bad strings, ball-0ends popping off on tune -up.

[lonnieboy]

Hi Chuck to be honest I've never even heard about it happening before . But from what I've read sounds pretty common. I'll check on my other forums

[tonequester]

Greetings lonnieboy. Tonequester here.

I started the original post. I got an e-mail notification you had replied, so I thought I'd intriduce myself to you and say I'm pleased to "meet" you. I haven't had the problem since having the 4 consecutive problem sets. However, I moved up to Blues/Jazz, .011's from mostly .0095's. I've had no problems since. I used to run web-fed printing presses
and knowing how Deluxe Check operated their presses makes me think that the problem was probably machine specific, or perhaps even operator specific. Such a problem would probably be hard to catch in quality control. The bad strings did't look any different than any other d"Addario string I've ever used. It'll be intersting to know if you get any confirmation of this problem being "wide-spread" from your other forums. I haven't given up on d"Addario's yet, and I hope that they send me the free sets as they said they would, almost three months ago. Anyway, hope to trade opinions again here sometime. have yourself a great day. Tonequester.

[lonnieboy]

Hi Tonequester; I put the thread onto the other forum about 20 minutes ago. So far I've had 9 replies 5 say yes and it's the D'Adarrio string. Mostly all say it's the 10's. One fellow had problems with Ernie Balls one guy had 4 sets do it to him. Not everybody has checked in of course as we have members from around the planet. Plus others are probably at work or not logged in. I'll keep everybody appraised of the progress as time goes on. But it appears to me that the D'Addario's suck. One fellow said it happened with a set of GHS he had bought them online. He sent them an email and they sent him a new set of strings. Then there was one guy who said he had never had that problem but he was a left hander and that left handed strings have better quality control :0)

[David Schwab]

"A pair of powerful spectacles has sometimes sufficed to cure a person in love." Fredrick Nietzsche.

You get a thumbs up for the Nietzsche quote!

[lonnieboy]

Hi Again Tonequester; Thought I would check back in to let you know the latest. The thread is still alive on the other forum. Seems most everyone there has had problems with D'Addario strings. One guy said he contacted the manf. they offered to send him a set of strings that wouldn't come apart buut wanted 50cents extra for them. Can you believe that? Regards Lonnie

[tonequester]

d'Addario's suck !

Hi Again Tonequester; Thought I would check back in to let you know the latest. The thread is still alive on the other forum. Seems most everyone there has had problems with D'Addario strings. One guy said he contacted the manf. they offered to send him a set of strings that wouldn't come apart buut wanted 50cents extra for them. Can you believe that? Regards Lonnie

"Greetings, and death to our enemies". Dan Akroyd.

Greetings for real lonnieboy. You know, after I contacted them the first time, they e-mailed me that they would replace 4 sets of my choice guage for free. After about 6 weeks and nothing done, I e-mailed them again. They had requested serial numbers, and I gave them the numbers above the bar code on the "box". I later found out from my dealer that the serial numbers were printed on the inner bags. Hell, that's the first and only thing I ever throw away. I suspected then that I'd not be hearing from them again. Well, after a couple a more weeks passed, I e-mailed them again. this time I reminded them of their promise and told them that I would go to any length to "slam" them on the forums I participated in, and I'd tell everybody I know that plays about their bad quality and rotten customer service. Man, did that get their notice. I got a quick reply. The Bas--- actually sent me an e-mail copy of our first discussion and acted all broken-hearted that I would even have the thought that they would not replace those strings. He almost had ME crying for giving him the "riot act' ! Now another
month gone by,....no strings, and more reports of the same problem. They can keep their free strings. They'd probably crap out on tune up just like the original
bad sets did. They have lost a 20+ year devoted customer, and like I said before, I'll go out of my way to "rat them off" for this every chance I get, both online
and in person. I might put a big sign in my front-yard. America needs to wake up to the fact that their is an over-all crisis in the quality of goods purchased these days, and the fact that real customer service is a thing of the past. I'll have to check and see if d'Addarios are still made in the U.S. One of the chief problems is that we are forced to buy so much Chinese garbage nowadays, most by way of Walmart. 30 years ago I never thought I'd be glad to see "made in Japan", but
the day has come. I've got a Blackstar HT-1R "hybrid" practice amp. It's the third new amp in a year. The first died at 4 months. They don't eve fix them under warranty, they trash them and replace. The replacement came with a non-functioning reverb, so it went straight back after waiting for it for 6 weeks. Another
6 weeks and I had number 3. The music store I frequent had checked it out this time before I picked it up. When I got it home, I noticed a "clunking" on the inside when jostled around. I thought "some idiot left his tools on the inside". I said screw the warranty and opened it up. The speaker was mounted to only one of the 4 threaded mounting studs. On that stud the nut was only screwed down half way, and they had used heavy duty Lock-Tite on it. I had to use a Dremem cut-off disk to cut that stud cause the nut was impossible to remove. Then I mounted the speaker with regular wood screws coated with wood glue because of the
cheap___ wafer board cab. No baffle board, just mount the speaker to the frickin' cab. I can't blame the Chinese though. This amps made in Korea. Add Korea to "the list'. Hey, didn't mean to go off, but it seems like this kind of crap is all too routine these days. Hey, thanks for replying and updating me on the situation.
I'm going to pick up some Ernie Ball's for my next change. I've HEARD they are good strings. I guess I'm going to find out. Have a great one Lonnie.
tonequester........prehaps I should change that to...Stringquester !

[rjb]

"Greetings, and death to our enemies". Dan Akroyd.

