Amazing Gra e
December 27, 2021 4:47 PM Subscribe
Did it hurt when you fell from Heaven, baby?
Cause it sure as hell hurt when I fell out of my chair at the sound of your damn harp string breaking.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:14 PM on December 27, 2021 [3 favorites]
Cause it sure as hell hurt when I fell out of my chair at the sound of your damn harp string breaking.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:14 PM on December 27, 2021 [3 favorites]
It's always that surprising.
Happens at ~0:43 for anyone else who can't stand the suspense.
posted by curious nu at 5:24 PM on December 27, 2021 [2 favorites]
Happens at ~0:43 for anyone else who can't stand the suspense.
posted by curious nu at 5:24 PM on December 27, 2021 [2 favorites]
Oh God, I feel this in my bones. My first acoustic guitar, purchased when I was 15, had a tiny spur in the plastic bridge on the B string, and every single time I was close to getting that sucker in tune it popped on me with a deafening explosion. It didn't help that it was 30 miles to the nearest music store for new strings and I was a self-conscious young musician, ramping up my anxiety that much more.
Finally, some wise and gentle guitar tech found the spur, I got the bridge replaced, and that guitar bestowed lovely music upon the world for years. But holy shit the PTSD from those popping strings will haunt me to my grave.
posted by vverse23 at 5:45 PM on December 27, 2021 [3 favorites]
Finally, some wise and gentle guitar tech found the spur, I got the bridge replaced, and that guitar bestowed lovely music upon the world for years. But holy shit the PTSD from those popping strings will haunt me to my grave.
posted by vverse23 at 5:45 PM on December 27, 2021 [3 favorites]
BOING
posted by aubilenon at 5:53 PM on December 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by aubilenon at 5:53 PM on December 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
That harp string broke just as my nerve was about to.
I was thinking 'oh my god where are your safety glasses?' for the nth time when it finally let go, and it strikes me now that there could have been a cascade of breaking strings if things had been just wrong, because the tension exerted by the broken string would have to be at least partially taken up by the ones that remain, depending on the material and construction of the body of the harp.
posted by jamjam at 5:58 PM on December 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
I was thinking 'oh my god where are your safety glasses?' for the nth time when it finally let go, and it strikes me now that there could have been a cascade of breaking strings if things had been just wrong, because the tension exerted by the broken string would have to be at least partially taken up by the ones that remain, depending on the material and construction of the body of the harp.
posted by jamjam at 5:58 PM on December 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
"I was thinking 'oh my god where are your safety glasses?' for the nth time when it finally let go,"
After a violin's E string cut my hand when I was changing strings, I change strings with glasses on. Pretty freak accident, but I Did Not Like That, and I could visualize the face-hit all too clearly.
The only thing I've ever snapped while actually playing is a bow, and to be fair that was while playing Wagner on upright bass. I went to dig in nice and hard on the low E string during a fortissississimo, and the bow just SNAPPED. It not only startled me, but my stand partner ducked away from the shrapnel, which made the entire section flinch, and it sounded like the bass section suddenly hiccoughed as everyone missed a measure.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:25 PM on December 27, 2021 [3 favorites]
After a violin's E string cut my hand when I was changing strings, I change strings with glasses on. Pretty freak accident, but I Did Not Like That, and I could visualize the face-hit all too clearly.
The only thing I've ever snapped while actually playing is a bow, and to be fair that was while playing Wagner on upright bass. I went to dig in nice and hard on the low E string during a fortissississimo, and the bow just SNAPPED. It not only startled me, but my stand partner ducked away from the shrapnel, which made the entire section flinch, and it sounded like the bass section suddenly hiccoughed as everyone missed a measure.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:25 PM on December 27, 2021 [3 favorites]
My mum called that an "aeroplane lip" (as in big enough to land one on it)
posted by freethefeet at 6:26 PM on December 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by freethefeet at 6:26 PM on December 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
It reminds me of that time when my kid was trying to tune his E string on his guitar but he had headphones plugged into his amp and didn't hear me screaming "you're tightening it too much" or see me running in slow motion to stop him but I didn't get to him in time and
posted by goatdog at 6:37 PM on December 27, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by goatdog at 6:37 PM on December 27, 2021 [7 favorites]
I have had a bandsaw blade snap on me and I found this more terrifying.
posted by bondcliff at 7:06 PM on December 27, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by bondcliff at 7:06 PM on December 27, 2021 [2 favorites]
After a violin's E string cut my hand when I was changing strings...
