G string is unwinding at fret positions

danhan · August 2008

I went through a phase where I was getting unraveled strings during the year of 2003 but I quickly figured it out and it's never happened since.

You mentioned frets and bending strings as possible causes. What else did you figure out? When I replaced the .023 Argie G string with an .022, no more unravelling. Not sure why.

BillyBob · August 2008

I play a DG-250 and have sort of the same issue. I'm using Galli's this go-around. They don't unravel, but the outer winding is completely cut through at each fret from the 6th to the 13th, exposing the core. Could it be the guage of the outer winding? It's not a very large diameter, and I suspect it would be susceptible to abrasive failure if you like to bend alot. (which I do).

I also noticed that at each fret on both the D and the G that the windings are raised. I have never noticed that phenomenon on any of my other guitars. Is it a fret issue?

The Galli's sound pretty good and they're half as much as Argentines, which also had the G wear out on the last set that I used.

Who dresses frets in the Tacoma area that I can trust my baby to?

Or maybe I'll just buy a bunch of G's.

langleydjango · August 2008

It's different batches of strings. Not frets or guitars. The strings are silver coated copper, and the windings are relatively soft. The G string has the thinnest windings. Every once in a while you'll get a batch of strings that having winding material that is softer than usual and the G string will go quickly.

I have put countless sets of strings on my guitars and the only variable is the manufacturing quality of each particular batch. Usually I can go for very long periods of time with no problems but every once in a while...

Heavy vibrato will obviously help things along.

If you buy a few sets of strings from the same source over the course of a few months you're probably getting sets from the same manufacturing batch. Gypsy strings don't sell in remotely the same quantities as regular strings.

It's a price we sometimes pay for tone.

Bones · September 2008

I have the same problem all the time. I can only get one gig out of a set of gypsy strings before the G is shot. I only use them on special occasions or I would go broke.

Maybe I'm using the wrong brand???

danhan · September 2008

Maybe I'm using the wrong brand???

Bones,
I've had this happen with Savarez several triems and with Guadalupe once. What strings are you using?
Dan

Bones · September 2008

Dan,

I'm not sure what brand since I have used different one's and I don't want to falsely label any one as bad.

I think I'll have to try an experiment and buy a few different brands to see which one outlasts the others (and has the best tone).

What I started doing was buying a few extra G strings since it wears out in one gig. That way I get a few gigs out of a set before the D goes south.

Thanks,

Mike

The Los · September 2008

This unwinding thing happens to me all the time no matter which guitar or brand of strings I use. Although I never notice any difference in the sound. I always assumed I just had a strong grip or something. It looks ugly but if the sound quality is the same then there's no problem.

Craig Bumgarner · September 2008

My take is there is no one answer to this. The frets matter and the strings matter.

I normally go indefinitely on the two Duponts I've owned with no unraveling, but this morning I noticed my Argentine 11 G string is unraveling at the 6, 7 and 8th frets after my last string change about two weeks ago. Nothing has changed on the guitar. In this case I think it is the string and this forum thread seems to suggest something has changed in Argentine 11s.

On the other hand, my Gitane 255 used to go through G strings weekly no matter who's brand string and it was only by switching guitars that this stopped. In this case, it was clearly the frets.

Worth noting the hardness of the copper wire used to wind the string interacts with the hardness of the fret. Some fret wire is harder than others. Harder wire, more string wear, less fret wear and visa versa.

Craig

djangology · September 2008

Which may also explain why I think Argentines are so reliable. I just finished up going through a batch of 30 strings that I bought all at once years ago and I didn't have trouble with any of them. I do admit that its possible I just got a good batch of strings.