I'd wager the effort it takes me to solder the windings on a set of strings is less than the effort it took you to write this tirade. ;^)

[big_teee]

several of the local musicians here, and one of the guitar stores is big on SIT Strings.
I haven't tried them, but that may be an another string option.
Does soldering the strings do anything to the temper of the steel?
We may need to get Joe Gwinn in here to check on the Temper issue!
T

[Chuck H]

Most austenitic steels temper below 700F (which is a pretty normal temperature for a soldering station in use). I can't say about the actual solder temerature though. I know the melting point, but not the actual temperature of the flowing solder. A spring temper (as in BOIINGGG) is probably where most guitar string alloys are tempered. Since guitar strings aren't stainless (we all know this) it's likely the tempering temperature is between 500F and 600F for a spring temper. So... If you just fire up the gun and solder you MAY damage the temper. Probably not. But turn down your temp (if you have a station and not just an iron) and it's almost certainly safe. But I haven't googled anything about the actual steel or temper for guitar strings. That could be a long and virtually fruitless effort. So all the above is just speculation.

[tonequester]

wonder about nickel

Most austenitic steels temper below 700F (which is a pretty normal temperature for a soldering station in use). I can't say about the actual solder temerature though. I know the melting point, but not the actual temperature of the flowing solder. A spring temper (as in BOIINGGG) is probably where most guitar string alloys are tempered. Since guitar strings aren't stainless (we all know this) it's likely the tempering temperature is between 500F and 600F for a spring temper. So... If you just fire up the gun and solder you MAY damage the temper. Probably not. But turn down your temp (if you have a station and not just an iron) and it's almost certainly safe. But I haven't googled anything about the actual steel or temper for guitar strings. That could be a long and virtually fruitless effort. So all the above is just speculation.

"A nickel isn't worth a dime these days'. Yogi Berra.


Hey Chuck, I too wondered about temper/annealing of guitar strings. A Googling turns out to be as fruitless as you suspected. I did find that per the : Ferroalloys & Alloying Additives Online Handbook that nickel steels(used to make some strings) has suggested tempering temperatures that range from 400 degrees F. to 1650 degrees F. I know that some strings are nickel plated as well. I have no idea how this would be affected, if any, by soldering. However rjb doesn't seem to have any problems doing so. Just a fyi. Have a great day. tonequester.

[tonequester]

tonequester here.

Greetings rjb. I hope that you realized by my quote from Blues Brother Ackroyd, that my "tirade" was at least half B.S. The poor quality issue does seem to be on the rise all around us though. I'll bet you can solder six strings in less than 2 minutes. I'm a 2 finger typer, so no wager against your soldering prowess. Now if you can't do it in two minutes, you would never make it in the electronics assembly field. Why would you care though. You'd have to move to the Orient. Have a great day.
The often "carried away" tonequester.

[GregS]

I've used D'Addario strings (specifically the XL110 set that is .046 - .010) for over 25 years and never had a problem like this. I did have an issue close to 20 years ago where the wound E and A strings were breaking near the bridge just from regular playing. I had a few sets do this shortly after installation but never again since. Possibly there's been some bad batches made recently. I haven't actually bought a set in over a year as I bought one of those 10 packs and haven't nearly got through them yet. I only change strings every few months or so. I'll be on the lookout for bad strings after hearing this.

Greg

[lonnieboy]

I've used D'Addario strings (specifically the XL110 set that is .046 - .010) for over 25 years and never had a problem like this. I did have an issue close to 20 years ago where the wound E and A strings were breaking near the bridge just from regular playing. I had a few sets do this shortly after installation but never again since. Possibly there's been some bad batches made recently. I haven't actually bought a set in over a year as I bought one of those 10 packs and haven't nearly got through them yet. I only change strings every few months or so. I'll be on the lookout for bad strings after hearing this.

Greg

Thanks for your input Greg; This has not been a problem with me either. I bought a set of d'Adarrio strings about 15 yrs ago never bought another set. I don't remember why not just didn't. I'm kinda helping a forum brother Tonequester, he's had a horror story with them. It were getting close to resolution though. Keep your fingers crossed. Lonnie

[jbltwin1]

I have used nothing BUT d'addarios on my personal guitars for the last 30 years. Never had a problem until the past two years. The girl in our band of idiots uses 9's and I have to re-string her several guitars for her(Jeez). Anyway, I use 10's and have never had a problem. Her last 4 sets have had the 9 unwind. It sucks and I actually told her to get another brand. I really kind of figure they are having them made by someone else and they are just junk. I emailed d'addario and of course they say "we have not had that problem with anybody else". The statistical improbabilities of THAT are staggering. No I won't stop buying their 10's but their sets with 9's-nope.

[lonnieboy]

I have used nothing BUT d'addarios on my personal guitars for the last 30 years. Never had a problem until the past two years. The girl in our band of idiots uses 9's and I have to re-string her several guitars for her(Jeez). Anyway, I use 10's and have never had a problem. Her last 4 sets have had the 9 unwind. It sucks and I actually told her to get another brand. I really kind of figure they are having them made by someone else and they are just junk. I emailed d'addario and of course they say "we have not had that problem with anybody else". The statistical improbabilities of THAT are staggering. No I won't stop buying their 10's but their sets with 9's-nope.

I tell my friend Tonequester on here has had terrible luck. I have the vp of marketings email address he claims no probs. Too many problems with too many people to suit me. I know of at least ten people plagued with this problem. Beginning to think they are cheap imports. Course the vp says there counterfeit. Who to believe? I believe my fellow forum guitar players over a company executive who's job is to defray any negative feedback as quickly as possible. Too many people on too many forums have had a heads up. Lonnie