I hate my new strings

[JimK]

Ok, I need to vent. The other night, after the kids where finally in bed, the bills were paid, and the thousand other things I had to do were done, I went down to "the studio" to play. I picked up my guitar and broke a string with the first note I played. No problem, I had just bought new strings. For the past year I've been using D'Addario (sp?) XLs, but decided to try out GHS Boomers. I stuck with the same gauges (.009 to .042). After I got the new strings on I had one hell of a time getting the guitar in tune. By the time I was done it was late, so I went to bed.

 

The next day, the low E and A strings were horribly out of tune. Retuned, and this is when the nightmare began. No matter what I do, I can't seem to get the low E tuned. If I tune it with a tuner (playing the string open), then it's not in tune with the other strings (A at the 5th fret is not A). If I tune it at the 5th fret, then the open E is off. Forget using harmonics. Interestingly, the intonation is fine. I've actually checked to see if I screwed up and swapped the A and E strings. Nope. This is all odd because this guitar has never been a problem to tune before.

 

I've finally concluded that I'm just not happy with the Boomers. What sucks is I've got to restring the thing. My daughter's birthday party is this weekend, with relatives galore coming up and staying over. Guess I'll have to wait until next week.

 

Anybody else ever have this happen, where the couldn't get one string to work with the other five?

[Sylver]

I dunno, Jim, I never had that problem with Boomers. Maybe you just got a bad set.

[phaeton]

I haven't had a problem with a string not being able to tune, but i guess it is possible.

 

However, i did recently have a problem with a set of GHS flat 11's that sounded REALLY dead right out of the package (like deader than flatwounds are supposed to be).

 

The little E sounded as if the tone knob was rolled all the way to 0, and the big E sounded like it was on 5.

 

The music store replaced the E's for me, but by the next few days i had *no electrical output* from any of the B G D A strings. None at all. They might as well have been made out of nylon.

 

Musta been a bad set in my case.

[mark_dog]

i always use elixers. i never tried anything else because im so poor i can't afford to buy stings, put em on, and hate um. im out 5-10 bucks and i have to look under the couch for more money. i need a job.

[Bunny Knutson]

Go back to the D'Addario XLs. That's the exact same set of strings I use, same gauge even. Works for me.

[whitefang]

I've had similar troubles with different strings over the years. Sometimes the first, sometimes the sixth or fifth! Doesn't matter. And several different brands as well.

 

Unfortunately guitar strings, like anything ELSE that's mass produced, winds up with some bad apples in the barrel. Try those boomers out again

a few changes from now, and see if it happens again.

 

Whitefang

[patrick_dont_fret]

I've never had a problem with untunable strings, either on my guitar or my basses. Hmmm, maybe I just get lucky. I dunno, it just sounds like a bad set, man. Hope things get better.

 

The *new and unimproved* RumbleontheRiver-dude.

[jlh]

I recently bought a G&L ASAT special. When I looked at it first the setup was terrible, but the guitar tech said he would set it up for me. When I picked it up there was a distinct buzz on the low E string. When I mentioned it he told me he had worked hard to get it perfect so it must be the string. Sure enough when he changed the string the buzz was gone. He said he was seeing a good percentage of strings bad out of the box these days. Another thing I've seen on the unwrapped strings is sometimes the polishing looks poorly done with kind of a reflective spiral down the surface of the string. These strings *always* break quickly even though I don't break many strings.

 

Anyone else notice anything like this?

Jamie

[Mindsender]

Jim,

When I measure strings with very sensitive equitment, they rarely are exactly what the MFG says. Sounds like you may have a slightly tight nut that is not letting a slightly larger string move easily. Take the string off and work it in the groove of the nut like a saw a few times, then lubricate that juncture. The big E has a harder time moving in the nut than any of the strings. Paul

[JimK]

Mindsender,

 

You're close, really close. My guitar has a cam activated locking nut. The nut has slots in it like a regular nut. The slots are opened and closed by a cam lever. The width of the slots is adjusted by a screw. In front of this "vice" is the a metal strip, similar to a 0 fret. It turns out that the low E string wasn't seated all the way into the locking portion of the nut (maybe it was a little larger the .042 so it didnt' fit?), so the string wasn't making contact with the 0 fret. I opened up the spacing in the nut and pushed the string in. Tuning the guitar now is much easier, although I'm still not a huge fan of the Boomers.