posted 18 February 2001 06:42 AM         

Both Emmons' had a 24 and 1/4" scale and the Sierra had a 25" scale. But the Sierra was keyless which supposedly is suppose to lesson string breakage. Well, the Sierra broke them all the time. Worse than both Emmons'.

My Excel Super B does NOT break strings. I have had it almost a year and still have the original 3rd string. This is characteristic of Excel's new changer. Same thing on the Anapeg. They simply do not break strings. This is due to the fact that their changers do NOT bend the strings to raise and lower. Instead, they pull the string in a straight line.

God bless you,

posted 18 February 2001 09:02 AM         

I play my '69 S-12 push-pull on 2 or 3 gigs a week and it breaks 3rds and 5ths OFTEN. Sometimes they only last a couple of gigs or a couple of days. I changed all the strings about six weeks ago and the 3rd and 5th are still going. Definitely a record for that guitar. (now that I've mentioned it, one will probably break the next time I hit the B pedal)

I know there's a lot of inconsistency among individual strings, even of the same manufacturer, bought at the same time. Many of us have mentioned going through two or three 011s before one will even tune up to pitch without breaking. Some strings may be slightly stronger at those stress points (like where it comes over the finger).

Carl's right. Some mechanisms are more prone to breakage than others. My Zum broke far less strings than either of my late 60s Emmons guitars, but I still think there's some black magic in the equation.

LTB

[This message was edited by Larry Bell on 18 February 2001 at 09:04 AM.]

posted 18 February 2001 09:34 AM         

[This message was edited by Pete Burak on 18 February 2001 at 02:13 PM.]

posted 18 February 2001 11:33 AM         

There are different Excels. Unless they are "Super B" models, they will break strings just like ANY other PSG. The Super B's have a changer that just do not break strings unless the string is defective, of course.

Bill Stafford has never broken a string nor have I in the case of the third string. I did have a defective 4th string that broke. I knew it was defective from the first because it always had that "zwiing" sound when strings are about to break.

Also, I broke the 1st string. But in this case it was raising the string a whole tone on a knee lever that was used much too much to withstand that kind of pull. So I deleted that pull from the knee lever.

Other than that, NO breakage in almost a year now.

The standard PSG (no matter who makes it), is prone to breakage simply because the string is being bent to achieve raises and lowers. The Excel (Super B) models, and Anapegs to NOT do this.