How many times have you broken a string?

[alyctes]

I've snapped a couple when trying to restring a bass with strings from elsewhere, but that doesn't count.

[Guest MoJo]

Never in 37 years, but I do play lightly and don't dig in

[Bolo]

I used to break strings often when I used Ernie Ball slinkys on my old ibanez soungear 500.
Never since I switched to DR.

[steve-bbb]

40 years playing mostly fingers some pick never a breakage through playing - skinny guitar strings plenty

[chrisanthony1211]

I have actually broken the occasional string on install which have been swapped from bass to bass a few times which I put down to user error, never broken one whilst playing.

[Grangur]

I've only ever broken 1 - a Rotosound G string - straight out of the packet. Never played. it snapped getting it up to tension.

The pain was it took Rotosound over a month to decide to send me 1 replacement string!

[NancyJohnson]

First bass...CBS/Arbiter SG shaped thing. Had flats on it. G-string broke and all I could afford on my paperboy wages was a cheapie roundwound.

Couldn't believe how bright that string sounded, so I used that string almost exclusively. It was rounds from then on.

[James Nada]

Once in 27 years (and the break was about 23 years ago).
I recall that I was picking aggressively and close to the bridge. D string.

[Telebass]

Less times than I've been out on the town with Joanna Lumley.

[aguacollas]

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1471596346' post='3114238']
Never broken a string playing.

Broke an E whilst fitting a new set of strings. I was tuning up and not really paying attention so the inevitable happened. The string was probably close to an octave above what it should have been when it snapped.
[/quote]

The same happened to me with an A string. I was tuning up with the bass on my lap. It is a miracle I still have my nose intact as a whole. It was like a whip.

[Dave Vader]

[quote name='Telebass' timestamp='1471847600' post='3116233']
Less times than I've been out on the town with Joanna Lumley.
[/quote]

Loads then (if I am to believe Heat magazine anyway)

[BottomE]

30+ years playing. Happened twice. Both times it was digging in on the G string.

[Norris]

A few times in my youthful exuberance but not for many years. Fingers too

[PaulWarning]

well, I finally broke my first bass string at last nights gig, the A string at the bridge, must make a Google calendar note to change my DR neons every 6 months, luckily I had taken my spare bass into the pub with me, I did find out how much better a P bass cuts through them a Hondo professional ll though

[Cato]

Every bass player should experience the comedy flobbadobadoba sound of a string snapping and the outer wrap unraveling at some point.

Edited October 30, 2016 by Cato

[Quilly]

I saw Kim Gordon break an E string at a sonic youth concert. I've never broken one, I've been playing for nearly 30 years on sone really crappy basses.

[steve-bbb]

on a bass once i think i remember back in about 1979 ish or thereabouts - was the G

on the skinny six strings about once every few months and always the top E

[pfretrock]

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1471552350' post='3113998']
...but it's also first in line to encounter a particularly careless heavy downward blow
[/quote]
May be the E breaks more often because of this. Also the core of the string takes the most mechanical stress, rather that the thicker overwinding which is only there to add weight to get it to the correct pitch. Check the diameter of the core where it wraps around the ball end - it's not that thick.

[blue]

In 50 years I've never broken a string.

Blue

[el borracho]

I voted once although I broke two in the same gig. I was trying out some lighter strings - 40-90 Superwounds - remember those? I went straight back to the 45-105s and still use them.

[PaulWarning]

it's the first string I've broken in 12 years (since I switched to bass from guitar) but it also the longest time I've gone without changing the strings, which is probably the reason, I should add I am a aggressive player who uses a 1mm pick

[Ziphoblat]

Once. It was a school bass I'd picked up to mess about on. Not very well looked after. The strings were rusted due to people sweating on them etc. Low E string. It was a bit painful, actually. Wasn't even playing particularly aggressively. Never broken an undamaged string.

Edited October 31, 2016 by Ziphoblat

[Marc S]

This is my 2nd spell of playing, following a 20+ year break in playing.
During this 8 year spell, I've only broken one string (a "D" string). These days I mainly play finger style, and sometimes with a pick, but in my previous spell of playing it was mainly pick, with occasional finger style

Back during my first spell of playing, I played more heavily, due to playing punk & rock.
I seem to recall breaking mainly D strings then, funny enough - but certainly one E string too

In the 80's Rotosound released a version of their "swing" bass string, which had no windings on the core at the bridge end of the stings. This was apparently to create a more lively sound. Broke 2 of those, and they were quite new strings too - so stopped buying them

I'm amazed to hear that some players have never broken a string. I know a couple of guitarists who occasionally play bass, and they've broken bass strings. Again, they play with a pick - so I'd be interested to hear what is the percentage of strings broken by pick players v finger players.

Edited October 31, 2016 by Marc S

[gapiro]

I've gone twice - both G strings, but both on same bass within a week - the bridge saddle had sharpened into a pinch point.

Edited October 31, 2016 by gapiro

[NancyJohnson]

[quote name='NancyJohnson' timestamp='1471769818' post='3115630']
First bass...CBS/Arbiter SG shaped thing. Had flats on it. G-string broke and all I could afford on my paperboy wages was a cheapie roundwound.

Couldn't believe how bright that string sounded, so I used that string almost exclusively. It was rounds from then on.
[/quote]

Twice now. 2nd time about a month ago. Dunlop Nickel 0.40. It was new too...hadn't been on the bass more than an hour; I was at a rehearsal and wasn't even playing at the time (the bass was propped up against my amp). The damn thing broke at the ball-end too.

I was so pissed at the time that I took the photo below and emailed it to Dunlop. Guess what happened next? Yep, they sent me a new set of strings. Not really. Not even an acknowledgement. I don't hawk around trying to get free stuff, but this really annoyed me. Grrr. Bad Dunlop. Bad Dunlop.