddlentina
Re: Premature string snapping...
Jerone, the fiddle string that broke at the fine tuner--sometimes they do that. The wrapping separates from the core and they go. It was likely a bad string, although sometimes it's because the wrapping was broken when it was jammed into the fine tuner.
I break guitar strings now and then because I play them till they're dead, and sometimes they break from being picked hard.
Rarely ever break mandolin, fiddle, or banjo strings.
I'm fairly nit picky about set up and making sure all the string contact points are in good shape, so I never see breaks due to nut and saddle problems (and, ahem, I am still talking about strings.....)
# Posted on July 7th 2011 by Will Harmon
Re: Premature string snapping...
Last time I broke a string on the mandolin was about 1972when I didn't know what I was doing.
I haven't broken any guitar strings as I don't use a plectrum. But the others......they break strings on the guitar at least one a week.
There are many reasons for this. One player mind you broke two plectrums playing the guitar so you can see why he maybe breaks strings......
# Posted on July 7th 2011 by bodhran bliss
Re: Premature string snapping...
I had a string break at the ball
the ball just popped off at the
fine tuner so I just wrapped the
string back around itself and
voila no problem
# Posted on July 7th 2011 by dogmageek
Re: Premature string snapping...
I once put an A string in the E position by mistake. When I tried
to get it up to E it didn't snap but the bridge did! Sounded like
a gunshot. I still cringe every time I put on a new E string - it's
a kind of PTSD.
# Posted on July 7th 2011 by Hup
Re: Premature string snapping...
were you twisting on the right peg?
# Posted on July 7th 2011 by SandyBottoms
Re: Premature string snapping...
How easily did the string slot into the fine tuner? If you had to jam it in there it could easily nick the winding, and that would be the weak spot when it came up to tension. I use a Wittner Multi-system tail piece which has the fine tuners built in, and is also adjustable length-wise to get the best distance from bridge to tailpiece.
In forty years or so playing various stringed instruments I've snapped my fair share of strings, but I've not had a single string snap in the last twenty years. (I suppose Sod's Law will kick in now.) Pinching, kinking, over-tightening and ferocious playing are the usual culprits, and easily avoided.
# Posted on July 7th 2011 by gam
Re: Premature string snapping...
I'm not a string breaker and I put that down to set up. I'm no fiddler either (but I have changed a few sets of fiddle strings in my time) but reading from above I'd say set up is also just as important for the fiddle as well.
I've a couple of pals who do break strings and it never ceases to amaze me that when I offer to sort it they decline and continue busting strings. A fractional amount of dressing at the nut or bridge is usually all thats required to remedy the issue, fear of altering the sound I suppose but there is no need to remove sound altering quantities to fix it.
Of course, should you change strings whilst a little out of it and either over tension or, lo, muddle the strings. Then thats a different issue entirely.
# Posted on July 7th 2011 by Solidmahog
Avoiding Premature anything...
Avoiding PREMATURE events: Try distracting yourself by naming (in your head) all the 1970 Chelsea squad or (again in one’s head) build in detail a custom motor bike or try and remember all the hits (and ‘B’ sides) in reverse chronological order that Cliff Richard had or, of course, mentally re-catalogue your wig glue collection.
# Posted on July 7th 2011 by yhaalhouse
Re: Premature string snapping...
"If I go a couple of weeks without breaking one, I'm lucky. Not like they cost a lot!"
Mark - a set of Obligatos is over £50 !!
# Posted on July 7th 2011 by domhnall.
Re: Premature string snapping...
Hey yhaahouse, I've a sneeky suspicion that you mentally re-catalogue your wig glue collection will bring for you the same outcome as Michael Gambon's failed attempt in The Singing Detective.
# Posted on July 7th 2011 by ...
Re: Premature string snapping...
I find that guitars strings break most often when they are new. This is true for both my six string and 12 string. Stange coincidence, but that seems to be when I have a problem. I've only broken strings, when I have been playing, twice in the last 5 years.
Don't know about fiddle strings.
# Posted on July 7th 2011 by Celtic Guitar
Re: Premature string snapping...
I never break strings on my fiddle.
I do sometimes break strings on my guitar. It is almost always the D string, and when it happens I change all the strings (or at least all the wound strings).
# Posted on July 7th 2011 by Fiddler3
Re: Premature string snapping ... or coiltus interruptus!
Hey, on the plus side, it's not nearly as dramatic when it happens on a Fiddle, as the Tail Gut snapping ... mid-tune!
Some cheaper Fiddles have horrible little nasty fine tuner gadgets actually attached to the strings, between the Bridge & the Tailpiece & I've regularly seen the sharp edges of those, or careless use of them, cause a Fiddle string to snap.
Cheers
Dick
# Posted on July 7th 2011 by Ptarmigan
Re: Premature string snapping...
As I don't know, I've been attempting to research exactly what Michael Gambon's failed attempt in the Singing Detective is/ was! Wotteffah it is, it not gonna be good is it?!
# Posted on July 7th 2011 by yhaalhouse
Re: Premature string snapping...
wow, talk about bored -- ^^.
# Posted on July 8th 2011 by fiddlelearner