yorks5stringer Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 (edited) I've just about finished building my headless EUB but have encountered problems regarding strings ( the D occasionally and G regularly) breaking. The consensus of opinion from the people I have spoke to seems to be that the string angle from the bridge around the end of the fingereboard round to the tuners which are located underneath is too great. At first I thought it was the Tuner pegs being too small ( as the strings snapped near the Tuners) soI bought ones with a larger diameter, however still snapped strings about a tone under pitch, so then added larger brass wheels to widen the angle, again still snapped strings. So Daf Lewis ( who has been incredibly helpful) suggested I" bump" the old Obligato strings he sent me and that worked however, the new E and A ( which were the old A and D) are a bit " floppy" and I feel could do with more tension. So my request is does anyone have any old Orchestral strings please that I could try, as I believe they have more tension? Obviously like others who have posted on here recently, I will then need to source a G but there seems to be enough collective wisdom around on that already! [attachment=90940:21092011104.jpg] [attachment=90939:21092011102.jpg] Edited October 9, 2011 by yorks5stringer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry norton Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 That looks really interesting. Can you post a few more pictures and a spec? And what do you mean by "bumping" the strings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorks5stringer Posted October 9, 2011 Author Share Posted October 9, 2011 Hi Henry I'll do a full post in the Build section once it's all finished! Bumping (which was a term I've only just encountered) is the practice of putting lighter strings on your instrument by means of substituting the existing strings: E with the A, the A with the D, the D with the G and the G with a C which you have to go out and get as a single string! You obviously don't use the existing E. Bumping means your strings are at a looser tension: for some who've posted on here they need that due to blisters, I needed it as my string tension was too great and they were snapping! However, as my original post mentions, the exisitng strings were already fairly "soft", bumping them hasnow made them a little too floppy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry norton Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Gotcha. I'd never heard of that either. I'm interested in the breakage issues too though. What scale length are you using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorks5stringer Posted October 9, 2011 Author Share Posted October 9, 2011 The fingerboard to the bridge is 41.5" long and then there is around another 2 " before the strings go over the end brass wheels and back round to the Tuners as per the pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daflewis Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Hi all, Just to clarify; i think what would be useful is if anyone has an old set of flatchromes or other heavy orchestral bruisers, though even a set of spirocores or heavy orchestral helicores might be worth trying.... Cheers, Daf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorks5stringer Posted October 12, 2011 Author Share Posted October 12, 2011 As always, Daf knows the correct question to ask! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Bassman Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Hey Keith, thought I'd already mentioned I've a bag of assorted old strings you can have I've still got that unused set of NS strings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorks5stringer Posted October 18, 2011 Author Share Posted October 18, 2011 You did, will give you a ring! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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