Smashing D and G strings.

[WhiskeyJack]

I've been tasked with sorting out a problem on my brother's Epiphone Les Paul from across the country.

Now that he is back among all our friends who never left home and has his amp back he is jamming regularly again. He's Les Paul sat in the case for almost 8 years while he was dadding.

He called me Friday night really exhausted with his guitar. He says his guitar is chewing thru strings badly. He's breaking one to two strings per jam!!!! Always the d and the g. The breaks are happening at the bridge.

My gut is telling me he may need to smooth out his saddles on the tune o matic. There is probabaly some sharp pinch points on there where it has sat unplayed under tension for 8 or so years. The hardware is the gold hardware so going at it with file may put him off but it is what it is. That is all I know. He is supposed to send over some pictures of the bridge next time he goes to his jamspace.

Other bandaid fixes I can think of is trying different picks, getting some lube of some sort onto his saddles and bridge and see what that does first.

Any other suggestions?

Throwing out the batsignal to @muttley

[WhiskeyJack]

Another thought is maybe the angle from over the saddles to the tailpiece might be too much / too little???

[muttley]

If they are breaking at the bridge or the tailpiece then you are correct you need to look at that first. The angle over the saddle is irrelevant, the string needs to pass over the bridge smoothly. There is no extra tension in the string if you increase the break angle.

[WhiskeyJack]

If they are breaking at the bridge or the tailpiece then you are correct you need to look at that first. The angle over the saddle is irrelevant, the string needs to pass over the bridge smoothly. There is no extra tension in the string if you increase the break angle.

Ok cool thanks mutt. We shall do an inspection and see what see.

I'm guessing the gold hardware is just a plating so if we have to smooth over those saddles it will come with a sacrifice of asthetics correct?!

[Greg_L]

Yeah smooth the saddles. Pretty common problem with tune-o-matic bridges.

[Armistice]

Check he's using a sensible gauge as well and he's not windmilling 7s or anything like that. And as any filing off of the goldness will be covered by the string, it should be invisible.

[muttley]

If they are breaking at the bridge or the tailpiece then you are correct you need to look at that first. The angle over the saddle is irrelevant, the string needs to pass over the bridge smoothly. There is no extra tension in the string if you increase the break angle.

Ok cool thanks mutt. We shall do an inspection and see what see.

I'm guessing the gold hardware is just a plating so if we have to smooth over those saddles it will come with a sacrifice of asthetics correct?!

The gold on those things wears pretty quick or starts to pit. Very often it is actually the plating that can be a problem. Under gold plate you have a fairly heavy nickel plate and that can separate from the casting and crack. You can use a small round rat tail file to smooth out the groove but dont go too made as you cant put it back once you remove it.