Beware of failing ferrules

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

This is a new one for me. I've had at least half a dozen string-through solid body gigging guitars over the last 55 years, but this has never happened to me before. I was always wary of the plastic ferrules that came in my Raines Tele 7. They looked and felt flimsy, but I never anticipated that they'd deform from the pull of the ball ends. This morning, I started to practice and 2 of the strings were about a full step flat, which has never happened before. I tuned up, practiced, and put it back on its hanger. But tonight when I took it down to try an idea I had, the D was again at least a half tone flat. Turning the tuning key had no effect, so I assumed the core had broken. But when I looked at the bridge, I saw that the string had come up so far that it was well away from the saddle.....and then I heard the sound of plastic dropping on the floor. I looked down and found this next to my foot -


Both the G and D ferrules were deformed and cracked to the point of being unable to hold the string. They all look bad, and I can't believe I was gigging with an instrument that was this close to a failure I couldn't fix on stage. I ordered new metal ferrules from Amazon. But I now realize that I'd have been SOL if this happened on a gig. I never thought to carry spare ferrules, but I'll do so from now on. My ESP, the Raines, and my Kubicki Express are string-throughs, although only the Raines came with plastic ferrules. I've had it about 4 years, and it has about 150 gigs on it (which should not have taken out the ferrules). I'll now loosen the strings and check the ferrules every few months. If I get another guitar with plastic ones, I'll immediately replace them with metal.

The more experience you get, the more you find out how little you know!

[2bornot2bop]

Beware of falling Chickens from the sky too. I had 2 lost Roosters in my yard recently. They stayed, in a driving rain, searching for food. I only had Oat bread. They ate it as if it was their last meal ever.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Beware of falling Chickens from the sky too. I had 2 lost Roosters in my yard recently. They stayed, in a driving rain, searching for food. I only had Oat bread. They ate it as if it was their last meal ever.

We had the same problem, but they ate all the kibble. We knew something was wrong because the cat was suddenly out of tuna.