How often do you break a string?

I went with Very Rarely as well. I used to break strings back in my gigging days as well if I didn't change strings about every 3rd or 4th night. Many years later I had a tech work over the saddles on my bridge and I don't remember the last time I broke one. I don't beat the guitar as hard as I used to though.

“Very rarely” also and I like to bend. I keep all the contact points smooth and lubed up and probably change the strings too often; but there’s nothing like the sound of fresh strings. IMO

I had a spate of string breaks in the mid 70s and also tuning problems on a Gibson SG. I changed the tuners, eased off the nut slots and smoothed the bridge saddles. Also started using smaller picks. No more prob!ems. After that, I only ever broke one, a 4th string on a Tele, a few years back. There was no obvious reason for it, but it speeded up a decision to upgrade to a Callaham bridge.

Very often!

... but only when I'm working on guitars. Tuning up and down and back up again over and over is way harder on strings than playing them. I broke a high E on one of my strats about six months ago, and it was the first time I've broken a string while playing in a very, very long time. Come to think of it, it might have been because it was the set I had on there when I set it up most recently.

Most string breakers I see are doing something strange, like never changing strings and thinking a few months old is practically new, or trying to use 10s on an acoustic and playing like an animal.

I haven't broken one in years. I always wipe them down after playing. I have a 335 with at least 10 year old strings that sounds fine.

Very rarely - the notable exceptions are when I run the seven string in the original tuning (high A instead of low string) or while changing strings.

Other than that, it's literally been a decade or two.

Very rare. I think I broke one in the last five years. If I break a string there are two reasons - 1) I didn't change my strings when I should have, or 2) there is a sharp edge or burr on the saddle or tuning post.

Huh. No kidding ?

I just broke 9 strings in the last 5 weeks on 4 different guitars and I slide instead of bend most of the time.

Three breaks caused me to smooth the saddles. The other 6 broke in the middle because I don't change strings until they break !(odd, eh ?)

But the curious part was, why all the sudden ?

Well... every year when we hit monsoon season in the Fall, every dang guitar goes sharp.

And then goes sharp again...and again. It's been two months or more and I STILL have to tune them down !

Perhaps the extra tension on the strings is causing the weak one's to fail each Fall ?

If so, I now know when to order up some new strings !

And make them 10s I guess.

And Auf Kiltre...I still can't forget your flawless guitar work on one of your demo pieces. I don't say so then, so I'll say it now...it was AWESOME !

Now back to your regular programming...

Heh, I'm he-main big strings on bass. The only "lightish" I uses is on the Bass VI, where I have 95s in Labella stainless rounds.

Everything else is 105 stainless flats!

You are tougher than me. Then again, most bassists probably use a gauge heavier than I do (but not all - lighter sets are made so someone is buying them).



I discovered lighter strings thanks to a bass that had a stripped truss rod nut (I did this, and I eventually had the nut replaced so that problem is gone). I initially tried a set of 30-110 strings and found I could only not get along with the 30. Everything else was fine.

I bring this up to say that if you want to go lighter, I would perhaps stairstep down. If 8s were giving you fits, perhaps 9s would be better?

When I considered myself a "lead guitar player" 45-50 years ago I broke an unwound string every month or so. My guitar case held a bunch of nearly dead used strings as emergency back up. I tried to keep down expenses by limiting myself to one pack of fresh strings a month. Beer was cheaper than strings.

After playing bass for a few decades I returned to guitar and noted I seldom broke strings anymore. Not that my guitar playing technique had changed much either.

I had the same thing happen with picks. Back in the old days I played with those clunky triangular celluloid picks because I broke at least one pick a gig. The alternative was using Hercos which seemed to lack snap

Better manufacturing techniques? Better materials? I don't know

Every couple of months. Seems when I break one I'll typically break more within a short span... Humidity changes, perhaps?

used to break them at the bridge and usually the 4th (D), might have been saddle issues. Now, surprisingly if I do break a string, it's the high E and in the middle, I think just old strings on guitars I haven't played in a while. I've also had issues with strings unravelling at the ball end on Jags and Jazz Masters, maybe due to the top load bridge? happened at least four times.

I play 10s on everything, fwiw - that is a six-string geetar that's not a Bass VI.