String Life

[Damage Inc.]

I've got a simple question here everybody probably could answer,
but I'm just interested what everybody sais about it:

How long does it usually take for a string to run out "life"?
And then not just that the good sound is all gone and stuff.
But when it actually snaps!
And also, is it normal that it breaks on the point where it rests on the saddle?

- Damage Inc.

 

[Jimbojsr]

Re: String Life

Hey man,

It depends on how well you look after your strings - like, do you wash your hands before playing? Do you give the strings a quick wipe with an old T shirt afterwards? Do you use Fast Fret once a month or so? Doing these things will help prolong string life; without , they will start to sound dull, then start rusting, and finally just decay and break. You're talking of a timescale of months - with proper care, you could keep a string alive for a year or so, if you play it lots and lots.

That's my experience, anyway - anyone else found otherwise?

 

[Zerberus]

Re: String Life

I've got a simple question here everybody probably could answer,
but I'm just interested what everybody sais about it:

How long does it usually take for a string to run out "life"?
And then not just that the good sound is all gone and stuff.
But when it actually snaps!
And also, is it normal that it breaks on the point where it rests on the saddle?

- Damage Inc.

Depends 100% on:

String brand, manufacturer and model
playing style
quality of guitar (for ex. burrs in bridge saddles)
how often you clean the strings
How often you wash your hands
how much you sweat /what the exact chemical composition of your sweat is
... And much more.


I know players that are in the messed up situation of needing fresh strings 2x weekly, and I´ve seen Case Queen guitars from the 70s with the original strings.... way too much range to say anything exact.... But most "hobbyist" or amateur players feel they need new strings between 1x a month and 2x a year when not gigging or recording (in my experience)

 

[Damage Inc.]

Re: String Life

Hey man,

It depends on how well you look after your strings - like, do you wash your hands before playing? Do you give the strings a quick wipe with an old T shirt afterwards? Do you use Fast Fret once a month or so? Doing these things will help prolong string life; without , they will start to sound dull, then start rusting, and finally just decay and break. You're talking of a timescale of months - with proper care, you could keep a string alive for a year or so, if you play it lots and lots.

That's my experience, anyway - anyone else found otherwise?

Well, I play guitar about 2-3 hours a day.
I always try to keep my hands as clean as possible, not even fat or sweaty.
I wipe the strings every 1 or 2 days.
And I just clean the fretboard and frets when I change the strings
or just sometimes when the guitar needs a cleaning with just the strings on the guitar
and just get a cloth between the strings and fretboard.

But the thing is, I had a big problem with sharp saddles on another guitar.
So the strings would break on the saddle really fast.
And almost got it fixed by buying graphite saddles which costs me a lot.
But now on another guitar a string broke on the saddle too, so that freaked me out that I probably have to buy another set of saddles AGAIN!

But then again I don't know how old the strings are, I bought this guitar off another guy (he seemed to take good care of his guitars cause there wasn't a scratch ot spot on it just a bit of dust and let it have all kinds of expensive changes) and that was already almost 2 months ago and the same strings are still on there except for one now then.
And who knows how long they could have been on there when I bought it.
They alrady sounded a BIT dull tho.

But it's just it snapped on the bridge, I hope it doesn't mean it's a sharp saddle again : ( .
(And btw another string on the same guitar also broke on the saddle a while ago...)

- Damage Inc.

 

[Damage Inc.]

Re: String Life

Depends 100% on:

String brand, manufacturer and model
playing style
quality of guitar (for ex. burrs in bridge saddles)
how often you clean the strings
How often you wash your hands
how much you sweat /what the exact chemical composition of your sweat is
... And much more.


I know players that are in the messed up situation of needing fresh strings 2x weekly, and I´ve seen Case Queen guitars from the 70s with the original strings.... way too much range to say anything exact.... But most "hobbyist" or amateur players feel they need new strings between 1x a month and 2x a year when not gigging or recording (in my experience)

Ernieball strings (.41 set).
Ibanez guitar with original bridge etc.
Play mostly pretty hard but ofcourse different all the time.
I play System Of A Down songs on it mostly, well it's tuned in Drop C so yeah you can kinda imagine how the guitar is played : P .

- Damage Inc.

 

[Zerberus]

Re: String Life

Ernieball strings (.41 set).
Ibanez guitar with original bridge etc.
Play mostly pretty hard but ofcourse different all the time.
I play System Of A Down songs on it mostly, well it's tuned in Drop C so yeah you can kinda imagine how the guitar is played : P .

