Two firsts in One week

[TWilson]

After being on this forum for a couple years, I'm fairly certain that I would be lumped into a group that would be considered "Elder Statesmen." ( Think johnt ) Nothing to do with my ability to play a guitar and certainly not for my technical knowledge. I've played around with an acoustical guitar for over 40 years mostly for my own enjoyment but, nevertheless, I've put in the time. I say all that to say this. In this one week, I broke a string on my SJ-200, put it away, grabbed my J-45 and played it. The next day I snapped the same string on the J-45. So, that's the first time in my life that I've broken a string on two guitars in one week. That's the first thing. The second thing is something that I've never done before either. And, no, Cunk, it doesn't have anything to do with Emmylou Harris. What I did, this Saturday morning was to re-string 2, count 'em, 2, guitars. I put a set of D'Addario EJ-19's on my

SJ-200. They are mediums on the low end and lights on the high end. Thank you John Lee. On my J-45 I put a set of Earthwood (Ernie Ball) Medium/Light 80/20 bronze. I played that one for an hour and then went and watched college basketball. They sounded great. Very responsive and the sustain was noticeable. (Normally I don't notice anything.) My fingers got a bit sore but I hadn't been playing religiously the past couple of weeks. They seem a bit "hard" to me but, like I said, sound great. Bright but not "blingy" just very energized. ( I know, I cant' describe sounds at all.) In a few minutes I'm going to play the SJ-200 and check out John Lee's new favorites. Anyway, since this is a monumental occasion for me I thought I'd irritate you all with it. Does anyone else have a really interesting story like mine that they'd like to share with the group?

[ksdaddy]

I never break strings but.....

 

In '86 I was jamming with some other no-talents (we were trying to put a band together). I had run out of D'Addario XL110s for the Telecaster and all I had left in my shop was Dean Markley (which I hated but sold regularly) and some Fender strings. I restrung it with the Fenders and went to jam. Over the course of the afternoon four of them broke.

 

And in the "I can't believe I was that $%*# stupid" dept: Same Telecaster, different day. I wiped the strings down after playing and saw a lint ball on the high e string. I tried to pick it off there and it wouldn't come off. About that time I fired up a Camel and swiped the lit Zippo over the lint ball to burn it off. Pa-Twannggg!

 

Zippos and thin unwound strings don't match.