I had that happen tuning up right before a duet at a state orchestra competition. My conductor loaned me the E right off of his own instrument and also a Band-Aid (he was prepared!). Ironically, I was probably more relaxed during the actual duet as a result.
posted by Foosnark at 7:12 PM on December 27, 2021
I had that happen tuning up right before a duet at a state orchestra competition. My conductor loaned me the E right off of his own instrument and also a Band-Aid (he was prepared!). Ironically, I was probably more relaxed during the actual duet as a result.
posted by Foosnark at 7:12 PM on December 27, 2021
Just gave my kid a guitar for Christmas and this happened. "Hey Daddy I'm tuning it!" "Wait that sounds a bit too tight there..." "No it's not!" Snap! "Oh."
posted by technodelic at 8:57 PM on December 27, 2021
posted by technodelic at 8:57 PM on December 27, 2021
The tension in knowing a string is going to snap is unbearable.
I once was tuning up my upright bass after a few months of ownership and several weeks of not touching it at all. As I tuned it, the E, the lowest string, snapped at the nut.
I had begun my musical instrument life a decade earlier, playing guitar in high school.
Thing #1 to know: The tension on a guitar string, depending on the gauge and whether it is acoustic or electric, is sort of in the range of 40 to 220 lbs. An upright bass E string has about 3300 lbs of tension on it, so when one end is suddenly liberated, it moves with a briskness.
Thing #2: As a guitar player, I was accustomed to paying about a dollar or so for a replacement string. Replacing a single string for my upright was, iirc, $230.00.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:07 PM on December 27, 2021 [5 favorites]
I once was tuning up my upright bass after a few months of ownership and several weeks of not touching it at all. As I tuned it, the E, the lowest string, snapped at the nut.
I had begun my musical instrument life a decade earlier, playing guitar in high school.
Thing #1 to know: The tension on a guitar string, depending on the gauge and whether it is acoustic or electric, is sort of in the range of 40 to 220 lbs. An upright bass E string has about 3300 lbs of tension on it, so when one end is suddenly liberated, it moves with a briskness.
Thing #2: As a guitar player, I was accustomed to paying about a dollar or so for a replacement string. Replacing a single string for my upright was, iirc, $230.00.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:07 PM on December 27, 2021 [5 favorites]
Happens at ~0:43 for anyone else who can't stand the suspense.
If you hit '7' while in the player, it jumps right there.
(Stop hitting it over and over, you sadist.)
posted by CaseyB at 9:37 PM on December 27, 2021 [2 favorites]
If you hit '7' while in the player, it jumps right there.
(Stop hitting it over and over, you sadist.)
posted by CaseyB at 9:37 PM on December 27, 2021 [2 favorites]
"Thing #2: As a guitar player, I was accustomed to paying about a dollar or so for a replacement string. Replacing a single string for my upright was, iirc, $230.00."
Haha, yeah, I pulled an old violin out that I hadn't played since high school during the pandemic, and I bought new strings for it, Thomastik Dominant, which is like a quality intermediate student brand, but nothing ridiculous. I was like, ugh, this is going to be a chunk of change. And the music shop was like, "Okay, that'll be $45." And I was like, "for one string?" And they were like, "No, for the whole violin." That set runs you $300 on a bass (and I think the nylon core is weak and prone to breakage at the tension levels a bass puts on a string, and you really have to spend more for something that'll last).
(I also think they sound decent, and fairly warm, on a violin, even a kind-of crap student violin; but I think they tend to sound weak and thin on a bass, and lack in warmth and resonance. But I like a really deep, warm, growly bass, and I really hate it when they sound bright and sprightly in the upper register. Get a fuckin' cello!)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:50 PM on December 27, 2021
Haha, yeah, I pulled an old violin out that I hadn't played since high school during the pandemic, and I bought new strings for it, Thomastik Dominant, which is like a quality intermediate student brand, but nothing ridiculous. I was like, ugh, this is going to be a chunk of change. And the music shop was like, "Okay, that'll be $45." And I was like, "for one string?" And they were like, "No, for the whole violin." That set runs you $300 on a bass (and I think the nylon core is weak and prone to breakage at the tension levels a bass puts on a string, and you really have to spend more for something that'll last).
