Mens Hats And Accessories

Strings Keep

Why do my tennis strings keep breaking at the crosses rather than at the mains?

I thought the mains were supposed to break first. I just upgraded to Prince Hybrids and after only 2 weeks, I broke the crosses. What’s up with that? I keep breaking strings, so any suggestions? I know lower guage, maybe use kevlar strings..

It actually sounds like the hybrid is doing its job. The point of the hybrid is that you get more durable mains, so they don’t break as easily. Well, the mains aren’t breaking, so it’s working.

Maybe the cross string in that set is just a little too soft for you still. Try going to something a little more durable for the crosses, and see if that helps at all. If not, then you might move to a 15L or 15 gauge string instead (possibly just for the crosses).

I wouldn’t jump right into kevlar though. And when put in a hybrid, the kevlar strings are normally used as the mains. Since your mains aren’t lasting to the point of breaking right now, there’s no need to put kevlar on the mains. And If you put kevlar on the crosses, even keeping the same mains as you use right now, it will not be pleasant to hit with that setup.

Also, what kind of tension are you using? If you’re using a higher tension, you’re going to break strings faster. Not much you can do about that. And you aren’t alone in this experience. There was a guy on our high school team who always used a hybrid setup. I don’t think I ever saw him break a main. It was always his crosses that were breaking. It’s not a bad thing. But I would think that you should be able to find a setup that will last a bit longer than 2 weeks.

Silverplated Green ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ Necklace $20.99 This handmade glass tile necklace is a beautiful way to express your personal style. With the words, ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ on a green background, this piece of jewelry will add a meaningful touch to any wardrobe.

Silverplated Pink ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ Necklace $20.99 This handmade glass tile necklace is a beautiful way to express your personal style. With the words, ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ on a pink background, this piece of jewelry will add a meaningful touch to any wardrobe.

Flexible Flyer Swing N Glide III Swing Set $144.04 Encourages kids to get outside and be active with this Flexible Flyer Swing N Glide III outdoor playset. This swing set features a slide, air glider and kid comfort swings to keep kids busy for hours.

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Sterling Silver Four-leaf Clover Necklace (Mexico) $24.29 A stylish four-leaf clover is specially preserved with resin in the pendant on this necklace to keep its natural color and fresh look. Handcrafted with sterling silver, this piece of jewelry hangs from a silverplated snake chain.

Flexible Flyer Play-A-Round Fun Swing Set $169.99 Encourages kids to get outside and be active with this Flexible Flyer Play-A-Round Fun outdoor playset. This swing set features a slide, swings and a see-saw to keep kids busy for hours.

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Universal Silicone Noodle String iPod/ MP3 Lanyard $2.49 Keep your electronic device and accessories looped with this universal string lanyard String is easy to secure with open-ended loops A perfect bundle for your electronic accessories

Sterling Silver Bouquet of Flower Clear Round Necklace (Mexico) $21.99 A beautiful bouquet of flowers is specially preserved with resin in the pendant on this necklace to keep its natural color and fresh look. Handcrafted with sterling silver, this piece of jewelry hangs from a silverplated snake chain.

Silverplated Blue ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ Necklace $20.99 This handmade glass tile necklace is a beautiful way to express your personal style. With the words, ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ on a blue background, this piece of jewelry will add a meaningful touch to any wardrobe.

Sterling Silver Forgetmenot Flowers Medium Oval Necklace (Mexico) $34.19 Three lovely forgetmenot flowers are specially preserved with resin in the pendant on this necklace to keep its natural color and fresh look. Handcrafted with sterling silver, this piece of jewelry hangs from a silverplated snake chain.

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Sterling Silver Bouquet of Flower Medium Cross Necklace (Mexico) $33.74 A beautiful bouquet of flowers is specially preserved with resin in the cross pendant on this necklace to keep its natural color and fresh look. Handcrafted with sterling silver, this piece of jewelry hangs from a silverplated snake chain.

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Beat Strings – Fang in Rain * $8.01 Disc 1:Truth, TheIn The NightMornings Were Never Good To YouMy MedicinePhone Call To My Second WifeLose A DisguiseNothing Could ExplainMachines Keep The RhythmSlug OgreFind A LoveFul…

Sterling Silver Forgetmenot Flower Mini Oval Necklace (Mexico) $19.49 A beautiful miniature forgetmenot flower is specially preserved within resin on this pendant to keep its natural color and fresh look. Handcrafted of sterling silver, this piece of jewelry hangs from a silverplated snake chain.

