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Post subject: Break a String
Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 4:54 pm
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Hey i played a gig recently with my American Deluxe Strat and i broke a string, my guitar went out of tune i assume due to the american deluxe tremelo system is there anything you can do to counter the guitar going out of tune if a string breaks???


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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 5:11 pm
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I'be broken strings and not gone out of tune w/ an American Deluxe so not sure what caused you to lose your tuning. Was it all strings? Dramatically or slightly?

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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 5:16 pm
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stupid questions but what string broke and did everything seem to go flat? obviously different strings have diff tensions and the loss of one may cause more or less tension on the neck. i'm unsure if you can adjust ur trem -add springs,etc-to counter the slackness, check it out. there is no real way i can c u breaking a string and having the rest go sharp! just doesn't seem to make sense.


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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 5:36 pm
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me again-spoke with a tech who knows something-unlike me. he said as a general rule the trem spring tension and string tension need to be about equal so... a set of 9's generally calls for 3 springs while 10's will need more,4. also, the springs should be spaced as evenly apart and not all loaded up on the bass or treble side yadda yadda. if that is already done, he said most issues come from friction at the saddles and mainly from the nut where the strings makes contact. something we all learned a while ago but i never do anymore. lubricate the nut at the string grooves. the string snap is enough to jolt the whole neck and if any of the other strings are under tension somewhere, the jolt is what will unbind it and throw you out. i used to use graphite from a mechanical pencil but he prefers the special lubes like nut sauce,etc. i know some that still use plain old vaseline. hope it helps. let us know.


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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 7:56 pm
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When a string breaks on your Strat, the remaining 5 will go sharp (because there's excess string tension pulling them).

It really messes up your tuning, but I have found that you can generally finish the song if you play everything one fret lower. That is, just drop the position you play the song by one fret. It's not perfect, but it's as good as you're gonna get with that 5 string Strat! If the song you're playing has a lot of open strings, you are probably out of luck. Grab a spare strat real quick and keep going ....

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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 8:23 pm
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This is an interesting solution:
http://www.tremol-no.com/


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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:42 am
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right-it makes sense that the string break would cause the pitch to rise due to the same spring tension fighting less string tension. thanks for clearing that up for me. i wonder if the same holds true for say a hardtail/no trem unit? the link showed a very interesting unit that could help. i hate to "add on" anything to my guitars but at least no drilling/routing and you can always take it off. one thing i could not find the answer to is this: say you are playing with the trem in full function (so the tremel-no is say "off") and you break a string, can you right then and there engage it so it'll lock things up? sort of shift on the fly? it does not appear that weay from what i read on their site but i don't know. seems to me you have to pick, say before you start the tune, whether you want it on or off and roll with that. then you can stay in tune if u break a string while it is engaged but what happens if you chose to have it "off"? i learn so much from you guys so thanks. even when others are asking the questions.


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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:50 am
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akbamg wrote:
right-it makes sense that the string break would cause the pitch to rise due to the same spring tension fighting less string tension. thanks for clearing that up for me. I wonder if the same holds true for say a hardtail/no trem unit?


Not really. If you break a string on a hardtail, the other strings stay pretty much in tune. There could be a slight change due to the truss rod tension.

You can test both cases, trem/no trem. Break out your tuner. Tune up the guitar, then loosen just the G string until it's floppy, then check the tuning of the other strings.

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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:58 am
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THAT seems to be the best way to check all this out. The tuner doesn't lie and not only can you tell what is happening (sharp,flat,etc) but exactly how much and where (which string).
"i'm getting in tune with the straight and narrow"


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:23 pm
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I don't have the Temel-no, but from what I understand, you can only lock it when everthing is in tune, so if you break a string and you don't have it locked, your in the same situation. It DOES let you lock it so that you can only move the trem down, so you can still use it to lower pitch, and if a string breks in that case, it limits the travel so it can go sharp.

In my experience a hard tail will go sharp as well when you loose a string, but only slightly.

-Eddie


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:59 pm
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I have a Tremel-no on my MIM. I break a string at least once a week (5 gigs). It DOES hold the guitar in tune, but not perfectly. Enough to finish the song.(single notes are not a problem, bar chords, you can hear it being off) I don't use my trem, so it's not a problem. The trem unlocks in 1 second if you wish to use it. They have installation and usage videos on their web site. Check it out. I recomend the Tremel-no if you have string breakage issues.


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