String break...any blood?

Joseph Lazo · From: Wisconsin, USA

Just had my first string break on a pedal steel. The .011 3rd string, of course. No blood drawn, but wow did it smart!

Which got me to wondering...has anyone ever had a string break draw blood?

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

Yeah, but not much. Had a couple broken sharp ends poke holes in my finger when they snapped.

Don R Brown · From: Rochester, New York, USA

Down in the bottom of my pack-seat are 2 or 3 band-aids. Have never needed them when playing out but certainly would not be without them.
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Joe Bill Moad · From: Oklahoma

They like my blood. .011 especially! I am on blood thinner and they Shure enough sting ! It ‘s over so fast that I get used to this happening. Had my strobo soft tuner on my iPhone 15 pro max and without much instruction had it set wrong. I went through so many strings before I got it right on my E9 neck it was beyond expensive.! I finally got setup right and have not broke on in a while.

Regards

Jbm
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Don’t Worry About The Mule! Load The Wagon!

Bobby D. Jones · From: West Virginia, USA

Local supplier got a bad order of .011 strings.
Had a 3rd string break at the key, Wrap over my bar hand, Stuck in right ring finger. Took force to pull it out.
Very Happy

seat still dry.

Joseph Lazo · From: Wisconsin, USA

Bobby, that's baaaad. Unless someone has a story about losing an eye, your tale is the worst I've heard about string break injuries!

Marco Schouten · From: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Long time ago, my Sho-Bud Maverick broke quite a few strings. that 5th string is vicious.
My JCH has never had a broken string, I guess I'm save now.
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JCH SD-10 with BL XR-16 pickup, Sho-Bud Volume Pedal, Evidence Audio Lyric HG cables, Quilter Steelaire combo

Bobby Martin · From: Virginia, USA

My brand-new Show-Bud Pro III drew 3rd string blood on my right hand the day that I bought it from Oxon Hill Music in Md. Sept '77. First song of that night at a Rt 1 bar called Christophers, a genuine gun and knife club and it got me good! Welcome to the honky-tonk world.
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Retired my "Flying Pro III" playin' gigs with the "little bud" in the Northern Shenandoah Valley.

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

Yep, like Bobby, I've had them snap and coil around the finger too. I don't know what's worse...the surprise that makes you jump out of your seat or the pain or gaining your composure long enough to get reloaded and back in the game.

Lee Rider · From: Fort Bragg, California, USA

Pat Enright of the Nashville Bluegrass Band lost sight in one eye due to a broken string on an acoustic guitar. I always flinch when a string breaks just thinking about Pat's accident.
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Bowman SD10 push pull 3x5, Modified Hudson PedalBro, Sarno Tonic preamp, Evans FET 500. with Altec 418B, Standel Custom 15, '67 Showman with D-130F in cabinet, Ganz Straight Ahead, custom Wolfe 6 string dobro, '52 Gibson Century 6.

Joseph Lazo · From: Wisconsin, USA

That's terrible! And the first account of such I've heard. I actually asked on another forum once if anyone had ever heard of a string break causing eye damage and no one had.

Long ago, when I first started playing, I used to cringe every time I tuned because I thought something like that might happen.

Joseph Lazo · From: Wisconsin, USA

Welp, I got a replacement string and it snapped while tuning it!

I can only guess it was an .011 on it originally ('cause that's what the manual says), and all the store had was a .012. I tuned it to G# at the keys, then was working on tuning the nut to an A...when snap! I never even got it to reach the A note and it broke!

I've got an E9 set on order and it comes with a .012 instead of .011. I don't want to go through this again, so what did I do wrong?

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

Yes lost lots of blood lost to those damn 011's over the years... some nasty cuts... not as bad if they break at the changer, but when they break at the roller nut, bad news.....
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D Schubert · From: Columbia, MO, USA

The 0.011 strings don't bother me much. It's the 0.016 and 0.017 gages that tear up my fingers.
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Larry Dering · From: Missouri, USA

Indeed the 3rd and 5th have drawn blood a couple times. Once I had a string break and hit the hot side of a wall plug in. Melted the string.

DG Whitley · Posted 21 Nov 2024 6:47 pm

Don't think I've ever had a string break without drawing some blood. Yeah, it smarts too.

Lee Rider · From: Fort Bragg, California, USA

Larry Dering · From: Missouri, USA

Luckily my hands were off the tuners and I was pressing the B pedal to stretch the string. I was surprised nothing else was damaged. Needless to say Im more careful now. Those power strips are a target for spilled drinks.

Dennis Brown · From: Gowen, Mi. USA

In the early 80s I had a 3rd break at the changer end on a S10. It hooked my nose in the soft area of the nostril. It hurt more pulling it out than it did going in. It was almost barbed a little bit like a fishhook. Brought tears to my eyes pulling that sucker out. It was during my solo and a lot of guests at the venue seen it happen. And yup, there was blood. A D10 is safer, keeps your head and body at a safer distance.

Joseph Lazo · From: Wisconsin, USA

Whew...pedal steel is more hazardous than I ever imagined.

Given the long history of the instrument, I'm wondering if anyone has ever made a small shield-like attachment that could easily fit atop the bridge and the headstock areas to interrupt the whip-like movement of a breaking string.

I'd like to see a slow-motion video of a string snapping on a pedal steel to see the arc a string makes when snapping. And I wonder if what makes a string break on a steel so injurious is that the strings are being weighted down by the bar (and hand) on the strings, causing the broken string to move upward and then downward like a whip.

Joseph Lazo · From: Wisconsin, USA

Okay, if a string break at the keys results in the string flying in an upward arc and then coming down on your hand, would something as simple as a rubber band around the tuning keys closest to the nut prevent the string from arcing upward?

I honestly don't know if a broken string actually arcs upward, but from my own experience and the anecdotes in this thread it seems as though this is what happens. I know I felt it on the top of my ring finger when my 3rd string snapped.

I looked all over for a rubber band, but couldn't find one. All I could find was a rubber band wristband my son made years ago, so just imagine this were a rubber band about 4mm wide instead.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

I got stabbed only yesterday. It wasn't an .011" (I use .012"), but the 1st string - .0.13".

Thanks to my twice-daily Eliquis, blood flowed for a short while.

Joseph:
I don't know which way a string coils when it breaks, either - I just know that it'll do whatever it has to do, as long as it at least gives the player a nasty sting! Smile

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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Marvin Born · From: Ohio, USA

I changed the strings on my D10 and when setting up the pedals, String 5 broke at the ball end. The ball flew across the room and hit the HDTV. It left a mark about 1/4 inch taking out some pixels and leaving yellow spot that is always on. No blood though.

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

Considering there is roughly 32 psi tension on the 3rd or 5th string pedals down, it stands to reason bad things can happen if one lets go while your hands are in any particular position...or face...or arms etc.

I'd be interested what, if any, difference there would be between tension at pitch and the release of tension meaurement when one breaks...particularly with the pedal down, say 3rd or 5th.

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