From: ohumukin@spectra.com (Kawika Ohumukini)
Subject: Re: breaking high e
Organization: Spectragraphics Corporation
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 93 00:16:45 GMT

In article <1993Jan21.193911.12493@ncsu.edu> npstewar@eos.ncsu.edu (NATHAN PHILLIP STEWART) writes:
>
>Lots of people are suggesting changing string gauges and playing styles to 
>alleviate the problem, but IMO that should be a last resort. (Or a temporary fix
>until the real problem is fixed.)

Hi,

The string is not the problem.  Thousands of guitarists use any particular
string brand and gauge and not all of them prematurely break strings.
I have used about 10 different brands of strings from .009 to .011 and
I managed to break certain strings consistently.  That reminds me of the
old cliche' "I can't play that guitar, it's a piece of ----".  They blame
the instrument and fail to notice that their style needs to be adapted to
the instrument, not the other way around.  Expecting a piece of thin
metal under 100's of pounds of pressure to take the abuse we guitar 
players put on it and not flex back is impractical.  Metal, like guitar
players, has it's limits (currently).  To ignore those limits and expect
the string to go "Oh, ok, bend me up 3 semitones and don't clean me and
I'll perform perfectly" doesn't work.  

Does a .009 prematurely break where a .011 will not?  It is all relative
to the stress put on the metal.  I play Joe Satrani and Vinnie Moore
daily, as well as originals I can't describe, and they regularly bend
the strings to their outer limits.  Joe typically bends his 2-3 semitones
or off the neck, to get that squeal sound, and he can play for 1.5 hours
and never break a string.  

Will a .011 take more abuse than a .009?  Of course, that is just pure
physics.  A closer look at my playing style revealed a fundamental 
inefficiency--Using too much strength on certain strings consistently
and not cleaning them.  I changed both of these and by far adjusting
my touch allowed me to play more intricate, extravagent parts as well
as have more "gig stamina" and last 4-6 hours.

I am not telling anyone how to play or that this string is better than
that one.  I only intend to point out that you can't hammer a circle
through a square.  When they say "hammer-on" don't use a hammer.

Cheers,
Kawika 


 Over the last 3 or 4 years, I've gone from
>9's to 11's. Only while I played 9's did I ever break strings.  When I played a
>lot, (2 nights rehearsal, 1 night onstage + daily noodling around) I found I
>changed strings about every two weeks, since I've cut back, I change every month
>or however often I can afford them. (I'm a student.)
>
>During the summer months especially, I sweat very corrosively, so my strings go
>dead faster, but didn't break as long as I changed 'em when they start to dull
>in tone. My preference (for the last 7 years) was D'Addario, and I've not had 
>problems with them. In my experience, intonation problems developed before they
>get in the condition to break whenever they feel like it.  I'm currently using
>DR Handmade strings (at about $1 more a pack than D'Addario), which I love to 
>death, but I'm only on my second pack, so I can't say too much for consistency
>yet, but I've had no problems here either. I don't really expect to have break-
>age problems here either since I'm now playing a set 11-(52?) on a non tremelo
>Zion Strat. I played an Ibanez RG-550 for about 3-4 years, with moderate to
>heavy tremelo use the first 2 years of that, and had no problems with D'Addario
>9-42's. (I used to be into metaloid stuff untill I realized I had sloppy techn-
>ique and couldn't play fast. Now I play Da Bluz!)
>
>Just a plug for DR strings here. I'd been playing D'Addario 11's for the last 
>year, and was considering going to a light top/heavy bottom type set, since I
>wanted heavier strings, but I didn't want to deal with bending a set of 12's.
>The DR strings (11's) feel like a set of D'Addario 10's. I'm definately going 
>to 12's now that I've found a string I could handle in 12's. The DR's are
>extremely flexible, and seem to run at a lower tension than another brand of 
>the same gauges. The holdup is just trying to get a set of 12's with a plain G.
>
>hope it helps - Da Nate
>npstewar@eos.ncsu.edu


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