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hi! today I broke 2 e-strings when practicing 1,5-tone-bendings. the guitar is completely new an high end (Duesenberg). the string breaks about at the place where my brining-finger is (10 fred high e string). the fred has no sharp edges. the bend feels absolutely smooth, but of course it takes some power. it is a .10 string. what am I doing wrong? I had the same problem years ago with a different guitar. I stopped doing the 1,5-tone-bends on the high e-string because it always broke. is this normal?
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Hi Roland
I like 1.5 ton breaking strain! A fun heading typo or What fingers you have!
What are the brand of strings you are using? Many of the latest string types have much greater tensile strength than some of the older varieties. I think elixir nano web will be in this class and Ernie Ball have a very strong sethttps://www.ernieball.com/paradigm
So a change of srting brand maybe what is needed and below is andertons take on them but I think Elixirs area lso about in the same league
JohnStrat
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Hi!
Thank you for all the replies!
@charjo: thanx for the video! really good input! good to know that I am not the only one, and I will also think about using a thinner string for the high e.@billy: i do a finger-pick bend mute come down
@johnstrat: I use elexir
@mark: it is all brand new and set up properly. and th string does not break at the nut!!!! it breaks were my fredding-finger is. so it breaks exactly where I bend the string.
I also did some research and found a few websites (for example https://www.meltingpointathens.com/how-do-you-bend-a-high-e-string-without-breaking-it/ ) saying that strings can break due to a wrong bending technique. The say: “You may be pushing the strings too hard against the frets when bending… most of the pressure in a bend should be sideways against the string, not down onto the fret. Examine your bending technique; if you are flipping your thumb over the neck to make bends, that method invites excess down pressure on the frets.” I think maybe this ist my problem. so for now my first approach is to buy 10 e-strings (.010) and try to work on the technique. Maybe that helps. otherwise maybe I switch to a lighter e-strin ( 8 or 9) as charjo suggested. I’ll keep you updated! If you got ay further ideas please tell me!
Thank you all
Roland
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Roland that is interesting I dont often break strings and I too use the Elixir Nanowebs 10s. If the pressure of bending is kinking the string to some degree I can see that the might induce a stress area perhaps more with jumbo frets etc at your finger tip. I am not anything like the guitar player you are far from it but I can bend the tone and a half and I would say I do try do push sideways with only sufficient down to ensure the string is not going to slip. One of my pals a proffessional guitar player was in the same boat as you and he chandged to the Paradigms and has not broken one since. Apprenatly they warranty them or did! Check out the Andertons video they do a test to see what breaks them they were significanlty sronger than others by quite a margin I think a full semi tone higher. They took a regular ten and tensoned it to break at the A above the regular E tuning and the Paradigm went to the Bb as Paul Gilbert says significantly stronger and I bet you dont bend as feicely as his demmo! If you find they suit you you would not have to worry about your technique quite so much and that I would imagine would be a welcome find.
JohnStrat -
Hey Roland, I always use .10 strings on my electrics, and bend 1 1/2 steps on the E,B, and G strings and I haven’t broken a string in 20 years.
Do you stretch your strings when you put them on? I stretch my strings with a polishing cloth, then tune them, and then stretch them 2 or 3 times more until they settle in. If you’re not stretching your strings, that could be the problem.
Just an idea,
RalphRalph P.
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thank you JohnStrat: I will try the Paradigms! Sounds really good! 👍
Ralph P.: Thank you for your idea! I am stretching them. I don’t think this is the problem!
At the moment I really think I sometimes put to much pressure on the fret when bending. Now that I think of it: the day before yesterday I was bending 1,5 all the time and I had the impression it was quite easy and precise. No string broke. yesterday and today it felt really hard to bend and the strings broke. I think I focused more on the exact pitch and realized I need to go even a little bit higher than what I was used to. Probably I startet to cramp and to press more against the fretboard, so the string broke a few times…. later today I tried it with more focus on the right pressure and so far no string broke and it also felt more easy again. Yet I don’t have enough experience to make a well-founded statement, but I have got a strong idea, that this is the problem. Tomorrow I am going buy some e-strings and keep bending the whole day 🙂 Lets see if the problem I solved.
ohh my good… bending is such a difficult technique. 🙈 I just thought I am about to master it to find out I probably make fundamental mistakes 🙂 but actually maybe this could be the final step or say the first step to the final staircase 🤞
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