So the other day I unboxed a guitar to review for a mag. I noticed some funny overtones happening on the high E string that I couldn’t quite explain via any structural means. The neck looked straight. The nut, although a little rough-looking around the edges, didn’t seem to be interfering with the string’s vibration. The frets were good. The bridge saddle was fine. Let’s check the tuners…

Aha!

Wow! Someone’s actually tied a knot in a broken string! Very clever indeed! I’m not sure where along the line this happened – at the factory, at the distributor, etc. But whoever did it is a genius and they should share their knowledge with the rest of us. I did a little digging and I found this link which explains a similar technique for tying piano wire back together.

Here’s another photo of the knot. It seems pretty stable and I think I’ll practice doing this in case it comes in handy during an emergency.