Hey Stickists,

I'm having trouble getting the 1st string to pitch without breaking.

On the Alto I'm using the 1st string in either Greg or Bob's Extended tuning. When approaching the High A, a fourth above "guitar high E", the string pops.

This is first time I'm having issues changing strings.

Any suggested "secrets"?

Thanking everyone in advance for assistance.

- RAH3

Try with 0.08. It should work fine. From what I remember in the SE string set, it is even thinner. Rather, however, it will be hard for you to buy one single.

mahabresq,
Thanks for quick reply.
- RAH3

For both the "Greg's" and "Bob's" tuning, the highest string is a .007. I've used the "Greg's" tuning for many many years and it's extremely rare that I break a string. If you use a .008, you'll likely break tuning up to that high A.

For the rare occasion that something happens, I keep extras that are not from SE. D'Addario makes a high carbon steel .007 in their NYXL set. If you search for D'Addario NYS007 (that's the singleton) you should find it. I know Strings By Mail has the singletons (http://www.stringsbymail.com). I'm kind of partial to them as they're local and their owner is a really good guy.

I nabbed about a half dozen around 10 years ago but have only used one.

gpoorman,
Thanks for the reply.
- RAH3

gpoorman,

Thanks again for the referral to Strings by Mail. Great company. Excellent customer service and communication. Your suggestion of the NYS007 singles really did the trick.

- RAH3

Interesting fact about plain steel strings ...

For a particular pitch and vibrating length (in this case, A4 and 25"): As you alter gauge, tension and 'yield force' (the maximum tension the string can withstand) both vary in exactly the same way, both are proportional to the cross-sectional area of the string.
This suggests that for a particular pitch and vibrating length, all gauges are equally breakable.
(Although, there might be some real-world factors that slightly alter this behaviour.)
This would mean that the choice of gauge is only determined by tension preference.

So it seems a .008 is not necessarily more breakable than a .007, it will have more tension, but also more ability to withstand tension, it will have a different tone, and perhaps more volume.
I suspect the choice of .007 in the official Alto string sets is more due to a preference for low tension than reliability (i might be wrong).
It might be worth trying a .008 to see how it behaves, and to discover your preferred tension.

A4 over 25" is very close to the practical limit for steel, so needs careful setup, and a high strength steel (such as D'Addario NYXL) is helpful.

I reliably broke the 0.008s with the tuning I use until Emmett started sending me 0.007s. That was before I started buying the NYXL strings as spares. I have broken 0.007s but ... maybe ... twice in ten years.