G string is unwinding at fret positions

danhan

My G string is unwinding at the fret positions after only a few hours of playing.

I am using Argentine 11's on a Gitane oval hole.

The other strings seem fine and there are no obvious rough spots on the frets.

Anybody have any ideas? Are these faulty strings, do I need a fret job, etc.

Thanks,

Dan

constantine

That happens to me as well but after about a month. I would replace the string, see what happens and if no better have your frets checked.

danhan

Thanks for replying. I did put on a new G string and the same thing happened within 6 hours of playing. Wore completely through the windings at the fret positions at the 4th thru the 8th fret.

Next, I changed the G string again, though this time to one from a set of Argentine 10's (as opposed to 11's). So far it doesn't seem to be wearing down after a few hours of playing, so we'll see.

djangology

your probably wouldn't be able to tell just by looking at your frets whether or not they would cause string un-windage but the fret where the string comes undone is probably the one that is cutting the string. my strings never ever unwind, even after 30+ hours on them.

BluesBop Harry

Dan,
I used to have that problem too with a Gitane... A good fret level will probably solve it

kimmo

danhan wrote:

My G string is unwinding at the fret positions after only a few hours of playing.

This is quite common. Since it's only G, you can replace it with a regular nickel-wound electric guitar string, maybe a little thinner gauge (.20 or .21). The sound difference is barely audible and it will last a lot longer.

Paganini

There's a difference in quality-level with the Argentines..
I recently have strings from another scource and now I have this G-sting problem as well, they are gone in a few hours, never had it before..

djangology

im not much of a "string bender". it could also be that if you bend your strings a lot, with a certain technique (trying to copy Stochelo??) , that you increase your odds of cutting the strings.

klaatu

Paganini wrote:

There's a difference in quality-level with the Argentines..

Argentine quality is indeed erratic (I assume that's what you meant). However, I never had this particular problem with Argies and also not with the D'Addarios I'm using now. I did try some Dell'Arte John Jorgenson strings early on, and the G strings would unravel as described within a week (interestingly, they provide a spare G string in the set). Same guitar with different strings - no problem, so it's probably not the frets in my case.

djangology

I noticed no difference whatsoever between the John Jorgeson strings and the Argies. In my lifetime of experience so far, of about 1 set of Argies per month and 5 sets of Jorgeson strings, they are both good brands and have long life without any unraveling problems.

I personally think its the guitar and the player, not the strings, which causes unraveling problem. Also, is the players fault for not setting the guitar up right and so really it's not even the guitars fault.

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.

BluesBop Harry

djangology wrote:

I personally think its the guitar and the player, not the strings, which causes unraveling problem.

I had the problem with a Gitane and it disappeared completely once i got my Dupont... Maybe it's the fretboard radius on some guitars that causes it.