kinky strings
 

I have a weird problem on a folding-neck guitar. When I open it (especially in the dark), the high E string will sometimes kink. And when it kinks, it breaks immediately, with almost no pressure applied, breaking before I notice the kink. Is there a string less prone to kinking?

Not sure exactly what's happening but I suspect it's not kinking when you open it, but when you fold it. I suspect it's folding too tightly and creasing then when unfolding, the string is tensioned and fails there.

Where is the break occurring? Is it midway near the fold point?

Is this really the best place to talk about our kinks?

I always liked "You Really Got Me."

kinks
 

The strings get into a circle when folded, probably midway down. Then when you straighten the neck, you get a kink. If I did this during daylight, I'd have a better chance of seeing it, but I am more apt to play this around campfires, in the tent, in darker places. I need to learn to feel for a comping kink.

But it would be better to switch to strings which are less prone to such things - if they exist.

Speaking of Ray Davies and the Kinks, his new record Americana is excellent. He recorded it with the Jayhawks as his backing band.
http://pitchfork.com/news/71102-ray-...poetry-listen/

I doubt there is any brand of steel string that would be less prone or more resistant to kinking. This is a technique issue - you need to be careful when folding and unfolding. I owned a Voyage-Air for a couple of years, folded it often to demonstrate the break-down capability, and never had this happen.

I dunno, maybe this needs to be directed to the Vasectomy section?

H

As a farmer, I've used two types of "high tensile" wires for fences. One slightly softer than the other. The softer one comes in 8 inch diameter spools. You can gang them up and do a six line fence in one pass. The harder and more common type comes in two foot diameter spools and you typically have to do a six strand fence in 6 passes.
You really have to pay attention to tightening up the softer spools. Both want to revert back to their spool diameter. But when tightening up the softer wire, it will go down past it's 8 inch 'till it kinks and breaks itself. The harder wire flips out of a loop at about two feet to straighten itself out.
Can that be similar to higher/ lower tension strings?

Before folding (a Voyage-Air) , I wrap a velcro band around the neck somewhere around the 10th fret, then I curl the strings into the soundhole. That may solve the problem or you could use a heavier E string (ie. use a B string) and see if that works.

best,

Rick

Rick beat me to it. Try this. Works fine and I've never had the issue you mentioned. Good luck!