Thomastik Infeld Flatwound Strings Break While Restrining

[rob taft]

I wonder. Perhaps the recommended procedure for tying strings to the tuning machines does not work on T-Is.

Do T-Is require more red, green or teal silk to be looped around the tuning post before trimming off the excess?

I don't know how the T-I wound strings are terminated under the silk-wrapping. It just might be that the terminated end of it, just clear of the silk, does not like a sharp bend at the hole of the tuning peg. It wants to wrap around the outside (circumference) of it.

Just going out on a limb. Pass the silk-wrapped end under itself and bend it up at the silk-wrapped end. Wind on leaving more silk-wrapping on the tuning peg and wind the exposed string end on the outside?

Sorry if I am not making sense. Am not a technical writer.

I have been using TI strings for at least 15 years and I have only had thee strings break. All three were the unwound strings and were do to me over tightening the string. TI's appear to be less forgiving in that area. I quoted the post above because that is how I wind my strings. I don't put a crimp in the string and I never tie my strings. I sometimes wind a wrap over the other and always cut the excess strings off after I have wound them to pitch. Obviously the type of tuner may require a different wrap e.g. Fender slotted tuner. To be honest I can't imagine breaking an A string.

I use TI's primarily because they last a long time and have a more even or balanced tension than the corresponding D'Addario set.

[Dennis D]

Rather than gauge I think of tension.

That tension thing of the TI's got my attention too. So I did some digging.

According to the charts available , as a set, the TI JS 112 - 12/52 is 140#.

The Chromes - as a set, again 12/52 have a total of 155#.

But - - if you ' slim down ' the Chromes, and provide the same or close gauges to the TI's, the tension difference goes away completely. Again - the comp. w/ Chromes:
Their biggest tension advantage is in their 3 & 4 & 5 strings - which are noticeably thinner - - 19 vs 24, 28 vs 32, and 38 v 42. That fifteen pound tension difference goes away quickly. And the Chrome 50 is actually less than the TI 50 !

I thought there was some secret sauce, but now I'm not sure there is.

Now if you just gotta have that sound, I can completely understand.

More of my .02 cents worth.

Thanks to all !!

[2bornot2bop]

The luthier who taught me how to install strings said: "never tie your string around a tuner. Simply place a crimp (bend) into each string about 1" above its tuner and wind away."

I've never had a string come undone. And speaking of strings, I learned not to fiddle with my strings without wearing glasses.

[silverfoxx]

+1 to that 2b, likewise, I have had no issues following that
exact procedure for 50 years plus , have never tied strings
just adhered to that simple system, without string breaks,
or worse , having a string catch me in the eye. Very sound
advice.

[vinlander]

+1 on that 1 inch bend, I never had a problem doing so in the last 25 years (yeah I am not as experienced as most of you ;-)
Actually I can even remove them easily and put them back without wasting a set when I need to tinker on the bridge like adding an additional set of post screws for a higher sitting bridge like I did lately on the Tal

[Peter C]

I see I'm not the only one who would like to see a TI set in "standard" gauges (12,16,24,32,42,52). I know their thinking behind their tension-balanced sets and that they work for a lot of people, but there are at least two potential customers on this thread alone for a set with more beef where we're used to it, whether logical or not. Ironically, last time I checked, TIs were around the same price as Chromes here in Europe.
Oh, and if Thomastik happen to read this, make that a 53/54 6th, please - the plains can be swapped out no problem

[zigzag]

Every time I've tried to put a TI flat sixth string into a locking tuner, it has broken. Now, I wind strings 4 thru 6 around the post with just enough pressure on the locks to keep the tightening screws from turning.

[Leif_Olstrup]

I talked with Thomastik about it, sent the broken strings in and was generously re-equipped with 0.044 strings. Because the 0.044 string is built to be an E string with much lower tension than needed for A, my concern was that I tried something that wouldn't work by design. But Thomastik told me that the 0.044 should work as A without any problem.

It happened to me by accident with two consecutive sets, of heavy 15-56 LaBella flatwounds. Don't ask me how I did it, but by accidence I put on the D string inplace of the G string - and did it again after the first one broke, and sure thing the second one broke too. It seems to me that it is possible to break a string by overtightening it.

[Dennis D]

.......I guess I am guilty of overtightening the JS44 by using it out of position and therefore exceeding the manufacturer's recommended specifications, and thereby voiding the warranty...............


.....I just checked and their JS 39 does give a tension rating when tuned to an A, while the .044 shows only a rating when tuned to E......so, if this helps anyone else, good.....I could just as easily bought .039's to make up the sets....and this wasn't even mentioned when they e/m'ed me after the .044's failed.

...all in all, this was just a needless expense....

........if TI's research about placement / position / tuning is correct, then they should let the word out......maybe a note on those nice little white envelopes -- " Tuned, manufactured, assembled and packaged to be used and tuned as specified herein. "...." Tuning to a higher frequency note could result in catastrophic string failure and the subsequent aggravation associated therewith. "....

.....Wink wink......

[s11141827]

I know what's going on. I guess these Strings are designed to be installed in a particular way, they need to include instruction Manuals (they can also be downloaded as a separate PDF) so that they can be installed properly without any string breakage issues. I had that happen to me a few days ago when I was putting JS110 Strings on my Jasmine S35 because if they included instructions that I could follow to install them properly.