strings crack really fast at the saddle

got a fender baja tele and got to deal with the fact, that after approximately 5hours of pure playing my A- and D-strings crack guaranteed. and everytime at the saddle.
i use a medium-light pick and 0.30/0.46 strings. the mechanic at my local guitarshop said that the hardware was ok, no scratches or something, and that id have to face the fact that "these guitars are vintage style. but vintage doesnt mean that theyre better." as you might see, im not satisfied with that answer. he nevertheless told me that there were non-fender saddles to buy from a brand named graph-tech, which might help.

has anyone ever had the problem with really fast cracking stringsat the saddle? and was able to solve that problem? its just really annoying when one string cracks EVERY rehearsal.

Do you have brass saddles? All my life i've been lucky when it comes to this. I can beat the heck out of my guitars and i literally have broken a handful of strings in my 40 years of playing, not counting accidents or other things that cause it. That is, a handful EXCEPT for a couple periods when i had brass saddles. Some people, maybe even most, have no problems i assume since a lot of tele owners use them. But i had brass twice in my life, both on strats. And both time i had to remove them because i was breaking strings on a regular basis. Brass is a softer metal and what causes it is the strings dig into the brass and create microscopic burrs that eat away at the string. It makes sense the A and D are the main issues because the wound strings act like a saw on the brass, and the low E will too but is a bit too thick to break as easy. in any case, i believe it depends on the particular brass saddle because i believe the alloys and quality can make the difference between braking or not. If you have brass you might want to either try something else or try a known good brass brand with a good rep like those glendale or such.

Are your saddles set really high?

I have brass saddles and have never broen any strings at the saddle.................

That's got to be burrs. I have heard of people rubbing a Q-tip on the saddles to see if it snags anywhere. If they are not compensated you might flip it over and try it like that. Or if the break is not exactly at the saddle it could be the bridge plate cutting it.

Edit... Never mind, they're flat on the bottom ain't they. :lol:

I have brass saddles and have never broen any strings at the saddle.................

As above...

in any case, i believe it depends on the particular brass saddle because i believe the alloys and quality can make the difference between braking or not.

Very interesting!? the tele handbook says to oil your saddles with a light machine oil in between string changes. Don't know if that would make any diff or not.

When you say crack, do you mean Break?

Very interesting!? the tele handbook says to oil your saddles with a light machine oil in between string changes. Don't know if that would make any diff or not.

I'd say that is just to clean and prevent corrosion. I don't actually know anyone who does this on barrel saddles though.

What about using small tubing slipped over the string at the breaking point?, this is what Dan Erlewine recommends, I think that is for a strat bridge saddle, but I guess it would work with a tele 2for1 saddle.

I'd say that is just to clean and prevent corrosion. I don't actually know anyone who does this on barrel saddles though.

You do it to prevent corrosion and STRING BREAKAGE! SAYS THE HANDBOOK!

You do it to prevent corrosion and STRING BREAKAGE! SAYS THE HANDBOOK!

Well there you go.

yeah, i got brass saddles, and i mean break with crack. my dictionary said that crack would be the right definition. however, i polished them with sandpaper (small grainsize) and got the tip to use an lead pencil to fill those "blurrs". gonna see if theres any improvement. and dont know if my saddles are high. could make a photo, if necessary.
nevertheless, ill go with some machine-oil for shure.

and they break definately at the saddle, not the plate, cause the string-length is obvious.