Acoustic 38-inch Guitar Kit $36.99 Make music with a classic acoustic instrumentGuitar comes complete with bag and extra stringsFeatures pickguard to keep guitar protected

Buffalo Tools Electric Chain Saw Sharpener $43.03 Keep your electric chain saw operating safely with a 120-volt/60 Hz sharpenerBuffalo Tools chain saw sharpener has a 4200 RPM grinding speedPower tool has a 7/8-inch arbor

Sterling Silver Elder Flower Small Necklace (Mexico) $20.99 A beautiful miniature elder flower is specially preserved within resin on this pendant to keep its natural color and fresh look. Handcrafted of sterling silver, this piece of jewelry hangs from a silverplated snake chain.

Sterling Silver Rose Bouquet Heart-shaped Necklace (Mexico) $30.29 A beautiful miniature rose bouquet is especially preserved with resin in the pendant on this necklace to keep its natural color and fresh look. Handcrafted with sterling silver, this piece of jewelry hangs from a silverplated snake chain.

Sterling Silver Snow White Flower Tear Drop Necklace (Mexico) $20.99 A beautiful trio of snow white flowers is specially preserved with resin in the pendant on this necklace to keep its natural color and fresh look. Handcrafted with sterling silver, this piece of jewelry hangs from a silverplated snake chain.

Sterling Silver Snow White Flower Small Oval Necklace (Mexico) $18.49 Two beautiful snow white flowers are specially preserved within resin on this pendant to keep its natural color and fresh look. Handcrafted of sterling silver, this piece of jewelry hangs from a silverplated snake chain.

Sterling Silver Single Forgetmenot Flower Necklace (Mexico) $21.59 A beautiful forgetmenot flower is specially preserved with resin in the pendant on this necklace to keep its natural color and fresh look. Handcrafted with sterling silver, this piece of jewelry hangs from a silverplated snake chain.

Sterling Silver Sunflower Small Oval Necklace (Mexico) $19.99 A beautiful miniature sunflower is specially preserved within resin on this pendant to keep its natural color and fresh look. Handcrafted of sterling silver, this piece of jewelry hangs from a silverplated snake chain.

Sterling Silver Single Mini Red Rose Flower Cross Necklace (Mexico) $20.99 A beautiful mini red rose flower is specially preserved with resin in the cross pendant on this necklace to keep its natural color and fresh look. Handcrafted with sterling silver, this piece of jewelry hangs from a silverplated snake chain.

Boiling Guitar Strings…Have You Tried String Soup Lately?

Have you ever heard of boiling your guitar strings? I can remember the first time a bass player came up to me and said, “I boiled my strings today.†I would have paid good money to see the expression on my face when that was said. Since that time, I heard from countless players, particularly bass players, who boil their strings. Is it fair to say that many players are actually aspiring to be chefs? Or, maybe they are just really hungry and feel the need to cook up a batch of round wound soup!

The practice of boiling strings is not a new concept to players who live on a budget and need to spark new life into their strings. At first this might seem silly. Why not just go out and buy a new set? If you are a bass player who owns a couple of five string basses, then you know that four or five sets of strings will cost a Hamilton or two out of your wallet. If your tone preference is towards the bright and crispy clean end of the spectrum, it will take some string maintenance to keep it there. This is particularly true if you frequently are bringing on the funk with a full blown slap-a-thon every time you play. The list price on a package of premium cryogenic bass strings has some bass players thinking about how they can save money and yet, keep their tone. One answer has been boiling the strings. Does it actually work? Let’s journey into the subject a bit.

The Good, The Bad, and The Boiled
What happens when you place strings into a pot of boiling water? In short, here is a list of some positive things that can happen to the string:

1. If there is oil build-up on the strings, the higher temperature of water will change the viscous of oil. The oil will start to break-up and flow away from the string into the rest of the water.

2. If there salt from your previous sweaty playing on the strings, then the salt will dissolve and become aqueous with the boiling water.

3. If there is any dirt in between windings, there is an opportunity for it to break-up and possibly dissolve.

4. Micro metal shavings from normal fret wear will expand due to high temp and possibly dislodge themselves from windings.

5. Expansion. Overall the high temperature of the water will cause the strings to expand at molecular level. Every metal has a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) associated with it. This means the metal expands, or contracts with regards to temperature. In the case of wound strings, the windings will expand as they are made of metal. Anything caught in between the windings will get an opportunity to get squeezed out as the windings expand in the high temperature water.

