So, here's a scenario, let me know what you guys do:
It's 2 hours before your gig and a string breaks (melody or bass side of your stick). You do not have a fresh string set on you. You have enough time to swing by a Guitar Center to potentially buy a replacement for the night.
What can you get?
What do you get for melody and what do you get for a bass side string?

I always keep a full set of spent strings in my case, generally the ones I pulled off in the last string change.

With that said, in 15 years of playing Stick and gigging the total number of times I've needed a spare is zero.

I figured most people would respond this way, however, I really want to know what someone might do or has done in this scenario...?

I see where you are going with ProfQ, I like it. Don't know what it is about the Stickist but we seem to thrive on these "what if" scenarios.

I'm going with what Glen said. Its never happened in all the years I have been playing and I don't intend to let it. I carry an extra set, a stereo cable and a tuner in each case.

As a PM, I spend a good portion of my day assessing risk and I don't worry at all about breaking a string on a Chapman Stick. I've sat through Minutemen / Firehose sets where Mike Watt went through 3 G strings. 3 strings, and he'd slap em back on mid tune. It's a miracle to watch that guy do his thing.

If it did happen, and I didnt have an extra set, I would think back long and hard about this thread...

Good luck with that. I once tried to use a guitar string for the 5th string on an old ironwood Stick and it was too short to reach the tuning peg. And that was a short scale Stick. New Sticks are longer. If you figure that only the thinnest (shortest) outside strings on a Stick might break,you might get lucky with the length depending on which string you're talking about. Certain bass guitar strings might work if the gauge was right,the length was right and the string fit through the hole in the tuning peg - but then again those big strings never break. The other thing is maybe Stick string gauges are posted somewhere but I could never find them so the one time I tried a "civilian" string, I had to pull out a micrometer and measure the thickness myself. Moreover I have yet to see someone go out and create a data base of which guitar and bass strings will work on all the different size Sticks in all the tunings. I'm sure as hell not going to be bothered when all that has already been done by Emmett. That's why I stock up on Stick strings.

If you can get a new string long enough to clear the nut you can take a second string (a used one works) and attach it to the new one giving enough length to reach the tuner. It is a bit tricky but I've seen it done for the 2nd or 3rd string (can't remember.)

The key was to cut a length off the old string from the ball end. Run the new string through the ball, double it back on itself and twist. This is the same thing they do to connect the ball end.

I agree with the others that breaking a string is unusual. The ones I've broke (2 in all this time) have always been the first string upon first installation. Still don't know why that happened.

I never broke a string in 4 years and each time I change my strings I keep the old ones in my soft case. I would'nt know what to do not having the old ones. I guess guitar strings are not long enough...

In the three years I have been playing th Stick seriously I have never popped a string. Nevertheless I always carry a new set in the case. Back when guitar was my main axe I frequently broke strings and since I play vintage style Strats with floating whammy I always kept a ready-to-go backup guitar on stage.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk