Breaking a string at a gig - has this happened to you?

[Clarky]

I read on BC about these impressive boxes and bags of back-up stuff that many BC'ers bring to gigs including pliers, batteries, gaffa tape, spare strings etc. Being a lazy toad I bring nothing and have so far been lucky never to break a string on a gig - or have I? How many of you have actually broken strings at gigs?

BTW, I have this strange feeling of deja vu setting this up - either I have done this before (I searched first!) or more sadly (arguably) I dreamed about setting up this poll. If its the former, please let me know and I will delete this immediately and hope not many people noticed what a dipstick I am.

Edited June 4, 2010 by Clarky

[HeavyJay]

Once in 17 years. I was holding a bass by its strings and shaking it up and down. The G went.

[RussFM]

Broke one in soundcheck before, but never during a gig thankfully.

[clauster]

Only done it once, about 25 years ago when I was really hammering the strings to make up for only having a little combo to play through.

[wateroftyne]

Broke one at a gig once. Didn't have any spares. Did the rest of the gig on the lowest four strings of an acoustic guitar.

Never again.

Incidentally, I used to snap double bass strings fairly regularly.

Now I just turn the amp up.

[farmer61]

Just the once - an E string

Edited June 3, 2010 by farmer61

[RhysP]

I've never broken a string on a bass or a guitar.

[Cat Burrito]

Once maybe twice in the mid 90s but it doesn't happen now... touchwood! I do keep spares although I must confess if one went on my upright I'd be stuffed

[bassicinstinct]

Broke G D and A strings at the same gig which was, thankfully, several decades ago.

Even so, it is etched upon my memory and I can remember it like it was yesterday.

Horrible.

[drewk_ie]

Ah yes, the 'ol bass breaking string... I do remember back in the early ninties I used to break an E or A string at every gig... and my figures used to blister and bleed... God that was an expensive and sore time !! But I put that down having in adequate amplification and trying to keep up with the volume of the guitarists.

These days though only once in a very very blue moon!

[Bloodaxe]

Never. There, that's put the Curse of Murray Walker on it. Best make sure I've got a spare set in the gigbag from now on.

[Wil]

Broke a bass string at a gig once. It was a Rotosound if I recall right, had to finish the tune an octave higher. I player fingerstyle so it must either have been a bad string or I don't know my own strength.

[Linus27]

Yep, all the time in my driving guitar punk pop days. Used to break a string every 4 or 5 gigs but then I did play fairly heavy with a pick. Not heavy as in heavy music, heavy as in I play heavy. Got quite good as being able to improvise the bass lines with one less string. Quite a weird feeling when a string breaks. String goes all floppy and it feels like everything goes to jelly as both hands try to make contact with a solid string and trying to find the right note on a different string

I have found that now I play with fingers more, I still dig in really hard and get a clanking sound as the strings hit the frets and pole pieces on the pickups. I tend to hit down on the strings rather that pluck them upwards. I guess its different if not ideal

[Clarky]

I am tempted to add a poll as to how often the guitard in your band breaks a string at a gig - in our case, nearly every bl**dy time!

[51m0n]

Once oin a gig (old repeated;y boiled strings doesnt mix with popped chords!), once the first time I put a set of strings on a 5 string (oh, its a B then )

You live and learn!

[Happy Jack]

Never a string ... but I've had a bass knocked over and a tuner snapped off.

I don't carry spare strings (or spare tuners ). I take a spare bass!

[discreet]

Clarky, if you dreamt about setting up a BassChat poll to see how often people break their strings, then you need:

1. A holiday
2. More sex
3. More drugs
4. Fewer drugs
5. Therapy
6. A lot of booze
7. A Boston pancake
8. Esther Rantzen

Bloody hell, [i]I'm[/i] getting deja vu now. Should I make this into a poll?

M

PS: Carry spare strings, but have never broken one. Yet.

