From what I hear, string breakage is NO problem if "Ya change em often before they go dead".

Sorry I was being facetious. Your experience and question is indeed a serious one and many many players have experienced it more or less since Ralph Mooney added the high G# to A change on our beloved instrument.

Here is the problem:

1. We just gotta have tha change.

2. We are pulling that string to a higher pitch than what the gauge of wire was designed for.

3. MOST guitars break them often. And I mean often. There may be an ocassional scenario where breakage is less, but in most cases this is rare indeed. In all my years of going to steel guitar conventions, I have witnessed third string breakage while a player was playing on stage time and time and time again.

I have also witnessed a 5th string breaking on stage, but only in a few cases. NO where near the number of cases though like the 3rd string.

Now what are some of the solutions if any?

Ok, as the poster said, it depends on where the string breaks. MOST strings break at the top dead center of the changer. However, IF you do break them at the keypeg, adding more wraps IS the answer.
If the string is breaking at the changer, then there are two common causes:

1. Bad string. Believe it or not, THE most common cause of all. Entire batches have been known to be defective right out of the bag. George L spoke about this one year at the ISGC.

2. A burr on the changer finger. You can correct this with some 600 grit wet sand paper. Be careful however, because again in MOST cases even if there was a burr, the most likely cause was still a bad string. And ruining the changer is easily done, if one does not use extreme care when sanding it down.

I have never fooled with burrs even though all of my guitars have experienced grooving and/or burrs due to the string's incredible "bite" at this point in its geometry as it goes over the changer.

In almost every case where a string broke prematurely it was due to a defective string. When I got a new batch, NONE of them broke there even with the grooves and/or burrs.

Incdidently, EVEN in the best of circumstances, the 3rd string IS by far the first string to experience premature breakage. Again the root cause is it is being stretched tighter than what the physics of the string should have to bear.

Good luck and may Jesus bless you in your quests,

carl

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Steeling is still legal in Arizona

[This message was edited by Ray Jenkins on 24 February 2004 at 08:43 AM.]

MSA-D10, Emmons Pedal,Delta Blues Amp

Bill H.