- Damage Inc.

The point of my post was not to get you to post details, but to make it clear that nobody anywhere save maybe a psychic can tell you when they´ll break... Use your hands and ears to feel and hear when they´re too old.

Studying the exact physics of which of hundreds of variables cause which string to break when is something for a nobel-prize winning biochemisty professor, not a luthier

But you may want to have a good teck take a look at the saddle, there may be a burr on there that he needs to sand or file off

 

[Damage Inc.]

Re: String Life


Yeah well, I looked at that very closely.
But it seems very round I think the gaps are even made bigger than usual cause of the thicker strings.
But I know about enough then.

Thanx All!
- Damage Inc.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: String Life

Think of the areas of the strings that are subjected to the most stress. Right at the point where the string breaks over the apex of the saddle.

Besides, the strings are already at least 2 months old. Sounds like they're doing good for hard wear.

It's probably a combination of the way you play and the wear on your strings. I break D strings (.26) on every guitar. I'm lucky to get a few hours of playing time before it breaks- so I buy packages of nothing but .26 strings. It's got to be my hamfisted style and where most of the force of the attack of the pick ends up on that string.

By the way, good job getting the graphite saddles. Those were the best $30 bucks I ever spent. I replaced them on all my guitars.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: String Life

Ernieball strings (.41 set).
Ibanez guitar with original bridge etc.
Play mostly pretty hard but ofcourse different all the time.
I play System Of A Down songs on it mostly, well it's tuned in Drop C so yeah you can kinda imagine how the guitar is played : P .

- Damage Inc.

What color is the string pack? There isn't a 41, and even if there was, playing hard on that light a guage tuned to C wouldn't work very well.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: String Life

Also, if your Ibanez has a locking tremelo, you (or whoever strings the guitar) may be tightening the clamp too much.

 

[Damage Inc.]

Re: String Life

What color is the string pack? There isn't a 41, and even if there was, playing hard on that light a guage tuned to C wouldn't work very well.

Well I'm probably wrong about the .41 thing cause I never actually went to the store to buy them.
But I'll look it up... *looking* ...they're the red package with the WHITE bird called 'Light Gauge' with the string guages: 11-15-22w-30-42-52 .

And also I don't have a tremolo, I have a fat Iceman... man, lol.

- Damage Inc.

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: String Life

another thing as mentioned is your sweat and oils from your fingers and how the react with the strings. i can't play ernie ball strings for more than 2 days before they start to get funky and corrode due to the oil/sweat compund of my skin. however i can get d'addario's to last quite a long time. im also in the habit of wiping down my strings each night on the guitar i played that day so it doesn't sit and rust overnight. i'd try some other string brands and see what lasts longer and sounds best for you. a few years ago i went out and bout 1 package of various brands (you name it i think i tried it lol) of strings and tried them all and i now only play d'addario since TO ME they sound best and last longest.

-Mike

 

[Damage Inc.]

Re: String Life

another thing as mentioned is your sweat and oils from your fingers and how the react with the strings. i can't play ernie ball strings for more than 2 days before they start to get funky and corrode due to the oil/sweat compund of my skin. however i can get d'addario's to last quite a long time. im also in the habit of wiping down my strings each night on the guitar i played that day so it doesn't sit and rust overnight. i'd try some other string brands and see what lasts longer and sounds best for you. a few years ago i went out and bout 1 package of various brands (you name it i think i tried it lol) of strings and tried them all and i now only play d'addario since TO ME they sound best and last longest.

-Mike

Yeah well, for another guitar with a standard tuning I have always had a set of D'addarios with the Orange XL package.
But I've broken a LOT of strings on the saddles and lately even when they were just a week old too, but that's probably of the bad bridges there were on there.
And sometimes cause they were just old.
But I think for me those D'addario strings run out of their "good sound" too quick.
And I don't know how they really sound but I think I'd be better off with the Ernieball reinforced strings (for the standard tuned guitar that is).
Since I'm a hard and extreme player.
I just ram my guitar and go insane on it, I'd almost smash it on something.
But yeah then you're asking for them to break, or the guitar to break : P .
Not that I'm not a serious player tho, I AM aiming for the big Rockstar life.
If my gear would just WORK!

- Damage Inc.

 

[big_black]

Re: String Life

I can't rememeber the last time I broke a string...maybe I'm just a pu$$. I don't really pay attention to a length of time. I just play it until I notice the strings sound dead or don't feel the same...one month, one an a half maybe?