Excessive String breakages.

[Relic66]

Hi all, I seem to be breaking a lot of high E strings - averaging about 4 a week across 3 different guitars (2 of which have been professionally set up). Been working a lot on Slow Blues Supplement and there is a lot of bending on the top string which I have been quite repetitive with. I use 10-46 D'addarios. Do others here have similar experiences? I don’t pick excessively hard.

 

[MikeR]

First question is: Where do they break? (bridge, nut or somewhere else)
Second question: Do they break at the same place every time?

For example, I always broke a lot of high E strings at the saddle of Tune-o-matic bridge guitars. Changed the saddles to String Savers and it never happens anymore.

 

[Relic66]

Hi Mike, they are breaking pretty much right in the middle every time on all my guitars.

 

[MikeR]

If you're doing a lot of string bending, make sure you're not pressing down too hard. It's all too easy to transfer the bending effort downwards rather than sideways. Also, I don't know if you have tools to do it, but you might look at smoothing/polishing your frets in the breaking location.

 

[Relic66]

I’m pretty sure that it must be my technique. I can’t see that my PRS, Thinline Tele and Strat all have rough frets in the same place. I will focus on how I’m bending and whether I am pushing down to hard. My bends are pretty accurate and smooth (except the vibrato, which is inconsistent) most of the time. Wondering if it’s just parr for the course so to speak. For the first 15 years of playing I never broke a string - was mainly a rhythm player - but since returning to it it has become more and more regular. I’ve never really practiced bending so intensely as I have with these courses.

 

[OG_Blues]

I think almost everyone goes through a string breaking stage - it's almost a rite of passage until you learn the proper bending technique.
More sideways pressure across the fingerboard, less pressure down onto the fret.
With a little experimentation, you can prove to yourself how little downward pressure is actually required to do a bend and maintain the tone.
When I break a string now, it's usually because the string is 3 or 4 years old and it breaks at one of the rusty spots.
It's like a built in string change alarm.

 

[JohnHurley]

I did go thru a period of time breaking high e strings but never anything like that. Bought a set a box of like 10 high e strings and it just stopped havent broken one in like a year.

I think most of us get better over time sliding the string up the fret and not pushing it so hard down on the fret while going up?