Breaking D string

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Breaking D string

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Schieper

Posts: 208
Joined: Mar. 29 2017
From: The Netherlands

Breaking D string

Hi all,

on both my guitars, first string to go is always the D string at the second fret (or 3th or 4th if I use capo extensively) The metal winding brakes. String still playable but you got small wire sticking out of the string and it always worries me I am going to impale on of my fingers on it some day. I now have these felipe conde strings and after 2 weeks the D is gone. (Dadario and savarez tomatito tend to hold up much longer). So my question is; has this to do with the set up or my rubish playing style. And also, why the hell do you sometimes get an extra G string. That one never brakes (unless the time it was a metal G. Both snapped between stringing the guitar and before first play. In whoch case a spare string is not much helpfull to :-)

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 16 2019 19:51:38

mango

Posts: 158
Joined: Apr. 2 2019

RE: Breaking D string (in reply to Schieper)

perhaps try to polish the frets with some fine steel wool. If the position where the string breaks changes with the position of the capo it also can be your left hand technique. Check if you maybe pull the string down when you play a note.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 16 2019 20:36:29

BarkellWH

Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC

RE: Breaking D string (in reply to Schieper)

It's neither your setup nor your playing. the "D" string is the thinnest and weakest of the metallic "wound" strings and tends to break earlier and more often than the others, even with a perfect setup.

Bill

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 16 2019 20:39:51

kitarist

Posts: 1715
Joined: Dec. 4 2012

RE: Breaking D string (in reply to Schieper)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Schieper
on both my guitars, first string to go is always the D string at the second fret [] The metal winding brakes. String still playable but you got small wire sticking out of the string and it always worries me I am going to impale on of my fingers on it some day. [..]

You can't do much about that , as Bill said it is the weakest link. One thing to try though - you may be applying excessive pressure in general, when fretting. This is not to do with the D string specifically, of course, but if you have room for improvement, it would delay the breakage somewhat.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Schieper
And also, why the hell do you sometimes get an extra G string.

It is not a replacement string - not the same type of G string. In some packages with nylon strings a G string which is "carbon" - a thinner, more dense material which is really polyvinylidene [di]fluoride (PVDF) - can be included. The reason you might want to try the carbon G is because it is thinner thus less 'tubby' and better sounding.

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Konstantin

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 16 2019 20:56:20

tri7/5

Posts: 570
Joined: May 5 2012

RE: Breaking D string (in reply to Schieper)

Sounds like there is something unique to your guitar that's causing this like a fret bur or something if it's always the same string in the same location. I've never had an issue with D strings. Only issues I have ever had are with carbon high E's breaking but that is due to them being thin no issues with plain nylon.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 16 2019 21:30:14

Schieper

Posts: 208
Joined: Mar. 29 2017
From: The Netherlands

RE: Breaking D string (in reply to Schieper)

Thanks all for enlightening me. I just tested a bit and indeed seem to have the tendency to play a lot more “vibrato?” on the D string plus I tend to instead of play E and then open D, I tend to pull of the E. When pulling of I tend to pull the string down as well to increase sound. So that might indeed solve the mystery 😊

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 17 2019 11:05:25

Richard Jernigan

Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA

RE: Breaking D string (in reply to kitarist)

quote:

ORIGINAL: kitarist

quote:

ORIGINAL: Schieper
And also, why the hell do you sometimes get an extra G string.

It is not a replacement string - not the same type of G string. In some packages with nylon strings a G string which is "carbon" - a thinner, more dense material which is really polyvinylidene [di]fluoride (PVDF) - can be included. The reason you might want to try the carbon G is because it is thinner thus less 'tubby' and better sounding.

I had a different result with the greenish-brown extra G string in some D'Addario sets. On my Romanilllos it was less sonorous than the nylon one.

I didn't do any spectral measurements, but my theory was that the extra string suffered from excessive inharmonicity. That is, the higher the pitch of the overtone, the more it went sharp from the true harmonic series. Any string suffers from this to some extent. The stiffer the string is in bending, the more it displays inharmonicity. The odd G string was definitely harder to bend than the nylon one.

But you're right about carbon strings. They are generally brighter than nylon ones. The brands I tried were too bright on the Romanillos.

RNJ

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 17 2019 20:53:04

kitarist

Posts: 1715
Joined: Dec. 4 2012

RE: Breaking D string (in reply to Richard Jernigan)

quote:

I had a different result with the greenish-brown extra G string in some D'Addario sets. On my Romanilllos it was less sonorous than the nylon one.

Maybe it is something else, not "carbon". D'Addario have some other stuff like "Titanium" trebles (which have no titanium; and are purplish, not green/brown)). Haven't seen their greenish/brown strings and can't figure out by looking at their website what string they might be.

And if they are indeed PVDF strings, I have no explanation for what you observed. The only thing I can think of is that maybe that string's tension was very different from the nylon ones (but why would D'Addario do that) and your guitar did not like that much tension to drive it (much higher tension can also mimic as if much higher bending modulus).

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Konstantin

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 17 2019 21:05:24