String breaking disaster

[clemens]

I got a guitar for Christmas, it's a Fender Squier Strat. Overall I love it, but since I got it, my top e string has broken *twice* already. When it happened first, I thought it was maybe because it were the ones that came with it, you know it has probably been lying around in the store for a long while... But then I changed it (I put the same kind on it again, Fender "Pure Nickel Wound" .009 strings with bullets), and now the top e string broke again.
Am I doing something wrong? This can't be normal, after all I can't buy new strings every couple of days. Can it have something to do with the temperature (it's pretty cool in here)? Sounds strange... Or am I just hitting them too hard? BTW, I use a standard Dunlop 1mm nylon pick...

Any help appreciated.

[The Fury]

Hi,

Possibly you are striking the string too hard so check out the strumming lessons in the First Fret section of Cyberfret.

It could however be a sharp piece of metal rubbing on the string and causing it to snap, so check the bridge saddles and the string trees.

But I'm pretty sure it just that your'e hitting the string(s) too hard, cos I did the same thing when I was just starting out.

Hope that helps.

[clemens]

The sad thing is I've been playing for about 8 months now (~ 7 months acoustic, 1 month electric), so if I still do something wrong in strumming I gotta be really stupid... And I borrowed an electric from a friend before I got my own, and this never happened though I played it for a month. Anyway, thanks, I'll check out those things you mentioned.

[ESP_Viper]

Well where on the string is it breaking? If it was in the same place both times, it was the same problem both times.

If a string breaks at the saddle, it can be a few things:
Strumming too hard,
Sharp string saddle,
defective string.

You'd have to be pretty unlucky to get two defective 6th strings right in a row, but it's possible. To solve a saddle problem, take some very fine sand paper (like model airplane sand paper) and try to sand down where the string rests in the saddle. I wouldn't have thought that strat string saddles would be sharp to snap strings, but it's very possible. I've had that problem with two guitars that have tune-o-matic bridges, which is the same bridge guitars friends have that break strings all time. Your picking still may be lousy, I know a guy that played guitar two years before starting lessons and he found out it is his picking style. So with 8 months playing under your belt don't eliminate bad picking. Your picking should all be in the wrist, your fingers shouldn't move very much or at all.

[SixStringMadman]

I have never had a problem with string breakage due to strumming, but I know other people have. Instead of using a .009 string, try possibly going to a larger gauge string, but don't go bigger than .011.

Also, the high-e string being the thinest, and subsiquently, the weakest string on the guitar, it is prone to breakage sometimes due to a heavy pick. I hardly ever strum with a pick thicker than .60 mm, and I rarely use a pick that heavy for strumming anyhow. If the problem is in the strum, then I would use a lighter pick first of all.

Also, if string quality is the issue, put a set of Super Slinky strings on the electric. I won't use any other brand. I have had less breakage now that I use them. And they are inexpensive. Thats about it.


--SixStringMadman

[ESP_Viper]

I made a mistake in my lastpost, I thought he meant the 6th string instead of the 1st string... (6th being the thickest, 1st being the thinnest)

It will help if you use bigger strings. .010 is what I use. I put a .009 on a little while ago and it didn't break, but I break those pretty easily.

[clemens]

Hey, thanks for all your replies.

The string always broke when I was strumming, so it definitely isn't my picking.

For the moment I've put on a B string (.011), partially because I had no high e string left; so this is not a bad thing to do? Until now it works fine.

I don't know how the part is called, but both of the strings broke where they run out of the guitar, at the end with the bullet. This worries me a bit.

-- clemens