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Ever broken a bass string?


Phil O'Keefe

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Yes, on the last song of a gig. It was the A string on my 5 string, and luckily it was easy enough to work around it. The string broke when I went to touch up the tuning, and I thought it was odd that I was turning the key without getting any results.

 

The culprit was the failure of a cheap tuning head - it basically broke internally, and I think the shock broke the string right at the bend where it goes into the head. I had some spares, so the only expense incurred was a new set of strings.

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Several times. Always at gigs.

 

Back in 1979 or so, I was playing in my second professional band. I had just taken delivery of my new custom Ric 4000, strung with the latest innovation in bass strings, the kind where the naked core goes over the bridge. Turns out that naked cores are much more susceptible to small rough spots on the bridge saddles. Seems I broke a string almost every night, once two strings in one set. Hard to compensate with only two strings, but I managed. The rest of the band didn't notice.

 

Since then, I've gone back to regular strings. I also stopped playing professionally, for the most part, and broken strings were a thing of the past for me. Again, for the most part. But back in my pro days, bass strings were very expensive, $25 a set, sometimes more. And that was 35 years ago. So I took to washing my strings to prolong their life. I'm doing laundry anyway, right?

 

Fast forward to the present decade. Still poor (or poor again, take your choice), still washing my strings. Playing a gig on the coast, for the Oregon Grass Seed Growers Association. My E string breaks on the second song! Remember, I haven't broken a string in 35 years. Spares? Who needs 'em? So there I am with a 3-string bass. What to do? One of the guitarists has a heavy gauge E string that's long enough to put on. But it's a guitar string. so I put it on and tune it to guitar E, an octave higher, and play the gig with what feels like a ukulele bass! Sounded a bit weird, but it worked.

 

A week later, I'm telling this story to another band I play in, and they're asking, do you have spares now? Oh, come on, I say. One string in 35 years? What's to worry? So about half way through the last set, my A string starts to go flat. That's odd, but I tune it up. It goes flat again. I tune it up again. It comes off in my hand! Again, no spares. We finish the song, and I spring into action! Turns out it has broken at the right angle at the tuner, so there's a little bit of string left from the wrap-arounds. I cut off the broken bit, stick the end into the tuner, and start tuning it up, all while the bandleader is doing the intro for the next song, oblivious to my predicament. He starts the song, I'm still tuning. I don't come in on cue, and he finally looks over to see what's going on, just as I'm about ready. I come in at a tasteful spot, and the band plays on. The audience hasn't a clue.

 

I'm still using that now-shorter string. It has only about a half a wrap around the tuning peg, but it seems to be working. I do have spare strings, though. I don't fancy getting caught that way again.

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Since I'm a guitarist rather than a bass player, only once. I was working on my bass and I'd loosened the strings. When I went to retighten them the D broke at the tuning post. Fortunately, Juststrings.com sells individual flatwound bass strings and I was able to replace it without buying a new set.

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I've had it happen a few times on both old and new strings.

 

I had the problem most often trying to wind long scale strings on a short scale bass so the cause of the break was in fact my own fault.

Proper length strings have a taper or even felt thread wrapped around the tuning peg ends. This insures the core is being pulled on when you tighten the string. I have been able to get longer scale strings on a short scale bass by unwrapping some of the winds on the end then using CA on the end. Before I used that trick the hardened steel core wires would snap when the string was bent on a 90 degree angle.

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Several times. Always at gigs.

 

Back in 1979 or so, I was playing in my second professional band. I had just taken delivery of my new custom Ric 4000, strung with the latest innovation in bass strings, the kind where the naked core goes over the bridge. Turns out that naked cores are much more susceptible to small rough spots on the bridge saddles. Seems I broke a string almost every night, once two strings in one set. Hard to compensate with only two strings, but I managed. The rest of the band didn't notice.

 

Since then, I've gone back to regular strings. I also stopped playing professionally, for the most part, and broken strings were a thing of the past for me. Again, for the most part. But back in my pro days, bass strings were very expensive, $25 a set, sometimes more. And that was 35 years ago. So I took to washing my strings to prolong their life. I'm doing laundry anyway, right?

 

I've heard of (and even tried) boiling the strings with a bit of baking soda in the water, but you washed your bass strings... with your laundry??? :eek: I have to admit this is the first time I've ever heard of that approach. Does it actually work? :lol: Do you recommend Tide or Gain detergent? ;)

 

 

Fast forward to the present decade. Still poor (or poor again, take your choice), still washing my strings. Playing a gig on the coast, for the Oregon Grass Seed Growers Association. My E string breaks on the second song! Remember, I haven't broken a string in 35 years. Spares? Who needs 'em? So there I am with a 3-string bass. What to do? One of the guitarists has a heavy gauge E string that's long enough to put on. But it's a guitar string. so I put it on and tune it to guitar E, an octave higher, and play the gig with what feels like a ukulele bass! Sounded a bit weird, but it worked.

