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Post new topic Angle of strings at end of changer
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Author Topic:  Angle of strings at end of changer
CrowBear Schmitt


From:
Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France
Post  Posted 3 Dec 2010 1:14 pm    
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my question is in the title
is Williams the only builder who does'nt have the strings at 90° after the changer ?
i bet that reduces string breakage huh ?



Last edited by CrowBear Schmitt on 4 Dec 2010 7:31 am; edited 1 time in total
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Jerry Overstreet


From:
Louisville Ky
Post  Posted 3 Dec 2010 1:37 pm    
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CB, I think Excel has a similar design. FWIW, I have played a Williams 400 for more than a year without a single broken string, so yes, it definitely reduces string breakage fer sure. Smile
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Chris Lucker

 

From:
Los Angeles, California USA
Post  Posted 3 Dec 2010 2:46 pm    
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Fifty years ago Al Udeen added it to two fingers on his 1957 Sho-Bud. I don't have a problem breaking strings -- and that guitar has a solid nut. The inside neck, by the way, is the E9 neck.
Al Udeen simply made a finger mount that fastened to the existing pin and attached to the finger with a single screw.
Fender 400s and 1000s had a very flat string angle at the mounting end as well.
Bigsbys had a relatively flat mounting angle.
Wrights had a relatively flat mounting angle, at least in the early changers I have in my collection.
Jon Frye made replacement fingers that were two piece, like an Emmons push pull, and had a flat string mounting angle. I have a ton of those fingers.


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Chris Lucker
Red Bellies, Bigsbys and a lot of other guitars.
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Lee Baucum


From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
Post  Posted 3 Dec 2010 8:46 pm    
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Bill Hankey has a device he calls the "Lucky 7". You can see it installed on the 3rd string of his guitar in a photo posted on this very old thread:

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CrowBear Schmitt


From:
Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France
Post  Posted 4 Dec 2010 7:28 am    
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thanx for your replies gentlemen Winking
keep 'em comin'

i notice Jagiella, german builder, uses the same concept



looks like Anapeg does too :



& Excel :

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Jonathan Cullifer

 

From:
Gallatin, TN
Post  Posted 4 Dec 2010 9:01 am    
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I would think that the angle over the changer matters less than the finger radius in the area that the string flexes. A smaller changer radius would require a greater angle change in order to pull the string the same linear amount during a raise, or vice versa during a lower. The smaller the radius, the greater the fatigue on the strings, and the greater likelihood of breakage.

If you look at all of the guitars is question (except the sho bud, which has a smaller radius), all of their changers are radiused very similarly where the string is actually bending during changer movement.

A linear pull changer with a roller bridge (for intonation) would probably be the best way to solve breakage issue. Its tonal impact is a whole different issue.
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Marco Schouten


From:
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Post  Posted 4 Dec 2010 9:12 am    
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Is there still a problem with the breaking of strings, with the new strings that are available nowadays?
Haven't broken a string for years on my Sho-Bud Baldwin Crossover. By the way, I'm using Frenchy's silent wound strings.
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