Help with A String Breakage on Risa Solid Tenor!

NoJive · Apr 23, 2020

So I've had my Risa Stick/Solid tenor for a couple weeks,and twice I've taken it out of the case to find the A string broke. The first time it broke, I lubed the metal rod with some lithium grease, as I do not have anything like Nut Sauce. That did make tuning much easier, but didn't stop the string from breaking, as I found it broke again last night. It seems to be breaking between the rod and the tuners, and not at the rod like I suspected. Is there anything else I can do?

anthonyg · Apr 23, 2020

The usual number 1 suspect in these cases is a rough/sharp edge in the nut slot for the string that's breaking.
This is the first place to look.

besley · Apr 23, 2020

Breaking the A string was why I sent my Risa back. If you do a search you'll find lots of comments on this problem. Most folks seem to be able to solve it with a combination of sanding down the slot and edges on the rear roller (or "rod") and lubrication. Be sure to do a good job smoothing over the edge of the slot, since the string rests on that edge when it leaves the roller to head to the tuner.

Croaky Keith · Apr 23, 2020

Personally, I've only broken one 'A' string through slightly rough tuning - these ukes need to be tuned slowly/carefully.

But as said above, there was a period where people were finding lots of string breakage, & the solution seemed to be chamfering the edge of the slot on the roller.

NoJive · Apr 23, 2020

besley said:
Breaking the A string was why I sent my Risa back. If you do a search you'll find lots of comments on this problem. Most folks seem to be able to solve it with a combination of sanding down the slot and edges on the rear roller (or "rod") and lubrication. Be sure to do a good job smoothing over the edge of the slot, since the string rests on that edge when it leaves the roller to head to the tuner.[/QUOTE

I did chamfer the edges a bit, so we'll see how this goes. Since the rod/nut itself doesn't rotate, it would seem like all of the slots would've been angled with the strong path...but what do I know.

NoJive · Apr 23, 2020

What was weird about mine, is that it didn't break during tuning, both times it broke while in the case.

NoJive · Apr 23, 2020

Is that roller nut removable? Mine seems to slide a bit side to side, but seems locked in.

Kenn2018 · Apr 25, 2020

NoJive said:
What was weird about mine, is that it didn't break during tuning, both times it broke while in the case.

The same thing happened to me with a resonator I had. I would bring it up to tune, play it a bit and then put it on a stand overnight. The next morning the A of the new nylon strings would be broken. I replaced it, and the same thing. Always at the string hole in the reso plate. I took a small file to the slot and that fixed it.

I assume that the new strings were abraided by a sharp edge and as they stretched and then contracted a little from the cooler night air, it broke.

Unless you have it strung with Aquila Reds. They had a tendency to do that on their own unless stretched slowly and carefully.

I think there have been several discussions here and in the comments after Baz' review about this and the RISA Stick. I've been fortunate that I haven't had this happen with mine.

Help with A String Breakage on Risa Solid Tenor!

NoJive

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anthonyg

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besley

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Croaky Keith

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NoJive

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Kenn2018

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