[stinson]

[quote name='Linus27' post='856328' date='Jun 3 2010, 05:33 PM']Yep, all the time in my driving guitar punk pop days. Used to break a string every 4 or 5 gigs but then I did play fairly heavy with a pick. Not heavy as in heavy music, heavy as in I play heavy. Got quite good as being able to improvise the bass lines with one less string. Quite a weird feeling when a string breaks. String goes all floppy and it feels like everything goes to jelly as both hands try to make contact with a solid string and trying to find the right note on a different string

I have found that now I play with fingers more, I still dig in really hard and get a clanking sound as the strings hit the frets and pole pieces on the pickups. I tend to hit down on the strings rather that pluck them upwards. I guess its different if not ideal [/quote]

Ditto

[Clarky]

[quote name='discreet' post='856349' date='Jun 3 2010, 05:51 PM']Clarky, if you dreamt about setting up a BassChat poll to see how often people break their strings, then you need:

1. A holiday
2. More sex
3. More drugs
4. Fewer drugs
5. Therapy
6. A lot of booze
7. A Boston pancake
8. Esther Rantzen[/quote]
Other than 7 or 8, I agree. I am a bit delirious having had about 10 hours sleep cumulatively over the past three days (combination of insomnia, acid reflux and sh*tty heavy cold) but that sno excuse. I AM SAD

[discreet]

[quote name='Clarky' post='856370' date='Jun 3 2010, 06:15 PM']I AM SAD[/quote]

Seasonal Affective Disorder? At this time of year?

Er - it's a fine poll. I was only havin' a bit laff an a joke.

[Clarky]

[quote name='discreet' post='856372' date='Jun 3 2010, 06:21 PM']Er - it's a fine poll. I was only havin' a bit laff an a joke. [/quote]
I know you were, no offence taken! Trouble is I do actually agree with what you said

[rOB]

Never during a gig, and only a couple of times ever. I think G strings when I was trying to learn slap.

I always carry spare strings and usually a spare bass, just in case.

[Huw Foster]

I think it's only happened to me once on a gig, and the other times I can count on one hand.

The offending incident can be put down to a number of possible reasons:

- Bad technique (which is much better now thankyouverymuch).

- Poorly set-up bass - recalling my first encounter with the truss rod (once I knew what it was) still gives me nightmares. I'm breaking out in a cold sweat as I write this on a warm summer's evening. To feed your imagination, try comparing it to a condemned convict attempting to break out of death row by digging a hole in the (10ft, reinforced concrete) wall the night before his execution. Using a teaspoon.

- Heat/humidity etc.

Anyway. The one offending gig (and here's hoping it's the only one) happened to have a number of other bands on the bill, each with bassists sporting equally mediocre gear. However, once the tune was over, my pleas to borrow a bass fell on deaf ears. I guess they expected my to do the same to their basses.

Turns out it was an ideal opportunity to become intimately acquainted with the upper reaches of my fretboard (I'm fairly certain it was the G that withered and died), so the positives outweighed the negatives overall.

[BigRedX]

At a gig I've only ever broken a string once. It was a really terrible gig - first with a new extended line up of the band I was in at the time. Just about everything that could go wrong did. One of the synths went inexplicably out of tune every time it received a trigger pulse from the drum machine, the other stopped working completely two songs from the end, the sound was appalling, almost no-one had come to see us other than someone who was potentially going to give us more gigs (as he could see we were crap and had no audience so he didn't bother), and I broke a string on the very first song. At the time I had no spare bass and no spare strings, so I had to borrow the support band's Grant Violin bass which was strung with flats and on a strap so long it hung below my knees...

The following day I went a bought a second hand Futurama Bass and a some more strings so this would never happen again.

Since then I've always taken a back up bass to gigs and luckily have never had to use it.

In rehearsals at one time or another I've broken every string on my bass including low B! However this has been considerably less common since I stopped using Rotosounds or Elites and switched to better strings.

[Huw Foster]

By the way, if you're going to break a string, here's the way to do it:



(fingerless gloves and white cowboy boots optional)

Edited June 3, 2010 by Huwberry