Jay Ganz wrote:Any reports on 3rd & 5th string breakage?
How long have you had them installed?
At this stage of the game, I personally have not received any reports of string breakage on any given string.
For obvious reasons, there are details regarding the core of our strings that I would rather not reveal but I will say this regarding string breakage.
As we all know breakage of the 3rd and 5th strings have been the source of aggravation since the inception of pedal steel guitar.
Assuming the brand of string you currently using is made of high grade materials and the temper of the metal is very good, the main culprit of this breakage is not metal failure.
Humidity and acid are the biggest enemies of your strings.
If your strings have lain on a shelf for 2 years before you purchased them they have been exposed to the humidity from within this environment for that period of time. Like many products, shelf life has a huge effect on strings.
The number one culprit of string breakage is the twist of the string just after it has been wrapped around the ball of the string.
The point of greatest pressure on a steel guitar string is the point at which the string starts over changer finger. If you are using strings that are nothing more than re packaged electric guitar strings, (and you most likely are) the twist of that string is too long to function properly on a Pedal Steel Guitar.
This is what happens:
Because the wrap of the string encroaches too high up on that changer finger, the string is actually cutting itself into! One piece of the string (the twist) is laying on another piece of the string
(the twist) and it knifes itself into.
I have shortened the twist of our 3rd and 5th strings to eliminate this problem.
Now, with all this being said; I did see a rollback this past weekend loading a brand new BMW.
LOL!! Sid
