Best E strings that don't break too easily?

[christiandransfield]

Hey everyone,

I recently bought a new mandolin, and bought some D'Addario EXP74CM Coated Phosphor Bronze Medium (.011-.040) strings for it.

Unfortunately, one of the E strings has just broken (at the peg box), and wondered if it's the gauge of the string, or whether it's just something predictable one has to put up with (I have the same issue with E strings on my violin sometimes, simply because they're the most fragile of the 4 strings).

Any advice would be much-appreciated!

[gtani7]

- lubricate nut (and bridge saddle) slots

- make sure no sharp ends on tuner pegs

- *Don't* tie e string on the post, just wind it once above the hole and then wind down below the hole to secure it

- don't use a string winder on E string, or if you do, tension it slowly

- keep a stash of extra .011's anyway

[pops1]

You may have a sharp spot on your peg if it broke there. If it broke at the nut you may have a sharp spot on the nut. I use 11's on all my mandolins except one and that is lighter. I don't think I would recommend a heavier string. I have never broken a string putting them on and rarely break one playing for a couple months.

[CES]

Agree, you've got good strings. A couple of my mandolins prefer J75s, but I've never had trouble with breakage with 74s, and I've played through a bunch of 'em. Dud strings do occur, but it seems to be pretty rare, especially with the uncoated ones...

[MikeEdgerton]

If it's breaking in the same place it's not the strings generally. The other thing to make sure of is that you're actually at pitch and not higher. If this was a common issue the cafe would be jammed with threads about it. We get very few of these.

[mandroid]

String making companies in the US all buy their big spools of raw wire from the same source.

Sharp edge of hole can be filed smoother, more wraps around the post may help..

All Else tune to FCGD, and it wont have to be wound so Tight..

[Mandobart]

This subject does come up with some frequency. It could be the way you're winding your strings. When you poke the string through the tuner shaft hole first and then start winding, you put a sharp bend on the wire right away and then raise the tension. I always wind a few wraps around the shaft (3 - 5) and then thread the string end through the hole. The string wrap friction on the shaft reduces the tension at the bend where the string goes through the hole. I've never broken a string on my regular mandos (J74 or J75) using this method. I have broken .011 E's on my 16.5" 10 string mandola and a .010 once while playing hard, but that combo of string diameter, scale and pitch is right on the edge. Since I lightened up to .0095's for this instrument I've had no problems.

[Paul Busman]

It could be the way you're winding your strings. When you poke the string through the tuner shaft hole first and then start winding, you put a sharp bend on the wire right away and then raise the tension. I always wind a few wraps around the shaft (3 - 5) and then thread the string end through the hole. The string wrap friction on the shaft reduces the tension at the bend where the string goes through the hole.

I wind all the strings on all of my stringed instruments that way, mainly because it's a lot easier and faster than the way most people do it. This breakage insight makes me even more convinced that it's the best way to wind new strings.

[Kris N]

When you poke the string through the tuner shaft hole first and then start winding, you put a sharp bend on the wire right away and then raise the tension. I always wind a few wraps around the shaft (3 - 5) and then thread the string end through the hole. The string wrap friction on the shaft reduces the tension at the bend where the string goes through the hole.

I'd like to see this in action. Does anyone have a video of someone changing their strings this way?

[pops1]

I have used this method for decades, pull the string tight around the tuner shaft and wrap it however many times your heart desires. For me 4 plain, 3 wound. Then go thru the hole making sure the windings are below when you go thru the hole. I find it not only faster it is always correct, never have to guess how much to cut off, and don't need a string winder.

[A-board]

I have the problem on a Pac-rim no-name beater that I pack for practice when flying. So now I just make sure I have spares, because one (or both)e's break when I retune. I usually detune and drop the bridge prior to packing. Maybe I shouldn't bother.

[MikeEdgerton]

If you tune and detune that's a different story. Any metal object will break if it's flexed at the same point often enough and tuning and detuning can do that at the post.

[MikeEdgerton]

Frank Ford's stringing a mandolin page on www.frets.com is a pretty decent tutorial. The post portion starts a few pages in.

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Musi...dostring1.html

[AndyPanda]

I had a couple of E strings break at the tuner - but I had been doing a setup with repeatedly loosening the strings and then tuning again while I worked on the nut and bridge. Just for fun and as a challenge, I wanted to see if I could make this piano tuner's knot work. I did these over a week ago have been amazed that they've held up (and I've loosened and tightened them several times as I continue to make some changes to my bridge setup). At this point I'm just leaving them on there. These are .011


This is the piano tuner's knot: