Not to make light of the situation around the world but a show of hands here of who else says a little prayer each time you bring a new 'E' string up to tune?
...I do...and I close my eyes and pray....Oh Lord, I Pray!
Not to make light of the situation around the world but a show of hands here of who else says a little prayer each time you bring a new 'E' string up to tune?
...I do...and I close my eyes and pray....Oh Lord, I Pray!
Lol. I hadn’t had a problem with previous mandolins but I broke several e strings when I got my Silverangel in September. I finally ordered some singles from JustStrings, but a string change was definitely an eye squinting affair.
Lubricating the nut helped, and then things have been ok after I had a new nut put on. Well, I did break an e last week after trying to reuse strings after putting on a Cumberland Acoustic bridge. I’ve never reused strings like that, but i had heard of folks reusing strings so thought I’d try it. Snap!
Doug Brock
2018 Kimble 2 point (#259), Eastman MD315, Eastman MDA315, some guitars, banjos, and fiddles
Don't usually have a problem with it, but still say a little something. Did have a couple of times where the E broke. And other where it just unwound from the loop.
Pretty sure am that way because had a run of guitar G strings break when stringing up. Never could figure out why. And the second string always behaved. Wasn't at either the tuner or nut, but in between. Or, I'm just a big chicken.
Brentrup Model 23, Boeh A5 #37, Gibson A Jr., Flatiron 1N, Coombe Classical flattop, Strad-O-Lin
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Well .… I definitely want to "duck" and I do it slowly. The G string on a guitar does the same thing to me too...… go figure. I expect an engineer to give us a numbered answer. R/
I love hanging out with mandolin nerds . . . . . Thanks peeps ...
Tuning up the E-strings on my recently-sold Rigel R-200 mandolin/mandola hybrid was quite a tense moment, but the singly-ordered light Thomastik E's I was using never did break.
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Don’t think I’ve ever broken one tuning up new strings, and I’ve gotten fearless enough that I get them pretty close to pitch with a string wonder now, then stretch and finish by hand. I have broken a couple random guitar and mando strings by not paying attention and turning the wrong tuning peg maybe twice, but haven’t made that mistake in probably 8-10 years. When they do break, it’s definitely startling, so prayers are never a bad idea when tuning up!
I remember very well the first few times dealing with a mandolin - the squinting, ducking, all tensed up, hoping and praying - it went away over time and after fooling around with a succession of different mandolins. But I’ve been there.
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[raising my hand] I've done it with so many strings on so many instruments. Regularly on banjo, back in the day. Those little strings can put your eye out. I tune them up a few notes at a time and walk away while they stretch.
belbein
The bad news is that what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. The good news is that what kills us makes it no longer our problem
Scares me too. I've broken plenty. So I do it slowly, and I pluck the string as i turn the knob to make sure the note is going up. If it's stuck I lower it again and start over.
Cary Fagan
Even if I don't always need my glasses, tuning up a new string always merits them!
Last edited by EdHanrahan; Mar-22-2020 at 5:46pm.
- Ed
"Then one day we weren't as young as before
Our mistakes weren't quite so easy to undo
But by all those roads, my friend, we've travelled down
I'm a better man for just the knowin' of you."
- Ian Tyson
I use a winder and have never had an E string break on my Heiden but have worked on many guitars and mandolins that did. Usually there's a cause that can be cured... take note of where breakage occurs. If it's at the tuners there may be a sharp edge , a small smooth file on all the string posts will cure that, same on the tailpiece. Breakage at saddle and / or nut the strings are being pinched in a notch or too small a slot. A very LIGHT touch up with a set of welders nozzle cleaners (correct guage) will fix those. Then a little pencil lead (graphite) in the slots. Do all of these easy things to your instrument and your breakage problems will probably become a rare experience. IMHO
Dave
Heiden A, '52 Martin D-18, Taylor 510, Carlson Custom A with Electronics
It happened to me on Friday. Very bothersome.
I just got my first mandolin and was definitely nervous tuning the Es for the first time. I’m coming to mandolin from viola, so E strings are new to me. They look so thin and breakable - didn’t break either one of them though.
Last time I tuned a 1st & 2nd string up to E was in Sept/Oct 2016, after setting up a few $199 MK mandolins for friends for Christmas. A number of these strings slipped at the loops and I had to re-tie them. No breaks, but plenty of concern.
I prefer the tone of older strings so I haven't changed strings since I got my F-9 mandolin re-fretted about 3 years ago. But with the open C tuning that I use, my highest strings are tuned to G, and even though they are custom .015s, it's still pretty low tension.
I was even able to keep these older strings on after changing my F-9 over to use my James tailpiece. I'm really glad I could do so.
-- Don
"Music: A minor auditory irritation occasionally characterized as pleasant."
"It is a lot more fun to make music than it is to argue about it."
2002 Gibson F-9
2016 MK LFSTB
1975 Suzuki taterbug (plus many other noisemakers)
[About how I tune my mandolins]
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