Hiya all. I'm kinda bored at work and strangely enough have free time *gasp* So I'll make the best of it. Playing metal strings stretched at high tensions while pounding it with a plastic/nylon pick is kinda scary when you think about it. What are the humorous or wierd stories (accidents) that have happened to you while playing your guitar.

Please don't take this the wrong way Its just interesting to hear from the veteran guitar players out there with stories thats all.

I'll start with mine. The most memorable encounter with guitar strings was when I was strumming my heart out on my Sigma (Martin copy) Dreadnaught acoustic guitar. One of the strings snapped and strangely enough flipped back and impaled the back of my left hand. It was most uncomfortable....

maybe thats why i play bass now...hmmm

This post has been edited by stefanong: Apr 20 2007, 12:35 PM

o.O serious? mine was just normal stuff lar. . . play play play suddenly guitar broke didnt kno. . . cut my middle and ring finger quite badly. . . still continue playing. . . then i notice. . .why so sticky 1? and why my fingers getting numb? look down saw blood =.= lmao

another one was restringing the thing just let loose. . . dono why. . . flipped and hit my eye. . .for 4 days had like this pirate cut on my right eye =.= ppl tot i kena parang chop LMAO

Every time I change strings, I Guran-d**n-tee I'll either cut or pierce my skin.

For the LP, lagi teruk..... because of all that tension when I wrap my strings around the tail piece.

Aiyo, you guyz' stories damn ganas lah... Luckily I haven't had any serious mishaps with guitar strings. Come to think about it, I haven't had a string snap on me since a few years back... and even then it happened everything I tried to play the "Unforgiven" solo, at the part where there's a bend at 20th fret E-string. Suffice to say, I've stopped playing that solo.... and stopped bending too... hehe..

wow quite ganas also are u ppl experiences...
my worst was mid last year when my band was practicing for a youth event... one of the last few practices. there was one part where u know, the musicians will stop totally for while (leaving just the vocals) then bang back in on the 1st beat... i jumped, and landed on time, but i hit the strings probably at the wrong angle, took out the high E string in the process and cut my thumb. ouch. fortunately it was only during practice. I didn't dare try any more funny stuff since then... plus shortly after that, I got my RG1570... so more sayang guitar di hahhaa.

Occationally I too poke my fingers on the ends of the strings at the tuners... then I started restringing with the ball end into the tuners... no more accidents. and d'addario coloured ball ends FTW!



This post has been edited by MetalZone: Apr 20 2007, 02:23 PM

Mine is just normal stuff.. I sometimes cut my finger when because of the pointiness at the headstock. My high E snapped when I was doing a bend, just recently. That was the first time I actually snapped a string.

I accidently pricked my thumb by a end of the string of an electric guitar.

Also, when the restringing of classical guitar, be careful about the nylon strings - they can get very slippery when restrung and sometimes they have tendency to slip out and slapped the guitar body (below the bridge). I got a few slaps on the body because of this and finally I used a cardboard to shield the below of the bridge when restringing.

And never tune the metallic strings way too fast - and new strings might be inaccurate to the electronic tuner - use the ears first.

so far i only got poked by the guitar strings while i was re-stringing...other than that it's either i break my pick while playing or my guitar just fell down due the strap...

happened in sunday school when i played the church's acoustic guitar. since i was relatively new, the guitar was pretty high up and i was constantly facing down(to see what i was playing) so my face wasnt too far from the strings. one string snapped and it hit my cheek right below my eye. at first i didnt feel anything but one the pain kicks in it freakin hurts.

looked pretty brutal though with a cut on my face. classmates asks what happened and i go "guitar string putus...". hehehe

that's why you need to stretch the strings first

man.... so many ppl get hit near the eyes.... scary....