(I also think they sound decent, and fairly warm, on a violin, even a kind-of crap student violin; but I think they tend to sound weak and thin on a bass, and lack in warmth and resonance. But I like a really deep, warm, growly bass, and I really hate it when they sound bright and sprightly in the upper register. Get a fuckin' cello!)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:50 PM on December 27, 2021
I am now seeing choice of "Get lucky" as a choice of track to cover by a harpist , in a new light.
posted by rongorongo at 10:02 PM on December 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by rongorongo at 10:02 PM on December 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
My first guitar was a cheap ancient nylon string guitar with half the strings missing, so my dad's friend restrung it. With steel strings. Steel strings have vastly more tension than nylon, and the whole guitar has to be constructed with that in mind, which this one wasn't. It was beside me on my bed, and the whole top of the guitar basically exploded, with the bridge flying up and just missing my face.
posted by kersplunk at 11:24 PM on December 27, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by kersplunk at 11:24 PM on December 27, 2021 [4 favorites]
You know that scene from Elf where Buddy is testing the jack-in-the-boxes? That’s what this video reminded me of.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:33 PM on December 27, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:33 PM on December 27, 2021 [4 favorites]
We have an upright piano as well, that my dad picked up basically for free at an auction, which came with broken dampers and the top of the metal plate that the strings are attached to pulled away from the frame. I fixed the dampers with a kitchen knife, and my dad put a metal bar on the back and big metal bolts through into the plate to keep it held together.
We found a local piano tuner, and he'd only tune it to a full step below concert pitch for safety. I can't imagine what would happen if one of the bolts failed. Every time I sit down to play it I feel like I'm in the control room of a nuclear reactor.
posted by kersplunk at 11:40 PM on December 27, 2021 [2 favorites]
We found a local piano tuner, and he'd only tune it to a full step below concert pitch for safety. I can't imagine what would happen if one of the bolts failed. Every time I sit down to play it I feel like I'm in the control room of a nuclear reactor.
posted by kersplunk at 11:40 PM on December 27, 2021 [2 favorites]
Violin soloist's E-string breaks during a performance of the Tchaikovsky violin concerto
(Worth watching. It's pretty incredible how it gets handled.)
posted by kyrademon at 1:05 AM on December 28, 2021 [14 favorites]
(Worth watching. It's pretty incredible how it gets handled.)
posted by kyrademon at 1:05 AM on December 28, 2021 [14 favorites]
kyrademon that's amazing! Love watching a group of competent people problem solve.
posted by freethefeet at 1:39 AM on December 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by freethefeet at 1:39 AM on December 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
Me explaining this to my partner who can't see the screen: "It's the panda video but with a harp"
posted by antinomia at 2:25 AM on December 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by antinomia at 2:25 AM on December 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
kyrademon: "
(Worth watching. It's pretty incredible how it gets handled.)"
I've seen Formula 1 pit stops that are less elegant & efficient!
posted by chavenet at 3:39 AM on December 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
(Worth watching. It's pretty incredible how it gets handled.)"
I've seen Formula 1 pit stops that are less elegant & efficient!
posted by chavenet at 3:39 AM on December 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
I found this page explaining some of the tricky design choices an mechanics in a harp. Brand new harps have a soundboard that is flat and a new set of strings that need to be stretched until they reach mechanical stability. The set of strings exert a force of about 1200 pounds - and gradually - over a couple of months - the force makes the soundboard go from being flat to "rising up" in response. Get everything right and you have a great sounding instrument - but if the soundboard is too flat the instrument will sound dull and if it is too thin it will explode (becoming a "very expensive toothpick"). Some "thin vertical cracking" in the lacquer on the soundboard is considered normal apparently. Yikes.
posted by rongorongo at 4:26 AM on December 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by rongorongo at 4:26 AM on December 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
It's kid of weird how scared folks are of popping strings. It can be startling, and I don't think it's impossible to be injured, but after playing stringed instruments for over 30 years, and having my share of busted strings, it's not nearly as dramatic as "get out the hazmat suit" level of risk. Instruments and strings aren't usually elastic enough to make them go shooting around wildly like a rubber band when they break. Wound strings often seem to break in the core, leaving the winding intact, resulting in a string just suddenly going slack, despite the pop.
Hell, I've even had a bandsaw blade break on me. A huge DoAll metalworking bandsaw. When the blade breaks, it kind of just stops. Not much reaction at all. Hardly even makes a dramatic "pop".
I am wary of loose string ends bobbing about. And I have been bitten by strings many times, typically an end slightly sticking out the end of a tuning peg, while still securely attached to the instrument.
posted by 2N2222 at 5:52 AM on December 28, 2021
Hell, I've even had a bandsaw blade break on me. A huge DoAll metalworking bandsaw. When the blade breaks, it kind of just stops. Not much reaction at all. Hardly even makes a dramatic "pop".
I am wary of loose string ends bobbing about. And I have been bitten by strings many times, typically an end slightly sticking out the end of a tuning peg, while still securely attached to the instrument.
posted by 2N2222 at 5:52 AM on December 28, 2021
Was slightly disappointed that it sounded exactly the same as I imagined it would.
posted by farlukar at 6:07 AM on December 28, 2021
posted by farlukar at 6:07 AM on December 28, 2021
And here's a mid-song break and switch from Stevie Ray Vaughn.
posted by klanawa at 8:04 AM on December 28, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by klanawa at 8:04 AM on December 28, 2021 [3 favorites]
hurdy gurdy girl, I can't decide whether the "instrument" part of the story or the "cranking a jack-in-the-box" angle of your reference is more eponysterical, but there's DEFINITELY something there
posted by adekllny at 8:09 AM on December 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by adekllny at 8:09 AM on December 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
Replacing a single string for my upright was, iirc, $230.00.
