String Breakage - muting new strings

[Kent Swafford]

Ron Nossaman wrote:

>* I do, very much as you described, and I'm surprised they don't break the
>unison with the single un muted string too. Usually, when I get the call for
>that future tuning, I find that some helpful nimnal has picked the mute out
>and wandered off with it. That's when I hear all about how the fix didn't
>hold. If we didn't get so much "help" in the field, life would be simpler. 

It is a mystery to me why people think it is appropriate to remove these 
mutes, but removal is the norm. I have taken to putting in two mutes (I 
use action cloth), one on the tuning pin end of the speaking length to be 
visible and available for removal, and another stealth mute at the bridge 
end of the speaking length. Two mutes can provide very good damping, but 
if one happens to get taken out, there is still at least _some_ damping.

Kent Swafford