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In three hours I managed to break 4 strings. Hey I'm gettin good at this at least.
I keep a log of things I'm doing to the violins. Here are two days of log entries:
Reset Jane sp (sound post)
Rose sp 51mm out 53mm in midfoot 3mm south
Vanessa moved sp to verticle. Put parchment on e.
Rose and Vanessa moved sp to better
stained Jane edges
Not happy with Jargar
Jane moved sp still little whistle
Jargar a = not good sh + tinny = no quality
Vanessa took off a, put on old Yehudi=off,no good,tried Huayin again=off, no good, chinese group best so far but no quality
Jane is beautiful, warm, happy
Rose 53mm sp out, 51 in still not warm but closer=play it in. sp loose not tight
Vannessa 53mm sp out 51 in =still tight try 50
better need more improvment
Moved sp Rose=better
Adjusted all 3. Moved bridge to 13" from nut, then moved sp
Bow E was 67 gr. sanded to 62 gr. Put on linseed oil. Can take off another 2 gr.
Broke Prelude a on jane took all off, put on hih.
Broke d on Jane, put on china group d
Rose Prelude off, old Cecilio on
Out 50mm sp, in 52mm.
Broke d on Rose, replaced with china group
Broke g on Rose replaced with china group.
I'm using a heavy bow 69 gr. to play in vibrations and I'm being seriously rough with the violins, but it seems to be working. Jane sounds much better.
I got out of bed today happy because I get to play with violins.
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I broke three G strings putting them on one time two years ago. I felt so lost at what I was doing wrong. IT made no sense. I have had a pretty healthy fear since then, but haven't broke one since.
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
and I broke another one. Toni, I'm breaking these while playing and I'm very glad I have the little foam ear inserts because I am seriously loud.
whoops there goes another d. That's the last one from the china group. Me thinks I oughtta go get some more. They cost $1 for a set of four,,even less if ya buy more. But I'm not really trying to break these, I'm just trying to help the violin.
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Are they all breaking in the same place? Have you been remembering to lubricate the nut and bridge with some graphite (pencil "lead")?
It just seems like there must be some reason for that many strings to break, one right after another.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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It sounds like you might have a damaged nut or possibly you are not connecting them correctly in the tuners (if you have them). Be sure you are not tuning your BFF's (hehehe) to an octave higher then they should be. If your ear is not in tune to the octave, You might be over tightening the pegs/strings. It is VERY easy to do this by mistake. It can also damage the face of the violin by cracking it at the soundpost.
"I find your lack of Fiddle, disturbing" - Darth Vader
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Oh gosh..
I found out that day what I was doing. I am guessing you are not doing this. For some reason I was holding down the string while tightening..(
). so I was ripping them at the thread up at the pegs...
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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Could be that they only cost .25 a piece is why they keep breaking.
Opportunity is often missed because it wears suspenders and looks like hard work.
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Yeah, I was thinking that too, but he also broke at least one Prelude.
Another possibility is all the string swapping and the loosening and retightening for soundpost adjustments and etc is weakening the strings prematurely.
Where the string passes over the bridge, there is enough of an angle that tuning up the string puts a kink into it. Strings (think of just the core, for the wound ones) are very thin pieces of steel and metal fatigue sets in fast. Even just loosening them and re-tightening, the string can rotate a bit and end up bending the kinked spot in a somewhat different direction, and the effect is like breaking a piece of wire by bending it back and forth repeatedly, only faster because they are so thin and often tempered in one way or another.
Another thing I'll mention, in case it is possibly useful, is that getting the sp adjustment sounding good with one type of strings is really only going to be optimal as long as you are using that set or an identical set (or combination of strings from sets). Different sets/manufacturers will have somewhat different tensions, and that is part of what soundpost adjustments are adjusting for. So spend a lot of time getting it sounding as good as possible with one brand/set of strings and it may sound like #%&@ with a different brand/set, until you repeat the whole process.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
I tried to respond yesterday but was not able to get the reply button to cooperate. There is nothing wrong with the violin or the strings, guys. It is just me. I was really, really rough with the violins, purposefully. And it worked. When I began Jane had no vibrations on the bottom plate when playing the e string that I could feel and now she does. The other strings are vibrating the plate more also.
I could now gain the same amount without breaking the strings, but until I broke them I wouldn't know that, so I am a happy man.
But just so you know, 2 broke at the nut, 3 broke at the bridge and two broke under the bow. I was playing three strings together very loudly at times. The g string was sounding badly flat and was fun to watch and the g and d together had a rapid click sound which may have come from the bridge.
There is nothing wrong with the cheap china strings. They are useful. They have a good sound, bright, but not a quality sound. I would not have done these experiments with Obligato.
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Oh.. now i get it. I wasn't reading what you were clearly saying. Cool that you could do the experiment and super cool that you are please.
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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Imagine CPO thought you had issues. obviously WE didn't. Sheees, some peoples children. LOL 
I'm glad you eluded us in your thoughts and that it was intended.
"I find your lack of Fiddle, disturbing" - Darth Vader
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