My les paul keeps breaking high e's!!!

[Young Angus]

Hahaha well its not my les paul its me that keeps breaking them...but im suspecting it might have something to do with sharp saddles or something. It keeps breaking high e's and b strings, and sometimes g strings. Very frequently...this high e lasted about a week i think! And im not bending like crazy or playing really overly hard.

Some people i know get graphite saddles in their les pauls...is this meant to help this?

Oh yeah, and its breaking at the saddle too, hence all the saddle talk.

Does anyone know why this would be happening so much and how to fix it, because im sick of buying lots of high e singles!

 

[Wattage]

Re: My les paul keeps breaking high e's!!!

Could be a burr in the saddle, that is easy enough to clean up.

How extreme is the angle coming up off the tailpiece? Try raising the tail a bit and see if that helps. Since I went to a wrap on my Standard and I raised the tail of my Special I rarely snap a string at the bridge anymore.

 

[martinsixstringcustoms]

Re: My les paul keeps breaking high e's!!!

Good advice from Wattage. If that doesn't help, grab a TonePros/GraphTech Tune-O-Matic. They DO work. I have them on my Studio. I'll hook you up with a great deal if you need to go that route.

 

[jimmy]

Re: My les paul keeps breaking high e's!!!

I think it's a good case of the 'saddle burn.'

I've had this problem many, many times before with Gibson bridges.

A quick, easy thing to help solve this problem is to use the 'wrap around' method of stringing your strings, whereby you take the strings and insert them from the front of the stop-bar instead of inserting them from directly behind, thus causing less of an angle on the strings, ultimatley resulting in less string-breakage.

Another thing that I have done to help eliminate this problem is to take a string, like the D string or A string, and use it to file a little bit of the saddle down; this helps round out any rough, boistrious edges.


I hope this helps in one way or another.

 

[Young Angus]

Re: My les paul keeps breaking high e's!!!

Thanks guys sounds like an easy enough fix...i just put a new e string on before reading these :smack: so ill wait for the next breakage and then try some of that.

Cheers

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: My les paul keeps breaking high e's!!!

Just scoot the strings aside, out of the saddle slot, fold a piece of gray, fine grained sandpaper, and swipe it through the saddle toward the butt end of the guitar a few times. That usually does the trick. Also, work on lightening your pick attack a bit.
If you use heavy picks, get used to mediums for a week, and see if you cut down on snapping strings.

 

[Xeromus]

Re: My les paul keeps breaking high e's!!!

Good advice from Wattage. If that doesn't help, grab a TonePros/GraphTech Tune-O-Matic. They DO work. I have them on my Studio. I'll hook you up with a great deal if you need to go that route.

I have one of those. One word: AWESOME

 

[Young Angus]

Re: My les paul keeps breaking high e's!!!

Just scoot the strings aside, out of the saddle slot, fold a piece of gray, fine grained sandpaper, and swipe it through the saddle toward the butt end of the guitar a few times. That usually does the trick. Also, work on lightening your pick attack a bit.
If you use heavy picks, get used to mediums for a week, and see if you cut down on snapping strings.

I'll try the sandpaper thing, but the picks i use arent that heavy, although they aren't mediums, they're 1.14mm purple tortex. But i love em and anything lighter just ticks me off.

 

[spong]

Re: My les paul keeps breaking high e's!!!

oh hay what u need to do is just get the high e and twist it around like so

 

[Jeffrec]

Re: My les paul keeps breaking high e's!!!

I agree. I would check the saddle as well as the tailpiece (if you wrap the strings over the top). I had a '68 LP that kept doing that until I carefully filed the edge where the string came in contact with the tailpiece.

 

[LesStrat]

Re: My les paul keeps breaking high e's!!!

I use the purple Tortex picks for acoustic because I prefer heavier picks for that use. And you think they're NOT heavy?

 

[inter]

Re: My les paul keeps breaking high e's!!!

Try a drop of light machine oil on the saddle.

Since your in Australia, try some 'Castrol Handy oil'. You can find it at most service stations.