Did string technology imrove?

[Sevelos]

I remember playing stringed instruments 20-30 years ago and breaking strings quite often - E strings on mandolins, D strings on classical guitars, etc.
It wasn't unusual for me to finish a performance with only one E string on my mandolin.
During the last few years I hardly ever break a string.
Have I gone old and weak? Perhaps, or maybe strings are made better these days.

[Willie Poole]

I know that there many more brands and gauges to choose from now days but don`t really know if they have changed any....Maybe you were using a lighter gauge string in past years, I haven`t broken a sting while playing for so long that I can`t remember when it was so maybe they are a better quality now days...After saying that I`ll probably break one on this next show...

Someone else may have a better answer...

Willie

[sblock]

There are many different formulations of steel, and many different types of annealing/heat treatments, as well. Also, there is a limited number of wire manufacturers (perhaps 3 or 4), from whom most of the well-known string manufacturers (there are a great many of these!) all obtain the raw wire used to make their strings. The chemical formulation and heat treatment affect the lifetime, strength, and oxidation of the string that's made. The process by which the wire is created, being drawn through a die, can also affect its properties.

D'Addario, which is a string manufacturer that also makes its own wire, has recently switched to using something they call "New York Steel." This is a branding term, not some term of art in the steel industry. Its formulation may, or may not, be similar to the wire that they've been using all along. But they do claim it is "stronger" -- whatever that translates to in terms of string breakage: See here.

Perhaps this type of steel leads to less string breakage, on average? Or perhaps it's the heat or drawing treatment? One simply cannot say based on the available information.

But then again, we're all slowly getting older and weaker! No question about that...

[foldedpath]

One thing that has been improved in recent years is packaging, both on the "eco friendly" side, and also just better protection against moisture. More people are also buying strings online, which means they may be getting more recent stock than strings that have been sitting for years in a local music store's bins.

[SincereCorgi]

I do a lot of restrings at work, and my anecdotal evidence is that most broken strings are 1) beginner tuning accidents, 2) teenagers beating the hell out of instruments (you broke the *low* E?) or 3) strings put on very carelessly that break at the headstock. Strings (and nuts? and saddles?) are great now. I haven't broken one in years, and that was always the high A on a tenor.

But still, this seems to be a thing for string manufacturers to battle it out over: https://www.ernieball.com/paradigm

[DougC]

I like the 'aging theory'. Most of us now have a better quality instrument.

Also the 'set up' is now much better, because of the sheer numbers of good luthiers at small shops as well as at giant guitar companies.

Most strings break at the nut or at the tuning post. There may be a sharp edge there because of wear, or a simple oversight in the manufactures' quality control. Nowadays the quality is much higher.

Also I know as a violin luthier that the string technology has improved. But most breakage is still a matter of poor 'set up'.

[Beanzy]

A brief internet graze leads me to believe that, although the basic idea is the same as ever, both the smelting & extrusion technology for wires is very sophisticated now, with tensions and guides being controlled in microseconds by computers monitoring heat and tension & controlling both to very fine margins by comparison with what went before. It seems there’s a lot more consistencey in the end results nowadays.

[Bob Buckingham]

There have been improvements in string technology, yes most of us play better instruments, and we probably change strings more often. But having said that, with proper instrument set-up and maintenance, I've found string breakage minimal in the decades I have played. There was a bad batch of D'Addario .11 strings a few years ago where the loops would break loose but otherwise things have been good. Most developments have been pretty subtle but they all help.

[Eric Platt]

Remember having a string of guitar G strings that liked to break about 15 years ago. And I had a couple of high E strings unravel on my mando. Overall consider myself lucky.

Do have one friend who still breaks guitar strings on a regular basis. He's a bluegrasser who attacks his Martin really hard.

Sometimes wonder if the introduction of coated strings helped push to more uniform manufacturing?

[David Lewis]

I opened my case after 8 shows in four days and one of my e strings had popped. Apart from that I don’t remember breaking a string for about 5 years. I bent my d string on my telecaster a flatted fifth and it came back and came back in tune. When I started outt (on a different guitar) I’d break a string every 4 or 5 shows. I do think the consensus here is right.

[mandroid]

Don't work for those companies, do you?

[Ivan Kelsall]

I'm with Beanzy on this. I'm pretty sure that the technology for winding the strings is pretty much the same,although with improved machinery,but i'm sure that the materials themselves have undergone a bit of a revolution in terms of their mechanical charateristics, & very likely their consistency batch to batch - all beneficial for us end users,
Ivan

[Sevelos]

Funnily (?) enough, after all this discussion about improved technologies, last week when I opened a Thomastik Infeld set it turned out to contain 2 rusty E strings. I noticed this only after putting all the strings on my mandolin.
That has never happened to me before in all the 25 years I am using Thomastiks, which are usually exceptional (as they should be for $50 per set).
I made a photo of the strings and sent it to Thomatik along with an advice to seal their strings in plastic, like almost every other company does these days. I then replaced the strings.
After several back and forth emails with them during several days, where they wanted the receipt and the bad strings to be sent to them (which I did not have anymore) and making me somewhat angry, they agreed to send me 2 E strings to replace the bad ones.
Although the D strings from this set rattle badly and I need to replace them as well, I gave up on their customer support.
I believe I will still continue using their strings as I am (usually) very happy with them and don't need any support.
PS - I bought this set along with three others 6 months ago on a performance tour to Vienna. I have stored them in an air-tight plastic bag since then. I hope no surprises await me in the other 3 sets I still have in my cupboard.

[HoGo]

PS - I bought this set along with three others 6 months ago on a performance tour to Vienna. I have stored them in an air-tight plastic bag since then. I hope no surprises await me in the other 3 sets I still have in my cupboard.

Living in the area I know there are not many mandolin players around and even less users of mandolin TI strings so your set may have spent quite a few years in the drawer at the shop and get rusty...

[Willie Poole]

Some of the string breakage in past years might be due to the fact that a lot of us played into one mic used for singing and picking and we had to really pick hard to be heard and strings were taking a beating as well as the instruments....And I wonder if quality control was as good then as it is now?

Also, some one mentioned Thanastik strings selling at $50 a set, are they actually worth close to 10 times better than GHS or D`Addario`s? Not to me, they aren`t, they would have to last 2+ years to be equal to A-270`s...

Willie

[dhergert]

When I got a number of "$199.00 solid F style" MKLFSTB mandolins for gifts a couple of years ago and set them up, I had a number of E and A strings break at the tuning post or come unwound at the tailpiece.

The breaks were clearly due to burrs in the tuning posts, which I don't blame on the string manufacturer. The tuning posts just needed a little cleanup work.

The loops coming unwound were sort of 50/50, the MK tailpiece has very narrow and smooth posts to put the loops over, which didn't help. And then also, the loops were not extremely tightly wound. Fortunately, I was able to cut off the old loop area and re-do the loops and windings by hand, and then I routed the E and A strings pre-loop areas through the tailpiece posts so they held themselves tight.

I've never had any string problems with my F-9.