dammit, my strings are only lasting me 2-3 weeks now and its pissing me off,am i playing too hard? i use 11-56 and tune to D, so it isnt a looseness problem. this is pissing me off, any got any advice?

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well, try not being really hard on the strings, because that doesnt help you sound metal or anything. But it also may be a looneness problem, it depends how tightly you put the strings on and your tremelo setting ect. Is it breaking at the head or the bridge? If its breaking near the bridge you need to adjust the temelo setting, If its at the head its either you pulled the strings in too tightly or wrapped them around to much, or you need to loosen the truss rod.

When you buy most guitars, they are usually meant for .10 size strings, and you must loosen it to fit for 11's, but strings break all the time anyways, but its not always like every 2/3 weeks. I had this problem and then i just out them on in a looser fashion, that usually just works if its either breaking at the neck or bridge.

well, its an rg120 modded with a tremblock so the tension is the same no matter what... it could be the truss rod but they break at the bridge to i dont think its that. My schecter had burrs in the bridge so it might be that?

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How do you play, exactly? Give an example of some typical things you do on the guitar, and, if you can, how you do them. I've gone through periods where I had drastically different results, as per frequency of string breakage, with an identical setup, without any defects causing it, based solely on how I was playing at the time. Lately I've had a long stretch where I haven't broken a string, but that's mostly because the only guitar I have access to at the moment just has a standard bridge.

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is it any particular string, or all of them, i know that on one of my guitars i had to take to the bridge CAREFULLY with a file, as there must have been a nick in the metal on the bridge, or something like that, which was causing the A string to break all the time. You can also 'lubricate' the bit the strings sit in with a pensil, which i suggest you do next time it breaks (since it cant hurt)

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hmmm start cleaning your strings GHS fast fret does the job in a pinch

also there is no need to strum your guitar really hard, no reason at all.

thats what i had to do cause i was breaking low E strings like nobodies business

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try with a pencil before taking the file option though, as you have far less chance of wrecking the bridge
but as i think i said, if its ALL the strings that are breaking at about the same time then it wont be 'a little nick on the brdge'

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no its just the A. it did this on my schecter but now it never breaks strings since i filed it with a broken peice of string. My schecter works pefectly, come to think of it, it kicks my ibanezs ass except for the invader which combined with the mohogany body completly muds the tone.

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i play so much and so hard i always change my strings about every 2 weeks, and sometimes harder picks make them brake more

I'm certain it is something with the bridge that is causing the problem. Try using string saver saddles. They work for me. Start there, but you should replace the strings every few weeks anyway.

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do you stretch the strings after you put them on? maybe the snap cause they're cold out of the pack and not warmed up enough in those few weeks

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Yes.

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yes, i stretch em. well, it doesnt look like my bridge has saddles, since they are built into the bridge, so pencil and file are my best friends i guess.

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You are stretching them right, so don't worry about that. Work on the bridge a little and you should be fine.

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i got exactly the same problem, cant even tune down to E flat.
i go through high E strings willy-nilly.

it really bugs the shit out of me, i think my BC is rooted. neck problems. eh, my trouble.

if you try to tune down too much, thats always a bad thing. fucking with the tuning can kill off strings. hope thats useful.

Not really "should". You can if you want to, but there's no reason you *should* do it. I prefer the tone I get from strings that are not brand new (that may be because I set my amp up to sound good with them), but many prefer the tone of new strings. Of course it's also an economic issue, because 2 sets of strings each month do add up to quite some money after a year or so...

And I really can't see what relevance Soulinsane's above statement has to this thread. The problem is that the strings snap when they shouldn't, which has nothing to do with how often you may wish to change strings for the tone or feel of it.

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I was only pointing out that if you replace the strings every 2-3 week, about the same time they start to break, then there really isn't a problem. Some poeple like older strings so what is right for me isn't right for everyone. Sorry for the confusion.

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Yeah having to spend about 6$ every 2 weeks is waay to much for me.

The pencil tactic is also good for buzzing if you use it on the slots at the head of the guitar. About tunings, ive made the decision its basically useless to tune to anything lower than C.

Depends how many guitars you have/play in those 2 weeks, but still, it doesn't cost that much.

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well if the boy doesnt have a job then its probably a bitch

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Well he better sell out fast so he can afford to buy strings JK, I remember a time once when I would spend my last few dollars on strings rather then buy food. I was poow

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ah yes lifes tough decisions

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i filled out an application today, and am going down to the place with my dad since he knows the manager, dont know if thats a good idea, since i can get in trouble easier, but it starts a 8.50 an hour so i can get a M-II soon.

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where you gonna be working?

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safeway... as a cart bitch, but its good exercise stacking boxes and pushing carts, plus i can walk to work if i want because its so close.

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you get 8.50 an hour working at safeway????
where do you live BTW, cus i know that safeways are a west coast thing

and about the string problem, why are you using such heavily gauged strings for tuning to D, try using 11-50, thatd prolly be a good start, itd prolly be alot easier to play, as well, cus i dont think its how you are playing, i use 10-46 for E and Eb, i bang the fuckers, and i rarely break strings, i change them every month, month and a half or so. i also disagree with what someone said earlier about the pick gauge, i use 2mm picks, the heaviest ones i can get at the local store, i have been using them for the past 2 1/2 years, and id have to say that that hasnt changed my string breaking tendencies one bit. hope i have been of some help.

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yeah, sorry moonraven, i fucked up, its 11-52s, they work perfectly for D. Oh yeah, safeways are union, so you get payed more, and the economy is totally fucked here, so some stuff costs alot more here. like gas for instance.

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I applied for a summer job at popeyes, and they rejected my application. Think of how pitiful that is, a job at POPEYES.....

what the fuck is a popeyes? sounds like it should be a sea food resturant

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It's a chicken joint and they suck anyway. Don't bother with fast food. It's a waste of time and they will work you like a power slave. Not even new guitar strings are worth that torment

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That used to happen to me. It was my bridge that caused it. When I got a new guitar with a tuneomatic, my strings lasted much longer.

yea i swore i would never work with food unless it was like bottom line do or die type situation

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I haven't broken a string in at least 5 years. I guess I'm the lucky one. Depending on how much you play, I'd recommend changing strings once every 3-6 months. I only get the time to play once or twice a week at the moment and I've had my current batch of strings on for nearly 9 months. They're just at the stage now where I could probably get another 3 months out of them (at my current rate of playing) before they become unplayable.

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dude, popeyes is fucking good chicken, but yeah. i wouldnt work there.

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what state do ya live in?
what brand strings do you use, cus i had problems with dean markleys breaking before, and i used 11-52. i use ernie balls now, and they never break, well there was one time where i was trying to break a high e by bending the fuck out of it and literally hitting it the fuck out of it, but that was the only time.

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It's just popeyes is a place around here that would hire 15 year olds, i geuss ill have to wait till im 16, then I can become a waiter, we dont have a safeway around here though.

The economy is totally fucked everywhere just about right now...

i live in california moon, and yes i use dean markley blue steels. I love the sound of em, but if they keep breaking, ill switch to gibsons or slinkys.

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Does it usually break in the same place on the same string?

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yeah cc, its usually the A, im getting a new guitar soon though, an ESP M-II so i wont have to deal with this shitty ibanez anymore.

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If your guitar is string thru-body you might have to clean the holes. My friends guitar kept breaking his E-String because of a tiny imperfection in the hole.

Getting new guitars scare me.

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