string savers

[Happyguy]

4 days ago I bought some new strings and then 2day one broke. Meby the string was messed up but im thinking that it might be my low quality saddles. Before i go and buy saddles does anyone have any advice one what kind to get? I was thinking about getting string savers from graphtech (i think thats the make) anybody have these?

thanx ppl im kinda new at this type of thing :-[lol

[bam]

Graphtech. That's it.

[R]

before you go off and buy yourself some new saddles have you tried using that old trick....

simply get some tubing it can be the rubber from a stripped wire or some of that shrinking tube it doesnt have to be that much about 10mm and slip the string into it and so that its between the string and the saddle quick easy and affordable ....

[Happyguy]

I kinda like that idea but wont that plastic tubing around my strings deaden the sound?

[R]

no it shouldn't as long as you don't leave too much of the tubing sticking away from the saddle

__string___[tubing]
................[saddle ]....

should be like this sorry for the crudeness of the diagram ;D

[bam]

.. will it be also okay for whammy lovers ?

[StratLover]

If there is any type of foreign material between the saddles and the strings YES, it will definately effect the overall sound and tonal quality. You could be cleaning your instrument and have a miniscule fiber of the cleaning cloth get caught between the string and bridge and you will have a dead string. Just an example.
First please let us know what the make and model of bridge is that you have. Then and only then will you be able to get a resolve because there might be a chance there will not be a replacement for your particular bridge.
I would hate to tell you that you could use brand "X" and it not be a direct replacement for you.
String Savers will work for you if your bridge will accept them, but there is an alternative you should consider.
My best solution to this problem if it turns out you have the correct bridge, would be ROLLER SADDLES (steel)and a ROLLER NUT. If you have trees on the head stock ROLLER TREES should be used as well. ;D This is not a theory, I use this setup on 3 of my Strats(tm), and I have yet to break a string. The life of your strings is also extended because there are not any acute bends in them.
By using these parts there is a lowered amount of friction and resistance from the bridge all the way to the tuning machines.
Please post the make and model of your bridge so we can send you the correct link.

[R]

i use the tubing for my strat style guitar i havent a heard a dampening in tone you could try them out with some strings to see if you like it keep in mind i use the tubing on my plain strings only because they tend to break faster with my tremolo (i like to dive bomb ;D) as i said its only a quick, easy and affordable solution its affect if any may not be desired by all i know a few guitarist that use this trick like SRV and los lonely boys's henry garza you never know till you try

[Happyguy]

I have the stock trem with the affinity strat, Fender I guess, looks like the old style ones. I might try the tubing but i think i want a permanent solution...
Are those rolling sadles and nut the ones that they put on the new strats?? Thanx for all the answers!

[damian]

dude with all due respect i dont think putting plastic in between your sasddles and strings is a good idea. all though ive never tried this i think its a pretty well known fact that just the material your saddles are made from affect your tone i think putting plastic there is a bad idea. as strat lover said we need to know specifics of your bridge. if it is as i believe a fender style bridge one thing to consider is that many import models have a different string spacing so make sure and measure that before you buy the new saddles. you should also check if the tops of your saddles have a groove thats been worn into the metal from the strings. of often times this can snag and break strings. you can take a small bastard file and smooth the tops of the saddles and that may work. if not there are many great after market saddles out there good luck im sure youll get it.

[StratLover]

"happyguy,"-----give us a measurement from E to E at the trem and from side to side on the saddles.
Also give us a nut measurement E to E and from side to side here as well.
Is this trem a 6 point or a fulcrum style? Fulcrum meaning only 2 bolt or screw mounts.
If it is a fulcrum style give us a measurement from center of mount bolt to center of mount bolt.
What color is the set of saddles you have now?
With this info I can hopefully find a set here. If not I can definately send you a link to the correct source.

[Happyguy]

Ok so the mesurements are
-saddles 62mm from e saddle to the other saddle
-nut 33mm in between the e strings

I hope these are the right measurements ;D
I is a 6 point trem
thnx for the help

[StratLover]

There is one more question I need to ask "happyguy" before I give you any information. I want to be correct with my advice.

Are your current saddles intonation screws offset or centered in the saddles?

This will make a tremendous difference in the retrofit of new saddles. I await you reply.

[Happyguy]

It is a central screw

[StratLover]

I will get back to you via PM.

Hang tight !

[TooManyWires]

It may be a bit late by now for this, but I'm going to second damian on the file idea. I had this same problem on a guitar, it wasn't exactly a strat at all, in fact it wasn't even remotely like a strat, more like a les paul bridge, but that's rather irrelevant all guitars have saddles of some kind...Anyways, it always broke strings, I'd break 2 a week sometimes, which in my opinion is not good. So I took it to my local guitar shop, (this was before I found this site, or had any thoughts of doing anything to my guitars myself) and told them what it was doing and they took one look at it and said, "well crap, look at your saddles! They're right sharp, we'll just file them down a bit and it should stop doing that." So I left it there and they filed down the saddles, and it hasn't broken a string without me doing something to it that would reasonably make them break, since then.

[xStonr]

I was just about to post a similar problem with my MIM Strat. All of a sudden I'm breaking the D and G strings every coupla days. I've tried to see if there were any rough spots, I've used graphite from a pencil and also some chapstick. No luck, so I was condidering the string savers also as a easy fix. Any other ideas?

[Cenulab]

I installed a set of string saver saddles on a friend's guitar and he really likes them (had the same breakage problem)...good solution for the money, IMO.

...and to clarify the plastic tubing thing, I read an article by SRV's guitar tech, and the tubing doesn't sit on the saddle at the end of the string's "vibrating length", but rather where the string disappears into the bridge (on the vintage-style Strat bridges), so the affect on tone would be extremely minimal, if not non-existent.

[R]

thats right thanks for the correction i dont know why i had that mixed up

[Happyguy]

Im just posting that I no longer break strings or have tuning problems. The sperzel locking tuners and roller saddles (the whole tremolo that I bought wouldn't fit) have realy helped with this. I guess next thing is a new nut.