strings being able to severely injure you

[freya181]

i have been stabbed numerous times by metal strings while changing them out, but one of my guitar buddies told me recently that he has heard once of strings snapping and slicing through bone. i don't believe this, but i still want to know exactly what is true. i've had the thinner metal strings break on me several times and they never whip at my fingers like a blade.

[Mr. Boston]

Oh man, my bass player in my lame high school "alternative" band (hey it was the mid 90's) broke a string and it flew up and hit him on his cheek, less than 1/2" from his eye. It bled like hell and he had a nasty scar there.

It's like, there was good music out there, we were the alternative.

[Strat Rat]

Been playing with guitars since the early eighties and have never seen or had
an injury due to a string besides sore fingers. Also never heard a first hand account of one.
Until just now,

However I still tend to not have my eyes within distance when I am first stringing a set.
Paranoid maybe? But I cant help it the thought of my eye being punctured is enough for
me to turn my head.

[fused]

Can't say that I've ever known anybody to be severly injured by a guitar string.
Of course, I don't play the bass so I'm not sure how much tension is actually on a bass.

I've broken a few along the way and they just usually go limp. Nothing fearful about that.

I've had them poke my fingers during a string change and they'd bleed like they were severed right off, but after a little pressure, an ambulance trip and some major surgery,
it was all fine in a few minutes :)

But anything greater than that, never heard of it until now.

fused

[freya181]

I've had them poke my fingers during a string change and they'd bleed like they were severed right off, but after a little pressure, an ambulance trip and some major surgery,
it was all fine in a few minutes :)

...seriously?

[Laws]

Like most I've had the occasional jab in the finger but that's about it.

Laws

[Fender Floyd]

i had my strings still sticking out of the tuners because I dont clip them all the way short till the strings get some time to set, anyway the guitar slipped out of my hand and a string sticking out of the tuner went right into my hand and hit the bone, but i have never had strings slice before.

[KeithB]

make sure you get a tetanus shot, if you haven't had one already.
even those little jabs can kill you if you get tetanus.

[fenderisgood]

Ive got a scar on my wrist from an acoustic 1st string (quote from muggee. "mike i bet you got that cut in bed last night right. meow.")

[Kulla]

an old guitar teacher of mine told me a story where he was tuning, and the string snapped and if he hasn't wearing glasses be probly would have lost some vision.

[spoonbadger]

double post.better make the most of it. dont do drugs kids....

[Sloppy J.]

Whenever I break a string it feels like it just went limp or something. I can't imagine a string having enough mass to do any slicing damage at the speed they would be shot at.

Those big bass strings just go limp too. Usually when I break a bass string its the core that breaks at the bridge and the outer wrap catches it even.

The stabbing with the string ends, I've had happen a few times before. Always with someone elses guitar, though. Since I'm anal about the way I string mine up.

Someone call the Mythbusters...

[spoonbadger]

i've poked myself and others rather nastily with the string ends at the string posts. i always cut 'em down really short, so if they do poke anything, its serious puncturage!. and yeah, i have the whole tuning/changing paranoia, but its a good kind of paranoia! the kind of paranoia that keeps pieces of flying metal from going into my eyes :D but what strings have been doing to me recently,especially if im playing a "dig in and get some strings moving" kinda solo, is hitting the edge of my hand, when i have it near the bridge ready for some muting........dont look at me like that! its a serious problem!!.......it really is ;)

[fenderisgood]

It does go limp on the electric, ive experienced that many many times. Since they usally break on high bends theres less tension and less room for it to accelerate. But the acoustic can break any where in my experience and has cut me 2 times. And they allready did a similar mythbusters to see if you can be choped in half by a construction cable. you cant.

[Priesty]

I can't believe there aren't serious injuries from people that leave the end of this strings sticking up from the tuners...I think it's just stupid...

The worst I find is the high G string on my 12 string, is so fine it gets nice and deep if you poke yourself in the fingers with it while changing them...then it bleeds for ages and ages. I've had a string go up under my fingernail too when changing them which wasn't too crash hot either. But never anything overly serious

[EmoBasher]

i sometimes get stung while changing strings, cant say that it bothers me otherwise id just avoid it. but it doesnt really hurt

my mate told me when he first started he did a slide on a thin string and he thought hmmm why is the string so lubricated... (it was blood) he didnt have calluses, he said as he was sliding he felt his finger sinking further into the string... still makes me shudder...

[1ZeroReapeR1]

Ever watch Myth busters? your guitar string won't cut through anything if a metal cable with tons of tension snapping can't even break skin. Your going to be alright, lol

[freya181]

Someone call the Mythbusters...

we were actually talking about making an account earlier to ask them about it. would've been funny for them to mess with guitar strings on their show. they do variations of similar experiments too.