I started wearing gloves and goggles every time I change strings now.... helps reduce the accidents.

in all the years of using 10 and 11 gauge, i have never broken a string once while tuning.
go 9 gauge, well broke a couple so far cos i stretched them too much.

seems 9 gauge dont have to stretch as much compared to 10 and 11.

well you shouldn't do that. . . cause i remember a tech told me before that guitar strings are thicker/heavier at the ball point and should be put in the bridge. . .

especially floyd guitars. . . it is actually bad to restring the ball at the tuning peg section. . . it makes the tension on the strings uneven. . . you should cut the ball and string the ball part for the bridge. . . i remember a tech told me before. . .

any comments on that? cause i used to do that then he told me to not do that. . . it was at a gig i went when he was stringing. . .




wah ganas. . . goggles. . .xD

like mad professor working on the guitar xD

My favourite incident was quite some time ago when i was listening to my friend babble about how easily Rotosound bass strings break. So i dissed him " You amatuer! Nobody breaks bass strings you moron! ". I was at that time doing some slap/pop practicing and exactly after i said that my G snapped on the next pop. We just laughed our heads off after that.

swt? lolz but i think bass strings when break quite scary since the damn gauge is so thick. . . have you hit yourself on it before?

nah. They usually don't break. And if they do, they are too heavy to start flinging themselves around. Usually they just go pop and sag down.

+1

i like changing strings.. it gives me a chance to spend quality time with the fretboard.. aaaah.

there's this dude on talkbass.com.. his signature is "i once punched myself in the face while changing strings". lol, i could actually imagine that happening..

I haven't had any accidents/mishaps whilst changing strings. But I did once try the stupid 'boil dead strings once' bullshit.

Least to say I didn't know wtf I was doing and it didn't really work.

there was period I was lazy to cut off my guitar's excess string, making it look like 'hair'.

after that thing nearly went into my eye (thank God for specs) during a mini-gig while I was moving about, I straight away made it a practice to trim off excess strings.

what is the boiling technique?

apparently it's supposed to get out all the dirt from the windings (especially round wound strings). But that's all theory. I don't even bother. Besides, guitarists shouldn't complain. Strings are cheap . So just change them.

you mean you dump the string in hot boiling water?!?!?!?!?!?!

well if you play often you change strings like twice a month. . . which amounts to the same for a bassist who change like 3 months once right?

i change once a month. . . so yea. . . depending on how often i play lolz

tsk tsk, who ask you not to trim
be like me been trimming my strings since i started. see? im neat lol

anyway
worse thing happened was when my first time restringing my guitar bout a year ago
lol
i was winding the string without checking the tension, so i went on winding n wondering when to stop.
when i decided to stop n i plucked, the string snapped
and it was a brand new pack o strings!!!!!! such a waste =/
was stuck with no 1st string till i went guitar collection to get a 1st string from another brand
lol

sounds like how hendrix tech stretched the strings , by boiling it lol [read it somewhere nt sure how true is this tho]

This post has been edited by sean392: Apr 21 2007, 07:09 PM

so, many "incidents" during re-string.here's my share of story, my 1E broke and as usual i change it, what happen is, whenever i am close to the correct tune, it broke, since the new string broke,i change again lo...what to do, lucky i have 5 spare 1E strings. but, the mysterious thing is that i broke all 5 spare 1E strings... all of them are kind of branded strings also,from yamaha and gibsons. since i need the string fixed quickly,i go to the nearest book store and buy a couple 1E strings that cost rm0.50 each. and guess what, it didnt break...

that's my encouter during re-string.
my encounter while playing... there was once when i demonstrate some noisy songs to my frens using kapok. guess what... the string didnt burst,but the bridge did.... the guitar bridge brokeout from the body and went swinging around the guitar, lucky didnt hit anyone.

for those who havent share,have fun sharing~

well yes, u dump them in boiling water and cook them for about an hour or so. Or at least thats what i read somewhere. Supposedly they will sound brighter after that. About stretching strings, i don't think 100°C is enough to cause any form of stretching (or recrystallisation). Usually happens at about 300-500°C if i remember correctly. Maybe if you fry your strings in oil (at about 300°C when it's smoking hot) then maybe. But i take no responsibility for your actions . And I don't think your wife/mother/etc. will be very happy if you smoke up the whole kitchen trying to fry your strings.