 

A week later, I'm telling this story to another band I play in, and they're asking, do you have spares now? Oh, come on, I say. One string in 35 years? What's to worry? So about half way through the last set, my A string starts to go flat. That's odd, but I tune it up. It goes flat again. I tune it up again. It comes off in my hand! Again, no spares. We finish the song, and I spring into action! Turns out it has broken at the right angle at the tuner, so there's a little bit of string left from the wrap-arounds. I cut off the broken bit, stick the end into the tuner, and start tuning it up, all while the bandleader is doing the intro for the next song, oblivious to my predicament. He starts the song, I'm still tuning. I don't come in on cue, and he finally looks over to see what's going on, just as I'm about ready. I come in at a tasteful spot, and the band plays on. The audience hasn't a clue.

 

I'm still using that now-shorter string. It has only about a half a wrap around the tuning peg, but it seems to be working. I do have spare strings, though. I don't fancy getting caught that way again.

 

 

Great story - thanks for sharing Isaac! :philthumb:

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I've heard of (and even tried) boiling the strings with a bit of baking soda in the water' date=' but you washed your bass strings... [i']with your laundry???[/i] :eek: I have to admit this is the first time I've ever heard of that approach. Does it actually work? :lol: Do you recommend Tide or Gain detergent? ;)

 

Tide works well, but it can be difficult to get them properly dry afterward. Gain is excellent if the strings have been losing volume, but can make them too loud if used repeatedly.

 

But seriously, yes, with my laundry. After all, I was on the road, living in motels. I had no pots pans or a stove, so I couldn't boil them. But I did have to do laundry, and there are laundromats everywhere. And yes, I find it works well. Being cheap and having very little income, I still do it.

 

Great story - thanks for sharing Isaac! :philthumb:

 

You're welcome. I have more than a few road stories.

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I tried it a few times. Other then removing finger dirt which can get in the winds and make them sound dull t does nothing to actually restore beat strings.

 

Its the removal and reinstallation of the strings that does more to give then new life then the boiling does.

 

When my strings get beat they get worn and bent at the frets. If you then put them back on and the worn side is up instead of down against the frets where they were originally you have round wraps against the frets which will make it feel better for a short time. You can do the same thing by simply slacking the strings and twisting them 180 degrees so the frets rest on an unworn part of the string.

 

This still doesn't help the issues cause by bad strings though. I've found it in fact makes the issues worse with things like string buzz and having good pitches between one fret an another. at least when the worn part its down its pretty uniform at that point. if you turn them half way around or even a quarter turn reinstalling them you can wind up getting some very flaky string vibrations.

 

If you had tone and tuning issues before removing them they issues will come back as soon as the slack at the tuners and ball end stop slipping. In either case, they still wont keep their tune well and the wear isn't going to fix itself.

 

In order to affect the steel and re-temper you have to get allot hotter then water that boils at 212 degrees. You have to heat steel to 1922 and 1994°F then quickly cool to temper it. Given the fact of how long some people keep bass strings on their instruments you could make the argument its good for health reasons. Hot water does kill germs and I've worked on many instruments doing repairs that I didn't even like touching with rubber gloves.

 

Sticking them in a bowl of alcohol will do a much better job of cleaning them then water if that's your goal. Alcohol is much thinner then water and will get right down to the core wire and get most of it out. Plus it will dry allot quicker.

 

I'd still choose to just replace them however. I'd have to be really hard up to be bothered with boiling them, and given the results I got afterwards, I just see it as an old wives tail that's not very factual at all. Strings are cheap today and really haven't seen much inflation in the 50 years I been playing.

 

Replacing them is the only reliable method of getting good tone back once they are all stressed out and lost its elasticity. Physics 101 teaches you steel will only stretch so much and then it stops and eventually snaps. New strings have less wear on frets and slows the need to have expensive work done too.

 

Bass cost more the guitar strings but they will go allot longer without changes if you add up the actual playing time. Allot of that has to do with how new you like the strings to feel. Cost wise I change out 4 sets of guitar strings for every set of bass strings. I could get allot more then that if I wanted but I like new tone over worn tone. 4 sets of guitar strings is about $25 and you can buy decent bass strings for that much. Even less when you buy in bulk sets.

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Once at a gig a couple of years ago. It was the singers bass as mine was out of of action. He'd just bought it second hand (I'm sure I'd said to change them, but he hadn't) jazz bass and the E snapped second to last song. Luckily, the bassist from one of the other bands we were playing with was a friend and thankfully leant me his. You've got to finish the show, haven't you?

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E string day before a show, sounded sick. First not if {censored} at the devil. Initial thought was ... YEAH! , that is how this sucker should sound, then after plugging at it a few more times realized it was just dangling there. Had to replace it, tuned it up a half step to stretch it out.

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I used to break strings fairly often, probably due to really bad saddles in the bridge. Not so much anymore, although my playing style and quality of instruments and their upkeep has greatly improved over the years.

 

I used boil my strings in a combination of water, Dawn dishwashing detergent and rubbing alcohol. No doubt I was making some extremely volatile concoction that fortunately never detonated on me. We were playing anywhere from four to seven nights a week back then and anything that would get bar grime and smoke out of my strings and give me few more nights, was worth the trouble. It did a hell of a job at getting out the gunk, but it sure made the band houses and hotels stink.

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