Introducing 1 Blue String

Ally1BS

Hi there Fretboarders.

I'm relatively new around here, I hope you don't mind that I'm jumping in, starting a new thread, but I hope this is something you folks might be interested in. Just to reassure you, I'm not a spambot, I've been playing (or more honestly, torturing) guitars for about 40 years - I've even dutifully joined in the '10 Questions' and 'introduce yourself' threads. I'm looking forward to lurking away many happy hours on these boards, but I won't deny I signed up with a slight ulterior motive.

Amongst various other interests, I am a volunteer with a charity called Survivors Manchester. We provide support & counselling to male survivors of sexual violence, which include many survivors of institutional abuse, prison-rape victims and people living on the margins such as street-based sex workers. So yes, it is heavy subject matter, but please bear with me! 

This autumn we are launching the UK version of an initiative called 1 Blue String.  The project began in the US a few years ago and is based on the statistic that 1 in 6 boys and men will experience some kind of sexual abuse, sexual violence or exploitation in their lifetimes. Our own UK promo video is on its way very soon, but for now, here's a US version that is a wee bit cheesy but explains the idea pretty well.  (Sorry, have tried to do the embedded video voodoo but it is beyond my noobishness for now)

The 1 Blue String project invites guitarists to replace the bass E string of their guitar with a blue one which we provide through the website, then to share a short video, Vine, even just a selfie pic on Youtube, social media etc, use the string at a gig or whatever else they can do to spread the word. You can see loads of examples on the website.       

1 Blue String is an awareness raising exercise, but most importantly it is about telling survivors who can often feel isolated, ashamed or unable to talk to anyone that they are not alone, and pointing them towards organisations who are able to help, whether that is a crisis phoneline, a counselling service, a survivors group where they can meet others who will understand, or whatever they need. We think 1 Blue String is particularly effective because it gets a message into places where these kinds of topics don't normally come up, and reaches people  - particularly younger men - who can otherwise find it really difficult to talk about these topics. So the endgame is really about sharing as far and wide as possible. 

So, why am I here? First of all, just to tell you this is happening and ask for your support.    

More specifically, we'll be officially launching in the next few weeks, and throughout November we hope to be able to share another new 1BlueString video submission every few days. We've already recruited a few willing guitarists, including a couple of famous names, to be part of this, but I'll be blunt, we could do with lining up a few more.

So, here's an offer. Normally we ask people to go through the website to order some strings, and we need to add £4.50 to cover P&P. But if any of you folks would like to volunteer to be in our first cohort, you can contact me directly, give me your name & address and I'll send you the pack completely free. I can probably cover about half a dozen of you at least!  All that I'd ask is that you promise to make us a short video of you playing a little party piece or whatever & either send it to us so we can share it over our platforms or put it on your own Youtube, Facebook or whatever so that we can share the link. 

But I'm also very happy to hang around here for a few days and answer any questions you might have.  

Thanks so much for reading. Over to you!   

boogieman

Welcome on board. I don't play gigs any more so I'll leave it to someone who does to go for the free string offer. Good luck with the project though.  

Ally1BS

Thanks Boogieman! 

Axe_meister

And I thought this was a thread about tampons

Ally1BS

That would be 1 white string, blue water. Easy mistake to make ;-)

digitalscream

I saw the subject line and was about to move it to Made in the UK...

I love the motivation behind this - I really do hope it gets some traction. I'm not really in a position to help much at the moment (not really set up for videos, and I'm not likely to be gigging until next year), but I'll have a think.

@Ally1BS - two questions: can you provide just the blue string (in any gauge?), and is there any particular reason that the organisation is focused on sexual abuse rather than including domestic abuse? Not criticising the aim at all, it just seems to me that the two go hand-in-hand.

Ally1BS

digitalscream said:

@Ally1BS - two questions: can you provide just the blue string (in any gauge?), and is there any particular reason that the organisation is focused on sexual abuse rather than including domestic abuse? Not criticising the aim at all, it just seems to me that the two go hand-in-hand.

I'm afraid we can only supply a choice of electric (.046 gauge) or acoustic (.054), both round wound. I'm afraid the practicalities wouldn't allow any greater variety than that.   

As for the sexual abuse vs domestic violence thing, that is a really good question. You are quite right that the situations are not always entirely separate and often overlap, but the charities that engage with them  - particularly those focusing on male victims / survivors - tend to be relatively small and so need to specialise. 

The original idea for #1BlueString began with an organisation in the US called 1 in 6, and they work with male sexual violence survivors. Survivors Manchester wanted to bring the idea to the UK so we basically just imported the model (and the strings!) wholesale!

That said, Survivors Manchester do work very closely with other charities who specialise in domestic abuse, particularly our friends at Mankind Initiative, so we'll support their publicity drives and vice versa. And Survivors Manchester is also part of a national network of sexual abuse charities called the Male Survivors Partnership, so even though we have a more local name, the #1BlueString initiative is working with partner charities all over the country - as well as our friends in the USA and Australia. 

   
  

benmurray85

What a great idea. I gig loads and would happily contribute to the cause. Not sure what I could do in regards of making a video of any sort of interest or merit though!

either way a great and different way of approaching charity. Wish you all the best

Ally1BS

Thanks Ben.

Just to reiterate to everyone, even if you cannot make a video or anything like that yourself, you can still help us a lot by passing the word around and being part of the chat. One of the aims of 1 Blue String is to be a conversation starter, so just by joining in this thread you are already helping! 

fretmeister

Seems like a good idea.

When you have bass strings let me know.

nick79

Fantastic idea, i'm up for it. PM sent

Ally1BS

Fab, thanks Nick. On its way

Tuscan777

I'm in, got a few gigs coming up, one of which I'll be able to get filmed. PM sent

Ally1BS

You're all lovely people, thanks for your support. 

Any interest from the evening shift? 

Alnico

PM incoming now.
This is an amazing idea.

Supported.

Ally1BS

Much appreciated, Alnico.

Still got a few more strings going a-begging if there are any more takers? 

Ally1BS

Sneaky cheeky bump for a Friday afternoon

Panama_Jack666

I am interested! 

I'll PM you in a bit - Fretboarding on the sly at work at the moment! 

Ally1BS

Yay, nice one Panama Jack thanks.

monofin

Great idea. Just ordered one via your website rather than taking up a freebie. Will post a pic on a guitar once it arrives

rpr

Think doing videos only is going to limit the people who would like to get involved, but cant.  What about a dedicated picture thread, with the videos included? More inclusive and each new post would bump it to the top maintaining interst.
On a grander scale - well there was the Shelter guitar and before that  the Pink Ribbon one for cancer research, maybe time for the Blue String Thing...... Hmmm blue pinstriped hot-rodded cab...