String breakage

[Stevepage]

I keep having trouble with the High E string breaking at the tuning post of my Fender Tele. The tuners are locking but the string breaks just before it reaches the tuning post.

Now these are 10-52 GHS Dave Mustaine sets and I had the same problem with D'addarios. I did tune them up to E first time, but recently tuned down to D for writing. I tuned them up to E again a couple of days ago and had no problems untill just a minute ago they broke.

Am I at fault here with the retuning? I've done this with my Strat for years and never had a problem.

[Fourth Feline]

Hiya Steve,  :)

My first thought about your specific problem, of breakage just before the peg, was that if the nut slot was tight / binding, it may be not allowing the whole string up to tune, but rather that when you get past D- D# , the string has lodged so firmly in the nut slot that you are only tuning up the last 2-3cm of string and that snaps before you hear the rest of the string go up in pitch ?


 I also wanted to  confirm that with D'addario ( just in case the top 'E' of the GHS comes out of the same generic factory ) the top 'E' on any guitar kept breaking on me also. In my case, it was always the high 'E' -  when I had released the tension for fret cleaning e.t.c - and then re-tuned up to 'E'.   In my case however,  they seem to unwind themsleves at the ball end.

For Jazz , where I am using 12 or 13 in standard tuning for my top 'E' - I just had to make sure that any spare 12 or 13's I had ( beyond Thomastiks own excellent and resilient top 'E' in the packet ) - were preferably Newtone , or at a pinch Ernie Ball singles - but NEVER D'addario.

Due to 'Flashbacks' caused from memories of winding  D'addario singles ( of 12 or 13 gauge ) up to tension, I am still bracing myself, turning my face away - and clearing the area of cats before I go above D - D#  
- with any string.  I must have P.D.S.D - ( Post D'addaric Stress Disorder ).  :)

[Stevepage]

That's what I've been thinking myself. The nut slots haven't been touched so my guess is that the nut slots are really gauged for 9's. I thought this would be ok as the 10 seemed to fit in the nut slot ok, but I supposed when tuned to pitch, it must been causing too much strain.

I've had better results with my Strat but D'addario high E strings kept breaking or unwinding.

[Fourth Feline]

With my nut slots ( for all strings) I now like to use a rectangular sectioned jeweller's file ( with cutting surfaces on the sides, but not leading edge )  on all my guitars - to give each one a touch more width than usual. Lovely quick tune up, with no lateral drift, and if I experiment between 12's and 13's , both tune up and down smoothly. Bit of pencil lead dipped in a drop of oil to 'line' each slot - and all is smooooth .  :)

[FELINEGUITARS]

If the string breaks less than 10mm in front of the peg - it is the peg that is breaking the string
Some locking heads put too much of a kink in the string and constant tuning up and down will flex that strain point and the string will break quickly
You could try swapping the high E and B tuners over to see if it's any better

[Stevepage]

I did notice that when I took the rest of the string off there was a kink in the string that was a bit overkill. I'll try swapping a tuner over and see how it works out.