Of course, there are some down sides to boiling. Here is a list of some bad things that can happen when you boil the strings:

1. Higher temperatures are often used to stress relieve any stresses built up in metal. If the string is exposed to high temperature, there will be changes with in the various stress sites of the string. This will have an effect on tuning and possibly create “dead spots†in the string that deaden the sound.

2. Calcium and mineral deposits from hard tap water can work their way into the inner core of a wound string. To get the best results, use de-ionized water if you are going to boil.

3. Brittle strings. Some strings have been known to become more brittle after boiling them. The process of taking the string to a higher temp (212°F) may have an effect on the string’s elasticity if the alloy quality was marginal to begin with it all.

4. Dirty pan. Obviously you don’t want to use a pan with left over spaghetti sauce still in it. You will end up with string marinara, and your fellow musicians will start calling you meatball. The real issue here is the question of a clean pan still having soap scum and mineral deposits in it. If you use such a pan, the soap and mineral deposits will end up on the strings. As a precaution, using a little bit of alcohol and a paper towel to wipe out the pan would help matters.

Conclusion
There are some merits to boiling strings as well as pitfalls. If you are on a shoestring budget and do not wish to shell out the bucks for new strings on a frequent basis, then boiling might be your calling. Hopefully, we have given you a good number of pros and cons to make the right decision that best fits your needs.

About the Author

Professor StringTM is a leading expert in the musical string business. He leads a development group that specializes in guitar and bass string research for musicians. You can visit their site at http://www.professorstring.com.

Keep On $11.04 Will Young was growing up. It had been three years since his unexpected win on the first season of Pop Idol and even at the time of his second album, Friday’s Child, he had stated his intention to distance himself from the moniker of being a TV reality show winner, especially as the careers of such winners tended to be notoriously short. So there he was on the cover of his third album, Keep On, looking remarkably like the actor Todd Carty, who played the weatherbeaten character of Mark Fowler on BBC-TVs Eastenders. On Keep On, Young was mature enough to write (or at least co-write) most of the tracks, including the first two, “Keep On” and “Switch It On,” both quite funky numbers. Then came the album’s first ballad, “All Time Love,” every bit as tuneful as “Anything Is Possible” or “Evergreen,” his debut single and still the best-selling single of the 21st century. There was a mixture of styles on Keep On, from the salsa, holiday-inspired “Happiness” to the Justin Timberlake pastiche of “Ain’t Such a Bad Place to Be,” on which even the Indian-style intro worked well, to the ballads “Save Yourself,” “Who Am I,” and the final song, “Home,” a haunting atmospheric track co-written by Nitin Sawhney. Keep On ran out of steam near the end with three tracks, “Madness,” “All I Want,” and “Think About It,” all again co-written by Young but nothing more than album fillers, none of them having much of a melody. Three singles were released from Keep On, “Switch It On,” “All Time Love,” and “Who Am I,” all of which either reached or got pretty near the Top Ten, and there were a few other tracks that would have made great singles, too. Altogether an excellent pop album from an artist who was maturing very nicely as the years went by. ~ Sharon Mawer, Rovi Performers: Ronnie Peterson – Sampled Guitar; Karen Ann Poole – Vocals (Background); Mark Feltham – Harmonica; Noel Langley – Flugelhorn, Trumpet; The London Session Orchestra – Strings; Tom Rees-Roberts – Flugelhorn, Trumpet; Tracie Ackerman – Vocals (Background); Tracy Ackerman – Vocals (Background); Wil

Strings $15.67 Strings

No Strings $11.16 No Strings

No Strings Attached $13.84 In this comedy, Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Ashton Kutcher) are life-long friends who almost ruin everything by having sex one morning. In order to protect their friendship, they make a pact to keep their relationship strictly “no strings attached.”

Keep Color $11.18 From Kansas City, Missouri comes the Republic Tigers. With their Chop Shop Records 2008 debut album, Keep Color, they arrive with an impressive breadth of vision that instantly marks them as something extraordinary. Epic yet intimate, tracks like ‘Made Concrete’ and the towering ‘Buildings & Mountains’ see the quintet weaving future folk, euphoric psychedelia, and exuberant symphonic pop with intricately crafted electronic textures and uncommon emotional depth. Their naturalistic approach includes the prodigious use of acoustic guitars, accordion, trumpet, and trombone, though such old school instrumentation is countered by seemingly infinite waves of blissed-out synths, programmed strings and multi-tracked harmonies. Performers: The Republic Tigers – Vocals

