Bad luck with SIT strings?

Chris Brooks · Post by **Chris Brooks** » 17 Mar 2003 1:34 pm

I put 2 of these on at the gig the other night. Both broke in the middle, not at the tuning peg, while I was bringing them up to pitch.

I gave the rest I had to the guitar man.

Anybody else have problems with Stay in Tune strings? Seems like they had higher tension. Or was that my imagination under duress?

Chris

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now living in the Ocean State ....

Bill Terry · Post by **Bill Terry** » 17 Mar 2003 1:37 pm

I've used them for a couple of years without those kind of problems.

I went through a bunch of [Name Withheld] 11's in a row once, trying to get one on and up to pitch. I think they all ship a bad batch once in a while.

Higher tension? I dunno.[This message was edited by Bill Terry on 17 March 2003 at 01:38 PM.]

Jay Ganz · Post by **Jay Ganz** » 17 Mar 2003 4:07 pm

Never had any problems with them.
Been using them for years.

John Hawkins · Post by **John Hawkins** » 17 Mar 2003 4:11 pm

Chris ,

I have used SIT's for over 12 years and have never had one to break in the middle as you describe . I feel you should contact SIT and advise them of your experience .

I use the Buddy Emmons Stainless sets and as I say ,never had problem like you had . Could it be that the guages of the strings that broke were the incorrect guage / s for the position you used them for ? There could have been a bad batch but in my case, that would be very unlikely considering all the sets I have installed and used over all these years .

Hope you locate the cause but you might want
to re-think giving up on that brand if you had that thought.

If you have not tried a set of BE stainless , it might be worth your while to give them a shot .

Good luck ,
John

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 17 Mar 2003 6:45 pm

As we've mentioned several times, all the plain steel strings (unwound) are made by a VERY few (like 2 or 3) mfgrs of 'music wire'. The age of the strings may have some effect, but sometimes the manufacturing process and quality checks fail and you'll get a bad batch. Happens with all brands -- especially when you're trying to pull a spider's web up to 35 pounds of tension. I'm still amazed they last as long as they do.

I too have used SIT's for years with no more breakage than any other brand. I woulda switched brands if breakage appeared to be a trend.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

Reggie Duncan · Post by **Reggie Duncan** » 17 Mar 2003 10:45 pm

Chris, I have been a dealer for SIT for 20 years, and there have been few occurances of unusual string breakage. SIT has always been good to replace them. If you need some assistance, I will be glad to help.

Jerry Hayes · Post by **Jerry Hayes** » 18 Mar 2003 5:26 am

I tried them out years ago when they first became available. I was playing a ShoBud then and when I put them on, for some reason they required more travel to come up to pitch. I'd been using Ernie Ball strings before that. The lowers seemed to be OK but the G#'s to A and the B's to C# needed a couple of turns of the nylon adjuster at the endplate to come up. I took them off and put Ernie Ball's back on and had to re-adjust the tuners again...JH

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Livin' in the Past and the Future with a 12 string Mooney Universal tuning.

Chick Donner · Post by **Chick Donner** » 18 Mar 2003 2:27 pm

I have never used SIT, but playing as much as I do in Akron, Ohio, I know a whole boatload of folks that do, and I have never heard any complaints about them.

Over the years I've used (mostly) Earnie Ball, GHS, and Squier (which would include ShoBud, Emmons, and other custom packaged strings), and for the last 5 years or so, I've used Cobra Coils that I get from Dr. Seymour.

I have always bought strings by gauge in packets of 5, or 6, or 10 or 12, however they come. Don't remember EVER buying a "set," partially since I played an 11-10 guitar for 30 years or so and then switched to a D12.

I have had several "multiple" string breakage events over those years. It's logical to assume that since I bought packaged gauged strings that the strings in each package were from the same production run. I've had that happen with Squier, GHS and CobraCoils. It just happens. I always notified my supplier of the event(s), in case they wanted to check it out with the manufacturer, but I don't find it particularly unusual. Frustrating, yes. But part of the business.

Matter of fact, within the last 6 months, I broke 3 CC 11's trying to get them to G#. Not a problem since, though.