Ernie without the ball !!!

[ESBlonde]

Had a gig Saturday where I filled in for some mates at a charidee gig whilst their guitarist is suffering gaulstones Anyroadup I restung a couple of guitars for the occasion (I don't gig regularly atm) and struggled to get the top E on one guitar to stay in tune. After a couple of tricks ended up with the tie method on the capstan with no luck. Suddenly the ball end come right off the new string. Ah! that'll be it then, Ernie ball-less. Don't remember this happening before, not that I usually use EBs on my guitars. Luckily I had a spare 0.10 rotosound just for such eventualities (rather than split another set up. Anyone else suffered this?

[ICBM]

Yes, many times. Probably not as a significant proportion of the number of EB strings I've ever fitted, but I think noticeably more than other brands.

Several brands have quirks like this. Elixirs have a habit of breaking at the machinehead if you have to slacken the string off, for example. I have no idea why!

[BucketheadRules]

It may be because Ernie Balls are really awful strings.

Chuck a new set on and they're nice and zingy-sounding, then within a couple of hours' playing they're disgusting and practically fit for the bin. IME anyway.

I don't like any strings which aren't Elixirs really, but I think Ernies are the worst by a big margin.

[thereformant]

I quite like ernie balls, never really experimented much with different string brands though (as opposed to guages).

[beed84]

It may be because Ernie Balls are really awful strings.

Chuck a new set on and they're nice and zingy-sounding, then within a couple of hours' playing they're disgusting and practically fit for the bin. IME anyway.

I don't like any strings which aren't Elixirs really, but I think Ernies are the worst by a big margin.

I have this issue with D'addarios. They're completely knackered by the next day. EBs are fine strings for me, but prefer Dunlop. They're the best strings I've used.

[ESBlonde]

EBs are not my strings of choice but I couldn't get my preferred brand in the gauge that suits me/this guitar so a friend made up a few sets from singles and I was grateful for his efforts.

Funnily enough for this guitar I am suited to Fender 10-38, the guitar has plenty of grunt with that. Pyramids on the 335 and anything light and phospher bronze on the Koo Stick.

[richardhomer]

I have experienced the unravelling EB problem a lot. I even used to solder the wrap on the plain strings to stop it happening. Then I changed to D' Addarios, which sounded better, lasted longer and didn't break...

[ianpdq]

I have used EB for years with no problem there are a lot of fake strings around which could be the cause of the problem

[bptank]

I've never had a problem with EBs, but I may experiment with some brands just to see how well they're made

[boogie man]

I was a EB fanboi for years, but the last batch I bought had rusty top E and B's straight of the packet. I've switched to D'addarios now.