Yeah, bass strings in general are pretty pricy. I've restrung a couple of the electric basses I own (and "play", by which I mean "flail rhythmically at the strings"), and each time it's run me around $45-$55 for lighter-gauge sets.
Of course, it doesn't help that I use semi-exotic half-round/"groundwound" strings that only come from a couple of vendors.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 3:01 PM on December 28, 2021
Yeah, bass strings in general are pretty pricy. I've restrung a couple of the electric basses I own (and "play", by which I mean "flail rhythmically at the strings"), and each time it's run me around $45-$55 for lighter-gauge sets.
Of course, it doesn't help that I use semi-exotic half-round/"groundwound" strings that only come from a couple of vendors.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 3:01 PM on December 28, 2021
Happens at ~0:43 for anyone else who can't stand the suspense.
Nooooooo the suspense was like the best part.
To this day one of the accomplishments I'm proudest of - for certain values of "accomplishment" and "proud" - was snapping one of the bass strings on our upright piano.
I was 15 or 16 and screwing around playing Jerry-Lee-Lewis-style boogie woogie with the necessary heavy left hand one afternoon - which was definitely not what I was supposed to be practicing but by that point I could get away with it because I think my parents figured, "Well, at least he's playing the thing" when out of nowhere
CRASHSPROOIIINNNNNGGG!!!!!!
I seriously thought my mother had fallen down in the kitchen with an armful of pots and pans. So I stopped immediately and called out to her and when there was no answer went prowling around the house looking for her and when I found her in the laundry room or somewhere at the other end of the house I asked, "Hey did you hear that loud crash?" and of course she was like, "No, what crash?" So I poked around a little more and didn't see any obvious disasters so I went "Hunh" and shrugged and went back to the piano and started playing again and got to that note - an "A", I think - and the piano went "dissonantCLANKBUZZ."
Which is how I figured out what the horrible noise had been.
posted by soundguy99 at 4:10 PM on December 28, 2021
Nooooooo the suspense was like the best part.
To this day one of the accomplishments I'm proudest of - for certain values of "accomplishment" and "proud" - was snapping one of the bass strings on our upright piano.
I was 15 or 16 and screwing around playing Jerry-Lee-Lewis-style boogie woogie with the necessary heavy left hand one afternoon - which was definitely not what I was supposed to be practicing but by that point I could get away with it because I think my parents figured, "Well, at least he's playing the thing" when out of nowhere
CRASHSPROOIIINNNNNGGG!!!!!!
I seriously thought my mother had fallen down in the kitchen with an armful of pots and pans. So I stopped immediately and called out to her and when there was no answer went prowling around the house looking for her and when I found her in the laundry room or somewhere at the other end of the house I asked, "Hey did you hear that loud crash?" and of course she was like, "No, what crash?" So I poked around a little more and didn't see any obvious disasters so I went "Hunh" and shrugged and went back to the piano and started playing again and got to that note - an "A", I think - and the piano went "dissonantCLANKBUZZ."
Which is how I figured out what the horrible noise had been.
posted by soundguy99 at 4:10 PM on December 28, 2021
I was replacing a metal guitar string once when it snapped and the end went into my hand, so it's possible to get injured.
I watched the violinist and Stevie Ray, thinking the guitar was a better instrument for that to happen, as there are more other strings to work with.
I was actually surprised to see Vaughn swap out the guitar during the vocals, because I once saw a local guitarist in my town break a high-E during a solo and he just calmly moved up the neck on the B-string. He used his vocal break to get the broken string out of the way and finished the song like it was no big deal. I don't know if anyone else in the audience even noticed.
posted by MtDewd at 7:21 AM on December 29, 2021
I watched the violinist and Stevie Ray, thinking the guitar was a better instrument for that to happen, as there are more other strings to work with.
I was actually surprised to see Vaughn swap out the guitar during the vocals, because I once saw a local guitarist in my town break a high-E during a solo and he just calmly moved up the neck on the B-string. He used his vocal break to get the broken string out of the way and finished the song like it was no big deal. I don't know if anyone else in the audience even noticed.
posted by MtDewd at 7:21 AM on December 29, 2021
« Older bello | Singing Lake and Dragon’s Mouth Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by njohnson23 at 4:51 PM on December 27, 2021