Strings cut in the saddles on my CP60

[rasomaso]

Is this normal? I was just playing and the G string broke at the saddle while bending a note. The strings are nickel Snake Oil and the high E string broke just after I instaled them (few weeks ago). I'm kinda freaked out by what I see...

Sorry, I don't have a better camera...

[DHHZ]

I have a similar problem on my CP50's (which has the same bridge). I'm not sure what causes it, but I've gone through a few packs of strings.
Can anybody help?

Daniel

[charlie chitlin]

No reason to be freaked out.
If you stretch a wire across almost anything, it's going to make a slot eventually.
Just take a piece of #400 wet-or-dry sandpaper, fold it a time or 2, and use the edge to clean up/de-burr the slot.
This will keep you from breaking strings.
If you want to go nuts, afterwards, you can buff the slot with a cotton wheel (on a bench grinder or Dremel) with some buffing compound and get the slot super slick.
I no longer break strings until they are quite old; and I often play pretty hard.

[Laundromat]

Originally Posted by rasomaso

Is this normal?

I prefer my strings intact

Smoothing out the edges is a good place to start like charlie chitlin suggested.
Another trick is to slip a piece of plastic tubing from an electrical wire on the string so that it protects the string from the break angle where it meets the bridge plate. It should stop at the end of the string before the ball end and doesn't have to be long.

This is a trick SRV and many others have used and it has worked for me. I'm not sure whether it will help with the issue on the G string since it seems to have more contact with the saddle.

[jrfrond]

You MIGHT have a burr on the saddle, but the places I see the most problems are right at the string hole in the baseplate and the saddle slot, two relatively sharp areas that the strings contact and breakover at. Using a conical diamond tip in a Dremel, these areas can be beveled and subsequently polished to alleviate breakage problems.

[mrbdxmpl]

I have been having the exact same problem on my CP 60s...

Is it time for a set of Callaham saddles? Has anyone switched and noticed a difference? Or is there something about the break angle on this bridge that makes for an inherent problem?

[SoulPedro]

I had the same problem on my CP 60s: the string doesn't break on the saddle, but on the sharp angle of the hole in the baseplate.

You can check it by looking at the length of the broken piece of string remaining in the trem.
I used a rolled piece of sandpaper to make this angle smoother. I didn't break a string after that.

[rasomaso]

Thanks for replies, it seems like the string really broke at the baseplate not the saddle. I found only the remaining long part of the string, but as far as I can tell from it's lenght it broke behind the saddle. I'll try to smoothen the edges and use the electric wire trick, thanks for suggestions.
So if the saddle has a slot in it, does it matter then? I mean if the string is meant to slide on the saddle when I play it (bends or whatever can cause it to slide) or it's meant to remain "fixed" by the pressure...

[boris bubbanov]

Those saddles on the Classic Player are quite inexpensively made; not premium stuff. Metric height screws, M3 I think and just not available in the right length.

I would suggest buying a set of the non-offset bent steel CG saddles from www.callahamguitars.com. Those are made of better steel, more resistant to wear, more complete and precise contact points between the saddles and the intonation or height screws. An up close inspection of the cheap and the premium saddles and hardware is an eye opener.

BTW, your existing height screws much be cutting up your hand, no? When you get the Callahams, get plenty of the different shorter lengths and thus the screw head can always be flush; neither too high nor too low.

[Stuco]

Get some more modern style saddles or graphite or even better, roller saddles. Otherwise, do as the above posters have suggested.