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Just had a string unwind itself!! WTF

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 1:56 am
by KaosCill8r
I just had a high e string unwind itself. Not from the tuning peg end, but from the ball end :idk: This has never happened to me before. I've broke a lot of high e strings but never this. I was tuning it up and it just kept flattening until the string pulled through and the ball end dropped to the floor. Anyone else had this happen?

Re: Just had a string unwind itself!! WTF

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 6:09 am
by Swordfishtrombone
It's never happened to me. o__O My guess would just be a QC slip up. Other than that, I wonder if it's possible that you have a burr somewhere near where the string goes thru, and it caught on the winding and caused it to unwind from the pressure. Could something like that even happen? :?:

Re: Just had a string unwind itself!! WTF

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 6:24 am
by Iommic Pope
Dunno man, that is pretty crazy.

Send it back and see if you get frrebies?

Re: Just had a string unwind itself!! WTF

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 6:57 am
by KaosCill8r
Swordfishtrombone wrote:It's never happened to me. o__O My guess would just be a QC slip up. Other than that, I wonder if it's possible that you have a burr somewhere near where the string goes thru, and it caught on the winding and caused it to unwind from the pressure. Could something like that even happen? :?:
I've checked where the string goes though the bridge. Looks and feels fine. The strings are over six months old so it might be just that. I'd say if it was a quality control issue it would of shit itself long before then. Maybe it was just telling me it is about time I changed my strings. It was just strange. It has never happened before, not to me or anyone else I know. I just thought it might have happened to someone around here.
Cool username by the way. It's my favourite Tom Waits album :thumb:

Hey pope, If the string was shiny and new instead of almost black I would send it back. I just wanted some kind of explanation from someone around here. Thought someone here might know something. They were long overdue for a change.

Re: Just had a string unwind itself!! WTF

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 7:42 am
by Swordfishtrombone
Huh, alright. Yeah, I've never had strings on long enough for that to happen, so I still don't know what could have happened. Maybe (depending on the bridge's construction) it's just a mix of sweat + dirt and other gunk getting in there and causing it to deteriorate, and that happened to be the end result? I dunno, it's definitely weird.

And thanks! It's the first Tom Waits album I listened to, so even if my preference for his various types of material change at some point in the future, it'll probably always be my favorite because of that. :thumb:

Re: Just had a string unwind itself!! WTF

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 7:48 am
by goroth
That's happened to me once in 19 years of playing. But (this is serious) I'm going to go check my B string as it's been going out of tune when I bemd it hard and I know the tuning peg is good, as is the wind at the tuner end, and I have bent the shit out of that string for 2 months now without a problem. Strange...

Re: Just had a string unwind itself!! WTF

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 8:14 am
by Iommic Pope
Ok, kaos. Just thought you were stringing it up and tuning.
Crazy.

Gor, when you say B....




....you mean your lowest note, right?

I gotta stop hanging out in the Doom Room so much. :picard:

OTHER PEOPLE HAVE OTHER TUNINGS.
ITS NOT ALL JUST DROP WHATEVER THE FUCK.

Re: Just had a string unwind itself!! WTF

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 8:25 am
by coldbrightsunlight
It's happened to me once or twice, mostly on old instruments with rough bridges or very old strings. Also did it on a double bass once somehow. :idk:

Re: Just had a string unwind itself!! WTF

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 8:49 am
by KaosCill8r
monkeydancer wrote:It's happened to me once or twice, mostly on old instruments with rough bridges or very old strings. Also did it on a double bass once somehow. :idk:
The guitar in question is quite new. It's a Squier VM H/H Jaguar with one of those weird floating bridges that look like they were on Danelectro's. But yeah the strings were at least 6 months old and I was planning on changing them soon anyway. I just thought it was strange.

Re: Just had a string unwind itself!! WTF

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 9:37 am
by rfurtkamp
Usually it's a sign of metal fatigue when they go like that. Every few years I see it, usually on very old sets of strings that have seen a LOT of use.

I don't like changing strings or the new string sound (and play stainless ones that are bright eternally).

Re: Just had a string unwind itself!! WTF

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 9:42 am
by goroth
Iommic Pope wrote:Ok, kaos. Just thought you were stringing it up and tuning.
Crazy.

Gor, when you say B....




....you mean your lowest note, right?

I gotta stop hanging out in the Doom Room so much. :picard:

OTHER PEOPLE HAVE OTHER TUNINGS.
ITS NOT ALL JUST DROP WHATEVER THE FUCK.
Nah, I usually tune to D standard or drop C. So my B string is really and A string.

Re: Just had a string unwind itself!! WTF

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 9:54 am
by Swordfishtrombone
Iommic Pope wrote:Gor, when you say B....




....you mean your lowest note, right?

I gotta stop hanging out in the Doom Room so much. :picard:

OTHER PEOPLE HAVE OTHER TUNINGS.
ITS NOT ALL JUST DROP WHATEVER THE FUCK.
:rofl:

Re: Just had a string unwind itself!! WTF

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 6:40 pm
by Jero
I have the same guitar. Those strings are crap...but I'm still using them :lol: A friend of mine has had this happen several times though. Think it was mix of strings and a sharp saddle.

Re: Just had a string unwind itself!! WTF

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 8:29 pm
by KaosCill8r
Jero wrote:I have the same guitar. Those strings are crap...but I'm still using them :lol: A friend of mine has had this happen several times though. Think it was mix of strings and a sharp saddle.
Those stock strings are long gone. I hate 10-46 gauge strings, 10-52 gauge on all my guitars and I changed the pickups, wiring and tone caps about a week after I got it.

Re: Just had a string unwind itself!! WTF

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 9:00 pm
by morange
I've read that some people solder the wraps near the ball end. Seems like that would make them stay put. I've never tried it though. Tell me how it goes if you do.