Sir sweatalot needs help

Wildkid

My strings break more regularly because my hands sweat like **** when playing its sooooo annoying ...tips iv read so far are to wash my hands before and to get exilir strings ? any more help and also how often do you guys the string ? I usually play on average 2-5 hours a day ,electric guitar ,I usually only restring when I run out of high e strings or b strings which are the most common. To snap

Strings.ie

Always give the strings a good wipe down after playing. Coated strings like Elixir should help give you longer tone life. Most brands make coated strings now so don't restrict yourself to just Elixir. If you're playing 2-5 hours a day you're going to get through a lot of strings though. Sweat generally causes the tone to die, I suspect breakage is happening due to the amount you're playing. Personally I find non coated strings to be way past their best after several hours playing time, but it can depend on a person's PH level. What gauge are you using? Heavier strings tend to take more of a beating so you could maybe try using a heavier E & B. Fair play for your dedication though ;-)

martinedwards

Never heard of sweating and string breakage being connected before.

I've been known the sweat a fair bit and I last broke a string about 15 years ago.

it was a G

on a bass!

IMHO, string breakages are more likely down to rough edges at the nut & saddle, cheap strings that unravel from around the ball end, and old rusty strings just giving up the ghost.

oh yeah, and bad picking technique with a heavy pick.

bear in mind that Brian May changes his strings once a year whether he needs to or not.... and he uses a coin as a pick...... so it MUST be his technique is good, yes/no?

wiping the sweat off will reduce the rust, but sweat and breaks?

nah

Wildkid

That's what I mean the rust ,like last time I changed my strings the were rusting 3 days later !

The strings usually break over the frets not the nut so iv ruled out that being the problem

slavetothegrind

martinedwards wrote: »

bear in mind that Brian May changes his strings once a year whether he needs to or not.... and he uses a coin as a pick...... so it MUST be his technique is good, yes/no?

april fools joke no?

don't believe you for a minute but if you are right i'll eat your pie of humility

i use a 1mm pick and have not broken a string for ages ( cue touching of wood)

I think for the christy moores out there strings.ie is right a coated string would help a lot. Cleaning down after playing would be important too

I also admire your dedication op, well done on that.

Wildkid

I should have mentioned I'm not working at the moment so I'm sure once I start back it wo t be 2-5 hours anymore !!

JonathanAnon

I posted something similar a while back.. My strings get rusty very quickly as well... But I think it's just a matter of making sure that the steel has no sweat to react with when it's lying idle... So wipe the strings down thoroughly after you play.. It's very hard to discipline your self to do this, as you normally end up playing something on it when you have it in your hand...

With regard to the string breaks are they all bridge end breaks... Maybe you should try smoothing and polishing the bridge end components like the saddles and the holes where the guitar strings enter the body of the guitar.. I did this and it seems to have reduced breaks.... (though having now said that I'll probably get a bridge end break the second I pick it up next)

-=al=-

Just wipe the guitar/strings down when your finished playing and elixer will help alright

I once rusted the crap out of a trem once but I think there was some funny business goin on with it... it was mangled... See if I can find a pic

martinedwards

nah, the problem with that bridge is that it's fitted upside down......