A bassist who changes his strings once in 3 months is one who is not endorsed and has to pay for the strings himself. Otherwise, the period in which the strings stay bright doesn't really differ from guitar strings. Close to about 2 or 3 weeks. Well, at least that's how long the d'addarios that i use last.

daddarios i used last time, the brightness only lasted a week on my electric
by the 2nd week its all black alr, guess i sweat too much

how do you restring it with the ball end at the tuners ?

where can buy individual strings?

i sweat a lot too when i play but these elixir strings are tough. more than 1 month liao i think still shiny

for me.... i restrung the wrong string
took the B string and strung it to the high E. then had to take it out and string to the B, too short so i thought it wont stay in tune but surprisingly its working like normal

so far..i'm not guitar player but a drummer..but when i'm jamm with my friends..one of my friends tune his guitar until the string terputus and bleed my girlfriends hand..i so angry with him and throw my stick to him..but it's my fault becoz after thinking bout it back,it just unwanted accident..

MORAL VALUE : dont bring ur GF in ur jamming session

wow. . . until whack your bandmate. . . ganas wei. . .

scary to jam with you xD

elixirs coated the sound of mine was really bright till bout the 3rd month
6 month still abit shiny but sound got duller alr,
then i snapped it while playing, i went YARRRR STRUMMMMM
snap the ball end flew pretty far lol

and why was your gf sitting so close to your guitarist? and not beside your drumkit?

hahaha zha dou

most of the guitar store will sell strings saparately and bundled, am i wrong? coz i bought most of the strings from my frens. but i am sure that i did buy individual strings in book store.

guitar collection sells single daddario
bentley sells single ernie balls

not so sure bout the rest =/

True that the strings are thicker ar the ball end coz they're wound up. I always pre-bend them and the wind them in. No probs for me. maybe it's bad for high gauges as it probably wont fit into the tuner properly. I'm using 9's anyway.

About the tension issue, how is it that the tension is uneven? plus its a locking tremolo... so once u locked it in... whatever happens past the locking nut is insignificant. (in fact i've heard of somebody's headstock breaking off past the locking nut and the strings still held their tune)

And another point is... Rich Harris, the supposed Masterpro at Ibanez guitars also strings his guitars this way. So if he does it... hahahah ok nvm...

but anyway, another way to string it in if you are worried about those issues above, is to string it with a longer gap past the ball end wound part before you start winding it in the tuners, so theres no more question about having the thicker end inside the tuners nor the tension thing.

---

Added on April 23, 2007, 12:48 amguitars with a floyd rose/double locking tremolo can do it.
the ball end at the tremolo side is useless coz the string is clamped down anyway, not held by the ball end.

This post has been edited by MetalZone: Apr 23 2007, 12:54 AM

hmm i guess if thats the case then its alright?

i forgotten which tech told me that lmao. . .

but anyway i guess its all the same lar xD

well, imho its alright.

Well the funniest thing that happened was when I just started Bass and it happend around 3-4 years back.

So I got my bass + amp + tuner + method book

I thought that its wise to tune my bass first
So I attached the tuner (which picks up vibration) on the headstock
and started tuning to the bass standard tuning which is EADG

But at that time I knew nuts about the tunings and stuff... All I know is EADG (From the TABs In the Method Book)

And guess what? I read the TABs Upside Down..

You guessed it,
I tuned the strings Upside Down (GDAE)

The E and A strings survived the extreme high tension, But when it was till the D string, I remembered that when I achieved a near perfect G (Just a step more towards A) the string just gave way and just sprang out violently

And worst still, I still did not realise my mistake and thought that I tuned it An Octave too high. So I tuned the E A and G string (D String snapped) down an octave sill in the wrong tuning (Still tuned upside down)

But there is no tension. So I concluded that there is a problem with the bloody tuner. So I got my Rant Speech ready and marched back to the music shop the next day.

It all ended when I explained what happened to my current ex-teacher and he just blew out laughing his ass off (Literally)

Me <

And when he explained my mistake

I changed from to

And because I "Brightened" his day, He gave me a new pack of D'addario free of charge and told me not to mess with anything until I know enough.


The moral of this true story is : Only mess with stuff if you know what you are doing

wow
ur teacher is quite nice isnt he ?
haha

Come on man, he was laughing like he never laughed before

WOW this is definitely a winning post lol...

ouch...the bass still ok? i mean after apply that much tension on the neck with upside down tuning...

