One of the most impressive string breaking episodes I've ever seen
was Bill Frisell breaking a B string a few minutes into "High Plains
Drifter", an ultra-episodic John Zorn piece for the Frisell quartet
that lasts about 15 minutes, goes through something like 60 sections.
Frisell just played the rest of the piece as if nothing happened, and
sounded great.
** bb king, omaha, nebraska, circa 1977: pops a string on a tune during the solo, passes the solo off to the rhythm guitar player (the guy who played the birdland), goes to the side of the stage, gets a new a string, comes out and starts winding the string while the tune is going on, time for the vocal to come in, totally sings his ass off while still winding the string . . . total emotional commitment. not instrumental virtuosity, but . . .
stig