Dead E string

[TRBboy]

I put a brand new set of D'addario Prosteels on my Sandberg and have only done two band rehearsals, but the E string is already dead as a dodo!? The last set of strings I had on there (D'addario EXP165) lasted longer, but nowhere near as long as they have on other basses. The nut slot looks ok (has a zero fret anyway) and there doesn't appear to be anything amiss at the bridge end. I always clean my strings with Dunlop 65 string cleaner after rehearsals/gigs.

Any thoughts?

Edited July 6, 2011 by TRBboy

[Robert Manning]

Happens to me alot!, i like using a lighter E string, seams to help out a little.
try GHS fast fret. its great for getting rid on the crap form your fingers.
the E string has more room for dirt to accumulate i would have though too

edit, you do clean ya strings! sorry dident read all of it haha.
ummm puzzling!

Edited July 5, 2011 by Robert Manning

[JamieCooper91]

Maybe it's a storage issue, it's been quite muggy and humid up here and I find my strings don't last as long when it's not very dry.
I've only had experience with Ernie Ball (slinky/regular and for the past year power) Slinkys lately but all the strings keep their "freshness" for a lot longer than that, and my bass is being gigged regularly.

If it's not a nut/bridge/fretboard issue and you've not had it for long send an angry email and see if they'll send you a new pack out for free!

[Lozz196]

+1 to Fast-fret.

The Roto rounds on my gigging bass have now been on it for 11 months, and whilst I`m not overkeen on completely new strings, I do like a bit of life in them, and have found that regularly applying Fast-fret both before, and after rehearsals/gigs has helped a great deal.

The Roto rounds on my home use bass have been on it 18 months, and I Fast-fret these once/twice a week.

[Prime_BASS]

My strings go dead after about 6 rehearsals or 3 gigs. Very annoying, some times I'm changing the strings every month.

If it's just the E-string then maybe there is an issue with the string.

[JTUK]

String consistancy is not so great these days, IME.. I doubt there is anything wrong with your bass..just the batch or that one in the batch.
There is nothing you can do but to whip it off and clean it up...or by a new E or set.

Happens more than it ever used to and not exclusive to any one brand as far as I have been able to determine.

I get e and A strings that kink now after cleaning..and I have never known that before.
That kills a string pdq and I have ended up throwing out strings.

I am now going back to old/old sets as I think the metal quality was possibly better/more consistant, and cleaning those up..just so I can get more rotation. 2 weeks is about right with some sets.

[karlclews]

I occasionally used to find this, until someone pointed me towards checking if the string was twisted. So I loosened off the string a little, until it was no longer held tight, and sure enough, the ball end rotated a couple of times in the bridge hole before settling. I then tightened it up again and hey presto - the string sounded as bright as the others! Seems to affect the E string more than the others (in fact, I've never noticed a comparative loss of brightness on any of the other strings). Anyway, now I always double-check that the strings haven't become twisted when I change a set. Haven't had the problem recur since.

A related issue I had once, which also might be worth noting: after changing a set of strings, I noticed that notes on the E string seemed to have a noticeable lack of clarity or definition when compared with the other strings. It turned out that the problem was that the string break angle at the nut wasn't sharp enough - the string was leaving the tuning peg near the top of the peg, so the downward pressure on the nut for that string wasn't as high as it should have been. So I re-strang (?) it correctly such that the string wound down on the tuner peg towards the headstock and therefore left the peg as close to the headstock as possible, giving a sharper angle of deflection. Again, hey presto, problem solved.

Both tips have saved me a lot of frustration and cash!

[Hobbayne]

I had a similar problem with the E string on the Jazz Bass. It turned out to be the silk winding on the ball end was resting on the bridge saddle. This caused a loss of sustain and a dead tone.
But I actually liked the effect and kept the string on!

[TRBboy]

[quote name='karlclews' post='1294669' date='Jul 6 2011, 01:02 PM']I occasionally used to find this, until someone pointed me towards checking if the string was twisted. So I loosened off the string a little, until it was no longer held tight, and sure enough, the ball end rotated a couple of times in the bridge hole before settling. I then tightened it up again and hey presto - the string sounded as bright as the others! Seems to affect the E string more than the others (in fact, I've never noticed a comparative loss of brightness on any of the other strings). Anyway, now I always double-check that the strings haven't become twisted when I change a set. Haven't had the problem recur since.

A related issue I had once, which also might be worth noting: after changing a set of strings, I noticed that notes on the E string seemed to have a noticeable lack of clarity or definition when compared with the other strings. It turned out that the problem was that the string break angle at the nut wasn't sharp enough - the string was leaving the tuning peg near the top of the peg, so the downward pressure on the nut for that string wasn't as high as it should have been. So I re-strang (?) it correctly such that the string wound down on the tuner peg towards the headstock and therefore left the peg as close to the headstock as possible, giving a sharper angle of deflection. Again, hey presto, problem solved.

Both tips have saved me a lot of frustration and cash![/quote]

Well I thought I knew every trick in the book! I slackened the string off, but the ball end only rotated about 1/8 of a turn. I tuned the string back up and stretched it in, and it seems to have made quite a difference! Cheers dude!

It's still perhaps a little duller than the others, but that's probably because the string was kinked over the saddle whilst twisted. Still, it's a lot better.

I guess every day's a school day!


Glad I didn't fire off that sh*t-o-gram to D'addario after all!


Thanks to everyone for all the helpful advice too.

Edited July 6, 2011 by TRBboy