You're quite welcome.

Truth be told, I've been playing over 40 years and to the best of my recollection, I've never had spare strings lying around either. Like you, I simply never break them.

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You dig?

Neat! Never had that issue, but if I ever do now I know how to deal with it. Thank you!


We were far too polite to ask about it...

Cheers - C

PS On that, Nicko, do you know about this website?

http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/

Large bundles of spare strings to your door overnight, almost always cheaper than you can buy in the shops. Just a thought...

Bingo! We have a result. A new string solved it.

Even the guy in shop didnt think a duff string could cause such massive intonation problems (tone loss etc maybe). Seems it can tho. I phoned him back just to let him know etc...

So my bridge saddle is where it was before in its proper place, and all intonation is fine. I could almost tell the difference in strings even before I'd tuned it etc. that duff string didnt seem to be under the correct tension. hmmm.

Anyways, a big thanks to you all for your help. Problem solved and one to look out for in the future. Never seen that before tho, and been playin about 25 years.

Cheers for the strings link Ceri (will check it out), but Im worried that if I start buying spares, I might start snapping strings.

Like i said its the core of the wound string that causes the intonation troubles not the windings. The windings must have reached tension and the core not, otherwise you wouldnt have been at A 440.

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No no and no

I have seen defective strings cause intonation problem. I think the problem with the string's core must be due to some unwelcome variation in its diameter. I don't know how much variation it takes to cause intonation problems ... it would be interesting to find out.

The times I have had problems getting guitars intonated, I have had a pickup way too close to the strings: the magnet pull was messing up my intonation attempts.

How did a pickup get too close? Well, I found a neat trick to help remove a pickguard from underneath the 22 fret overhang was to raise the neck pickup (for those times you don't want to completely remove the strings, but need to get to the electronics). Just remember to lower the pickup when you reinstall the pickguard.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Can certainly understand what you're saying about the core. Good job its a rare problem. Will have a look around the forum for some more tips. Been having a look at some of the pics on here. Some very nice guitars about! Was drooling over some of them like a rabid dog...

No, no: it's the other way around. It's only when you don't have a spare that you break a string. Having a big drawer full of spares insures that you never break another one for the rest of your life...

Cheers - C