Jazzmaster String Breakage Theory

[DeathJag]

I use the ball of a old string to protect the new string. Since i do that, i don't have E string breakage problem any more.

Dang! If this problem ever happened to me, I’d try this first!

[jmmc]

This thread is pretty old but for those interested and still dealing with this issue I can vouch for the culprit being the D'Addario strings. I was having this issue before and filled the string holes and still would happen once and a while. Made a new jazzmaster build, bought the strings and started to have this issue again. Found this thread and apparently other people using D'Addarios having the same problem. Coincidence or not I can't remember having this issue with Earnie Ball or Fender strings, so yeah here's my 2 cents too.

[JSett]

This thread is pretty old but for those interested and still dealing with this issue I can vouch for the culprit being the D'Addario strings. I was having this issue before and filled the string holes and still would happen once and a while. Made a new jazzmaster build, bought the strings and started to have this issue again. Found this thread and apparently other people using D'Addarios having the same problem. Coincidence or not I can't remember having this issue with Earnie Ball or Fender strings, so yeah here's my 2 cents too.

Been using D'addario on Offsets for 25 years. Never had a problem. Can't remember the last time I broke a string...maybe 10 years ago? Could be longer.

[garyptaszek]

if no-ones said it already, solder your ball ends

[JSett]

if no-ones said it already, solder your ball ends

I'll solder your ball ends

[s_mcsleazy]

i found ernieball strings break way more down there on jazzmasters.

[Caddy65]

I have been playing Jazzmasters since I bought a new one right after high school graduation in the spring of 1965 and have never had an issue with string breakage with the stock bridges. In fact I haven’t broken a string on any guitar while playing since the very early 1960’s. And, no, I am not THAT lucky!

[Mondaysoutar]

Read through this thread there, really interesting. Luckily, I’ve never had any issues with string breakage on my Jazzmaster, or when I had a Jag or Jagstang. Will say, I tried fender bullets on my Jazzmaster, didn’t have any issues with breakage, but the bullet ends interfered with the downward motion of my trem arm. Was a real heid scratcher initially too, but the strings ended up being the issue. They’re designed for the Strat trem, going by what I’ve read. Oh, I use Thomastik Infeld 12 gauge flats with a plain G, love them.

[andare]

I popped high Es until I started soldering the windings near the ball end.
The other day I poppe the B string, it came undone at the ball end like OP's. Fender pure nickel. This was after some extreme bending, which leads me to believe it the string does twist at the ball end. No burrs in the hole.

[garyptaszek]

if no-ones said it already, solder your ball ends

I'll solder your ball ends

don't threaten me with a good time

[PapaB]

Lol.

[jondom22]

I've been soldering d'addarios for my Jazzmaster for a long time. The only other string I tried that I liked were the Curt Mangam standard nickel wound and those didn't have problems unwiding/breaking at the ball end, so need to solder for me.

[Biloxide]

I broke the high E, at the twist lately a new ernie ball set 10/46 on a jm home buid with 1°angle shim. Before it break suddenly, this f.....g string detune at 2 or 3 times after heavy bends in few days... crackboouhwing sound !!!
Because i'm newbie in offset, i didn't think at the beggining that it was the rope braiding upper the twist unwidding a little by little ...
Did you solder this rope braid section of the string and at the twist also ?

[ainm]

I assumed it was common knowledge that D’Addarios break easily? Granted, my experience may be decades out of date, but I stopped using them because I couldn’t stop breaking them. They still sound among the best to my ears, but I was sick of spending so much money on strings and never went back to them once I switched. I still enjoy playing guitars I bought with them on, but I’m still breaking them. I don’t remember when I last broke a string that wasn’t D’Addario, but I think it may have been a Fender 9 that came on a Jag. I was admiring the guitar flat on my lap when it just popped and nearly took my eye out. That may be the only string that broke since I switched.

When I switched, I was going crazy trying to figure out why they kept breaking. A few people asked me if I was using D’Addarios and suggested those as the culprit, so I’ve assumed it was common knowledge since. I decided to switch to Ernie Balls and haven’t had problems since. Back then it was trem-blocked Strats; today I play trem-locked offsets. For me, they just break - nothing to do with terms.

Saying that, I also remember discussing changing my string brand with my brother, and his experience was D’Addarios never broke and Ernie Balls broke all the time. I guess we each have a different style of playing and touch that may add stress to different parts of a string. Whatever mine is, it doesn’t play well with D’Addarios.