supahjew

Anyone ever use guitar strings in lieu of cables? Seems like a good idea, could play some Beatles on a boring climb!

El Diablo Rojo

You can only use G strings on female specific bikes

DocRay

^^ no G-strings in Canada.

Moistfly

Guitar strings are too elastic and would uncoil rather quickly from the inner threads I think

DocRay

You could try using cosmic strings, they would certainly be strong enough.

https://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/gr/public/cs_home.html

supahjew

I don't know, my guitar strings stay in tune for a pretty long time, unlike my bike. On the highest chainrings, they're both still nowhere near an E, so must be a lot less force exerted.

Also, compare the price of a single string https://www.zzounds.com/item--DADWOUND ($1.25) to https://txcyclesport.com/Merchant2/me...ode=BDC_cables
(7.00) or $3 for a decent stainless steel one from my LBS. WHAT A RIPOFF!

Smoothie104

I play, and I've broken strings, I race, and never broke a cable...

Mo'Phat

The winding of a guitar string and cable are completely different. Guitar strings have a center core string, then another wound around it. If the center core breaks, the entire thing unravels. The only thing that keeps a guitar string from breaking is the tensile strength of that inner core.

Conversely, bike cables are cables.. meaning they are many small wires twisted to form a bigger and stronger cable. The advantage is that if one of the many strands breaks, the cable won't fail until they all break.

I play (and routinely break) bass guitar strings, and I've often thought, "Hey, bike cables won't break. Maybe I should string up my bass with bike cables."

They're really apples and oranges.

LA_Rider

You must be an aggressive player.

I’ve played bass for 30 years and have never broken a string.

Guitar is a different story, I break 'em all the time.

domestique

+1... I also play Bass and have never broken a string!

Mo'phat, are you a heavy slapper, pick player, or just buy cheap strings?

Moistfly

That's a better articulation of what I was trying to say ... The coiled wire is basically going to uncoil from the filament long before a bike cable would have problems. Also I'm not sure they sell guitar string that would be long enough to cable the derailleurs

goldfish

Don't feel alone, i've broken a bass string or two in the past as well(always E strings). Though not routinely. What kind of music do you play if you're routinely breaking bass strings?

krazyderek

no

Mo'Phat

To everybody:

In my youth (I'm 31..so when I was 18 and 19) I was a heavy popper. I just loved the sound, and I played in a pretty hardcore band and wanted to at least be heard by the audience. (precursor to Ryan from Mudvayne...but he kills.)

I routinely popped my G, D, and A, and only rarely broke the E. I was playing a Warwick with the brass Just-A-Nut, and whether that was the culprit, I don't know. I played with DR Hi Beams and Lo Riders, D'Addario's, and anything else I could afford at the time.

The only thing that may be different is that I have an allergy to Nickel and had to play stainless steel. Maybe they were more prone to popping loose, but it was either SS or copper. Copper was way too bright for me.

Now, I feel I've matured somewhat and been able to EQ myself into the mix better so I don't have to wank the hell out of my bass. I haven't broken a string in a year...but I haven't played in a band in a year either. Something about the last song of a 4 hour set makes me want to thrash something.

Yeah, bass strings for brake cables is a stupid idea.

Jazzy

I have to tell reading this post as a musician this is the oddest thread I've seen on this list till now.
And guitarstrings wouldn't work as cables. You can tear all of them if you grab it and pull hard. They are made for a certain tension: in an .11 diameter set the lawest E would take about 21 lbs to tear, A D G max 25lbs or so if its high finnish ribbon wound. The nickel wound can take less. A .13 set would take a bit more, but not much. I don't know how much lbs does a break pull, but I am rather sure it's more then that.

But take the risk, and have a D for the front break, a G for the back, a B and an E for a shifter and you'll be riding in Eminor.

Don Cook

I wouldn't think they're long enough for anything but the front brake. I haven't measured my stings, but even with the excess that you cut off, they don't seem near long enough. I also believe that guitar strings (particularily upper B & E) are significantly more "brittle" than shifter or brake cables for a bike.

pathdoc

I've broken about a dozen bass strings over the past 27 years of playing. Usually the D string at the bridge.

msheron

I play guitar and just can't see how they would hold up under the load. Maybe McGuyver could get it to work but I would think not.

Bob Ross

That's priceless...

Eatadonut

They're also stretchy. That right there makes them a terrible choice for shifting or braking.

tinrobot

Beware of harmonics while braking.

curiouskid55

Also minor problem , they would be to short.

urbanknight

^ Yep, the length was the first thing to cross my mind, but being a music teacher and a bicyclist I can't see how you could ever interchange them. They both cost about the same anyway, so why would you even want to try it? I seriously thought this thread was a joke.

BikerJoeP

E minor 7th to be exact

GuitarWizard

I prefer guitar strings on a guitar.