Still ok, thanks to the truss rod

Damn.. I snapped my high E string on my Acoustic today.....
Freakin' whiplash left a nasty mark on my right hand....... Tuning it and then *SNAP*

Sigh...... need to re-string it anyway.....

With all the scars/injuries/potential critical injuries (string missing eyes and all), we guitarists still risk bodily injuries to produce music. We deserve a clap don't we...well at least for our masochism.

that's why you have guitar techs and roadies.

What? Roadies for the Clap? Eeeeeeeeeeeeewwww.
Sigh.... what happened to the good old days where it's a shot of penicillin and goodbye VD....
Nowadays, you get VD that just KILLS you.....

Ok Ok oK..... Back to topic:

Has anyone seen that stupid Remake of The Haunting? There's one scene where the girl is plucking a Harpiscord, and the string snapped hard into her eye. That's brutal....

hi guys .. me electric guitar B string keep on getting rusty and i've clean in almost every morning when i want to play ..

something wrong ??

and how to efficiently prevent ur string getting rusty ?
i clean the string with dry clean cloth everytime i played it.
i keep it inside my gig bag as well ...

btw it's a stock sx string ^_____^

ermm well. . . try fast frets. . . but anyway i suggest its time to change a new set of strings =D

maybe you shred solely on the B string ? xD

Yeah and fastfret supposedly will help prevent your strings from rusting... not sure how effective it is though.

Since you do clean your strings after playing, the problem could be humidity. Try sticking some silica gel in your gig bag. Then again, your hands may just be rust-inducing in which case, get a transplant.. jk jk... hehe

And EQ has a point about changing strings. Don't expect your strings to not rust for like 6 months or so...

well the guitar tech at sinamex asked me to only put alil bit of selica gel. he says putting more than a bag can cause the bindings to come out or crack

try new strings like elixirs

Speaking of that, sweat is a killer of strings... there was a conference/camp where we had to practice without the aircond, imagine me and my drummer sweat like crazy... by the time the 4 day camp was over, my strings had changed colour and I had just changed them a day before the camp.

yeah i sweat a lot when i play. besides strings, my pick keeps slipping

This post has been edited by SweetTooth: Apr 27 2007, 02:30 PM

What bindings?

oh crap! I left a 8cm x 8cm bag of silica gel in my gig bag with my RR3 for the past 2 weeks!

not to ganas loo..slow2 only..

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Added on April 27, 2007, 9:38 pmmaybe becoz he is hensem than me??no laa..our jam room small only..my gf sitting near by me and inront the guitaris..LOL


This post has been edited by MR.Syxo: Apr 27 2007, 09:38 PM

Fast Fret is okay if you can bear with the "Oily-ness"

I have a pack of silica gel in my case but the strings and even the screws at the bridge is still rusting away

thats the thing I dont like... the oilyness...
surprisingly though the strings in my guitars rarely rust. They will gradually change colour from bright silver to grey over a period of over 1-2 months. But nothing serious. Do you guys really mean rust as in like, really rusty?
I have a silica gel pack in my GRX70's case, but not in my RG1570's case, and I don't actually see any difference.

thx for all the kind and informative replies ..

hrmmm .. i already throw in around 4 packets of silica gels since im a ex computer freak ... result is still rsuty ....

haih ~ i left oni 1 set or ernie balls left ... regret never buy a couple more on the trip to bentley.

If you really want to go to the extreme of cutting cost, you can always soak your strings in alcohol

swt. . . alcohol. . . abit the hardcore right? might as well paint your strings. .. that way donit change string forever =D

haha. then every string will mute and sound " tam tam tam " . Anyway , anyone knows where to buy Adario Ej43 normal tension ? looks like everywhere out of stock.

Ah maintaining ones guitar strings is really important which reminds me of this incident i had when i started playing bass a long time back. I didnt have a bass when i started out so I would practise whenever i had a chance on my church's beat up generic bass. It wasnt maintained properly so you can imagine the strings were dead and horribly rusted in places. Played for a while and pretty much forgot about the string condition, until i attempted to do a slide intro....on rusted strings....

ah fastfret and elastoplast .... how i love thee.

This post has been edited by stefanong: Apr 30 2007, 11:40 AM