[HANASHIR:5663] Re: Breaking Strings

[Josh Miller <jmiller...>]

Dave et al,

As a fellow string-thrasher, I've thought a lot about the
breaking-strings-with-absurd-frequency problem... Perhaps we developed the
same bad habits in guitar-playing while songleading... I've had a little
less trouble in the last few years, and can propose some other solutions on
this one:

1) I got a new guitar with a better designed bridge (I always break strings
right down at the bridge, and my old guitar was just eating certain strings
alive--like G's).

2) My newest guitar also has 12 strings on it. I break the thin strings a
lot on my 12-string guitar, but I think they kind of serve as a line of
defense against breaking the thick ones (which are essential to helping be
get through a song session).

3) I started trying to play and sing a litle quieter, which has been
helpful for my voice and songleading, and has reduced the impact on my
guitar strings...

4) I found a little guitar-shop in Berkeley where I could buy strings one
at a time for $0.25 each... They aren't brand-name strings, but they
totally do the job, and I feel less of a loss when I pop one... I've got
like 10 of each string wound up in my guitar case, so this also means I
don't deal with the which-string-is-this woe during replacement, nor do I
ever run out of the strings I break the most, I just stock more of them...
It's nice not to throw out low-E's every time I clean my guitar case. And
its nice to not go to the guitar shop every two weeks either...

5) I believe that cleaning strings with string-cleaner probably helps
(although again, I always break 'em at the bridge, and that's not really
where I'm getting natural oil all over my strings), and a lighter pick
would surely help (if you can adjust your style to a lighter pick which I
think is hard).

Hope this helps,

Josh Miller
Berkeley, Ca

PS- People might be interested to know that I learned from my guitar shop
that although there are many many brands of strings out there in the retail
world, there are really only two or three factories in the country that
actually produce guitar strings, and they are all basically the same. I
believe that those "Elixer" strings are made differently, but believe it or
not the biggies: Martin, D'addario, etc are essentially only different
because of the packaging they use... Crazy huh?

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