Guitar strings Am I the only person who cares

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I feel along in this interest. Is there anyone who is fascinated by guitar strings? What interest me about them is the amount of tension they can withstand.

I improvised a cigarette lighter once with a 'B' and a 9v battery. I like the sound and texture of fresh strings on my guitars

No, I find them oddly fascinating too.

That's why my first guitar is a 12-string.

They can't hold lots of tension over a period of time - I've broken more than my fair share of heaver gauges.

Only by the sound...

Has anyone tested the tension of guitar strings. What I mean by that is what was the highest note you tuned it too before it snapped.

I used to play in alternate tunings a lot, now I play mostly classical guitar. But, when i was playing steel string acoustic in alternate tunings, the highest I went on the third string (usually tuned to G) was a G-sharp - after that it was very tense, and often broke when i was tuning it up to that tone. On the fourth string (usually D) I could get that up to about an E-natural before it would feel really tense and often snap during tuning. I think the highest I ever tuned the 5th string (usually A) was a C-sharp. Of course the likelihood of it breaking will depend on how old the strings are and how often you tune them down and up. The more often you tune up and down the more likely it is to break during tuning. I have no idea how far you could go on a fresh set if you just decided to tune them up until they broke. I just found that the above tones were the highest I could go on the wound strings, and it seemed like I was pushing it to get them that high. They were very tense. There are some really nice tunings when you can get those strings up there though.

I tried to learn how to play the Banjo once. (A heirloom left to me by my late grandfather).

During instructions, I was given metal picks for the strings. I was worried. (After all this is my late grandfathers Banjo- he died in 1980), I was worried the strings would break.

He said relax, there made of steel. (Still somehow, metal picks on metal strings- might cause them to snap???) Couldn't afford more than a dozen lessons- still something i'd like to take up in the future.

Has anyone tested the tension of guitar strings? How high have you tuned them?

No. I'm too scared of it snapping. It's like blowing up a balloon until it pops. I can never do that.

[Moved from The Haven to Random Discussion]

Da223, since the first version you created in The Haven was misplaced and the second version here in Random Discussion was a duplicate, I've moved the original thread here and added the posts from the later version to it.