Keep on Jumpin’ $16.78 This 1978 album, long a favorite of hardcore disco fanatics, provides a great showcase for the talents of producer Patrick Adams. Like most of Adams’ groups, Musique was a studio creation (featuring the talents of future solo star Jocelyn Brown) designed exclusively for the discotheque. It produced two major dancefloor favorites in the title track and “In the Bush”; the former effectively contrasts a stately string-section riff against a double-time rhythm section beat, and the latter is a lusty dance epic that contrasts bouncy, keyboard-driven verses with blaring bursts of horns and a sexy, overheated performance from the vocalists. The album is rounded out by “Summer Love,” a hypnotic, mid-tempo dance ballad built on a sultry blend of strings and keyboards, and “Summer Love Theme,” an all-instrumental version of “Summer Love.” On the downside, Keep on Jumpin’ is a bit slim on melody, but the rhythms are so insistent and the arrangements are so inventive that this flaw is easy for a disco fan to overlook. All in all, casual listeners may want to track down the hits on a compilation, but Keep on Jumpin’ remains a slick, punchy album that is recommended to anyone with an interest in the club-oriented side of disco. [Collector's Note: Fans of this album should track down the Unidisc compact disc reissue, which complements the album with an array of single edits and 12" versions of "In the Bush" and "Keep on Jumpin'" that were remixed by legendary DJ Francois Kevorkian.] ~ Donald A. Guarisco, Rovi Performers: Angela Howell – Vocals; Christine Wiltshire – Vocals; Gina Tharps – Vocals; Jocelyn Brown – Vocals

Keep on Movin’ $7.98 When American urban-contemporary radio was bombarding its listeners with one Guy clone after another in the late ’80s and early ’90s, British neo-soulsters like Soul II Soul, Lisa Stansfield, and the Chimes offered highly creative and gutsy alternatives. With influences ranging from Chic to hip-hop to African music, Soul II Soul’s debut album, Keep on Movin’ (titled Club Classics, Vol. 1 in its original British incarnation), was among the most rewarding R&B releases of 1989. Soul II Soul leader/producer/composer Jazzie B takes one risk after another — all of which pay off. The group enjoyed major hits with the Chic-influenced gems “Keep on Movin’” and “Back to Life” (both of which feature the gifted Caron Wheeler), and equally superb are the African-influenced reflections of “Dance” and “Holdin’ On,” the soulful grit and intensity of “Feel Free,” and the hypnotic house music of “Happiness.” Though Wheeler was Soul II Soul’s best-known singer and went on to enjoy a career as a solo artist, Rose Windross and Do’Reen (both expressive soul divas) also do their part to make Keep on Movin’ the artistic triumph that it is. ~ Alex Henderson, Rovi Performers: Simon “The Funky Ginger” Law – Vocal Harmony, Harmony Vocals, Piano, Keyboards; Aitch B. – Vocals (Background); Caron Wheeler – Vocals (Background), Vocals; Massive Attack – Vocals (Background); Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra – Strings; Andrew Levy – Bass; Crispin – Percussion; Do’Reen – Vocals;

Keep It Slow $14.38 Low Motion Disco practice what they preach on their debut full-length, offering 13 tracks of decidedly downtempo music — but the term “downtempo” usually suggests something with a very different flavor from what this duo has created. The program’s first real track, “Born on the Low Wind,” is downright pastoral, and literally so: along with the strings and quietly thumping bass drum you’ll hear birdsong, wind, water, and the bleating of sheep. “Things Are Gonna Get Easier,” on the other hand, is a gentle electro-reggae arrangement of the Five Stairsteps’ 1970s classic “O-o-h Child,” while “Frantic Low Moment” (a CD-only track) is a sort of minimalist, almost disinterested funk. Things get stranger toward the end, with “The Low Murderer Is Out at Night” (which blends acoustic guitar, glitches, and a bizarre spoken word section) and “Low Italian Déssert (Try It Out)” (which places weird noises and an Italian vocabulary exercise into a dark and dubby atmosphere), and then at the very end they get kind of bland and generic. But overall this album is a lot of good, slow-moving fun. Recommended. ~ Rick Anderson, Rovi