[fenderisgood]

Ever watch Myth busters? your guitar string won't cut through anything if a metal cable with tons of tension snapping can't even break skin. Your going to be alright, lol

I think you got the episode wrong. It can severly injure or cut you but they were set up for a complete slice in half and also the pig doesnt bleed since its beeen dead for a long time. There was severe brusiing to.

[j00ky]

I always hoped that it was a common fear of having a string snap and take out an eye, I feel strangely validated by this post. All joking aside I've had the occasional jab from a string as well but have never heard of or seen any more serious injuries until this post..

[Strat Rat]

I always hoped that it was a common fear of having a string snap and take out an eye, I feel strangely validated by this post. All joking aside I've had the occasional jab from a string as well but have never heard of or seen any more serious injuries until this post..

You know the people that bug me are the ones who dont appear to have "the fear".
That I have seen. Its as if they dont even have the ability to imagine it.
I find i actually close me eyes for them, lol

Clearly these folk have a gaurdian angel or something cause they freak me out.

In fact from now on I will refer to this as phenom as "The Fear"
I suggest you all do the same:alien:

[FortePenance]

Once i was unwinding the string from the tuner and i dunno how but i somehow managed to get it stuck in my fingertips. My fingers are callused like most guitarists so it didn't hurt, but it was still rather odd.

[1ZeroReapeR1]

I think you got the episode wrong. It can severly injure or cut you but they were set up for a complete slice in half and also the pig doesnt bleed since its beeen dead for a long time. There was severe brusiing to.

ahh kk.. but still, a guitar string couldn't cut through your finger if it snapped, let alone break skin. Thats what I'm thinking at least

[Bluesaholic]

I think those myth buster guys spent a little too much time dressed like wizards and elves when they were little...

[freya181]

i was actually hit in the eye once head on by an uncut strung headstock. it had those string ciecles but some of the string tips were sticking out. it was my friend with his telecaster deluxe. luckily i didn't get stabbed but it hit my eye directly. he never apologized and never turned back to see if i was ok. he simply walked away. made me extremely mad.

[Strat Rat]

I think those myth buster guys spent a little too much time dressed like wizards and elves when they were little...

Actually when he was little the redhead was the kid in the "Dont squeeze the Charmin"
comercials. I thought that was pretty cool

[Keith]

Ive never heard of a guitar string slicing down to the bone before in all my 26 years of playing. It may be plausable though to cut the skin, but down to the bone?. I doubt it.

Sarah has some finger molds from halloween, and I can make up a gelitan finger and try a science experiment by placing the finger on the fret board and tighting up some old strings until they break under pressure and see what happens.

[Richie Sambora]

There was this on time where i was playing guitar in my room, and a string snapped and punctured my eye and out of pain i dropped the guitar and my eye ripped out from its socket.:D

[Sloppy J.]

But the acoustic can break any where in my experience and has cut me 2 times.

I've only broken a string once along the middle of the fretboard. Its always on the bridge or sometimes nut on a Floyd Rose guitar.

A friend of mine kept on snapping strings in the middle of his axe. Brand new Ibanez RG turned out it had burrs on some of the frets that were cutting the strings.

Ive never heard of a guitar string slicing down to the bone before in all my 26 years of playing. It may be plausable though to cut the skin, but down to the bone?. I doubt it.

I think that Fender Floyd was talking about a string puncturing him, not slicing him. I don't have a problem believing a string could poke you pretty bad, especially an unwound G. I am a little skeptical about the depth, but a little exaggeration is only human nature...double that if you're on the interweb.

[Strat Rat]

There was this on time where i was playing guitar in my room, and a string snapped and punctured my eye and out of pain i dropped the guitar and my eye ripped out from its socket.:D

Man thats rough Imagine if you took your guitar to band camp?

[Keith]

I think that Fender Floyd was talking about a string puncturing him, not slicing him. .Sorry, I was refering to the OP.

[schneefux]

Sarah has some finger molds from halloween, and I can make up a gelitan finger and try a science experiment by placing the finger on the fret board and tighting up some old strings until they break under pressure and see what happens.

that´d be soo cool. hey, make sure you make a vid of that and post it here :D
i always liked this "mythbuster"-show....:toohappy:

[logjon]

I've had a string go up under my fingernail too when changing them which wasn't too crash hot either

I feel your pain, makes it tought to play if it's on your fretting hand too. I do my best to make sure it never happens again.

[fenderisgood]

Trust me its rare but its happened to my cousin too where an acoustic string snaped by the sound hole and cut his wrist on the strumming hand. And i was strumming along with really old strings since there was a huge snow storm and couldnt get new ones like 2 years ago. Then it snaped scratched me but deep enough to bleed for a couple minutes and punctured through the side of my guitar. It snaped at the tuner BTW.

[Cizzie]

I am always afraid of my guitar.

[Livetorock]

yeah i cut my finger on my e string about a day ago. Very small and hard to see but I'll try to take a photo.

[rodderz]

none of the strings i've ever broken have moved more than a cm away from the fretboard