Keep on $12.99 Keep on

The Keep $18.65 The Keep

Sonivox Playa HipHop Strings $99.95 Playa HipHop Strings HipHop Virtual Instrument—from the award-winning SONiVOX Symphonic String Collection—has over 8GB of sounds featuring over 200 different instruments and pad layouts with a truckload of string loops thrown in for good measure. HipHop Strings brings the most intuitive virtual instrument interface on the planet to create a major piece of music-making muscle. Playa HipHop Strings will help you put some serious Symphonic power into your tracks.The Sounds:Playa HipHop Strings puts the power of some of the the world’s best string players at your fingertips. Inside this unassuming little box sits an amazing collection of playable instruments and loops, borne from SONiVOX’s award-winning flagship String library and fine-tuned for your hip-hop production needs. With 20 variations of legato, 20 variations of staccato, 15 different variations of pizzicato, and too many major and minor loops to count, this remarkable instrument covers all the bases. Any time your production needs strings, Playa HipHop Strings is here to do the job with style.The Playa HipHop Interface:Learn. Map. Create. It’s that easy. 16 programmable pads and 127 keys provide all you need to keep the creative process going and you don’t need a doctorate to use it. Need more phat? No problem. Playa Hip Hop Strings incorporates an intuitive sound layering functionality allowing you to easily stack sounds until its just right. Need more groove? Dial up Hip Hop String’s tempo synced variable resolution note re-triggering mode, and take master control of those fast tempo or stuttering articulations. FX? Hip Hop Strings has you covered—a sweet chorus, stereo delay, digital reverb, and a just-right 4-band EQ. For those of you with tweaky fingers, they’ve even included fully programmable filter and amplitude envelopes. Bottom line, whether your composing on MPC pads or jamming out on the keys, the Playa HipHop Strings engine was built to have you laying down top-selling music tracks in no time.The Sonivox library includes amazing players from the world-famous Boston Pops & Boston Ballet Orchestras, Playa HipHop Strings blends exceptional source material with SONiVOX’s renowned sound design talents to create an affordable, yet quality virtual instrument. SONiVOX spared no expense to give you the best strings package for hip-hop production they could assemble.

Strings Attached $3.98 From National Book Award winner Judy Blundell, the tale of a sixteen-year-old girl caught in a mix of love, mystery, Broadway glamour, and Mob retribution in 1950 New York. When Kit Corrigan arrives in New York City, she doesn’t have much. She’s fled from her family in Providence, Rhode Island, and she’s broken off her tempestuous relationship with a boy named Billy, who’s enlisted in the army. The city doesn’t exactly welcome her with open arms. She gets a bit part as a chorus girl in a Broadway show, but she knows that’s not going to last very long. She needs help–and then it comes, from an unexpected source. Nate Benedict is Billy’s father. He’s also a lawyer involved in the mob. He makes Kit a deal–he’ll give her an apartment and introduce her to a new crowd. All she has to do is keep him informed about Billy . . . and maybe do him a favor every now and then. As she did in her National Book Award-winning What I Saw and How I Lied, Judy Blundell traps readers in a web of love, deceit, intrigue, and murder. The result? One stunner of a novel.

Elixir Nanoweb Light Bass Strings $39.99 Gauges: 45-65-80-100. Nanoweb coating permits electric bass strings with the feel, bright tone, and punch of traditional strings. Elixirs are the first major innovation in bass strings in over forty years, and they deliver what they promise: great tone and long life no matter what you put them on or how often you play.Elixir Nanoweb bass strings are covered with an ultrathin, space-age polymer tube that contacts the string on the tops of the windings only. This leaves the all-important winding-to-winding-to-core space free from the fear of the enemies of tone!Most players report that Elixir Strings keep sounding great 3 to 5 times longer than ordinary replacement bass strings.

Elixir Light Nanoweb Mandolin Strings $12.99 Gauges 10-14-24-34. Elixirs are the first major innovation in strings in over 40 years, and deliver what they promise: great tone and long life no matter what you put them on or how often you play.Elixir Mandolin Strings are covered with an ultrathin, space-age polymer tube that contacts the string on the tops of the windings only. They’re coated with the patented Nanoweb technology. This leaves the all-important winding-to-winding-to-core space free from the enemies of tone!Most players report that Elixir Strings keep sounding great 3 to 5 times longer than ordinary strings.

Elixir Medium Nanoweb Mandolin Strings $12.99 Gauges 11-15-26-40. Elixirs are the first major innovation in strings in over forty years and they deliver what they promise: great tone and long life no matter what you put them on or how often you play.Elixir Nanoweb Mandolin Strings are covered with an ultrathin, space-age polymer tube that contacts the string on the tops of the windings only. They’re coated with the patented Nanoweb technology. This leaves the all-important winding-to-winding-to-core space free from the enemies of tone!Most players report that Elixir Strings keep sounding great 3 to 5 times longer than ordinary strings.

(TAKA-TV) 5m strings yoyo and　keep yoyoing while cloth change