How long strings should last

[Ezmar]

Okay, Just a quick question. The other week I got a set of new strings for my Fender Squier J, With not the best bridge, and I put them on. I broke 2 within a week. They were Rotosound Swing Bass 66, 35-90 gauge, and I do tend to play pretty aggressively, and I practice hard and long, pretty much every day. But even so, that's a ridiculously short amount of time, right? It's happened to me before, too. It was a gauge up, and I only broke one string, within a couple weeks of putting them on fresh. It's not a problem with the strings all the time, because I've used them for much longer on every other occasion, well over half a year, which isn't that bad considering I've got a not-nice bridge, use fairly light roundwounds, and play hard. But Is that short enough to complain or something? That's kind of ridiculous. How often can I expect to get a dud set like that?

[carl h.]

Where did they break?
How long have you been playing?
How many sets of strings have you installed before?

Strings should last longer.

[Ezmar]

Well, that's only happened twice, where they break ridiculously early. I know that's not normal, but I wonder if I just have bad luck. I've installed maybe 5? I've been playing for 4 years, but I've had this bass for 2 1/2 years. They're breaking at the bridge. Every time. So I guess this is kind of unrelated to the topic, but If I were to get a new bridge for this Squier J, what would I look at? I like the bass besides, and Money's tight, so I can't drop anything on a new bass, so... Yeah. I'm sure a new bridge would drastically improve the bass. I bet it's just killing the strings when combined with my aggressive playing.

[recreate.me]

From what i understand the Squier bridges arent THAT bad that would break strings due to quality issues, they may be light and flimsy but shouldnt break strings.

If that were my bass i would look at the saddles (height and length from the bridge, check the intonation) see if the angle from the loading hole to the saddle is really steep. If the angle is too steep it will force the string to bend to much and pressure the core, combined with aggressive playing and such small gage strings, its probably breaking them IMO.

If your intonation is spot on, then you cant do much to adjust the saddles unless you lower them (which would help but if you get buzz its not much good) then try buying thicker gage strings, which would do something to prevent breaks.

EDIT: in answering your actual question (somewhat) I have never broken a string. My Precision has had the same strings for almost a year. and my Jazz is usually gets a string change every 5 -7 months just because i prefer my strings very bright (the punk band i play with digs that bright jazz sound from Dean Markelys)

[JimmyM]

BTW, light and flimsy does not equal a bad bridge. I happen to like stock Fender bridges. But you should check it to see if there are burrs on the saddles. If so, you can just replace the saddles for a lot less than a new bridge. Also, playing aggressively with very light strings can cause some strings to break early, but like you said, it doesn't happen all the time so maybe you just got a bum set. Happens.

[Munjibunga]

I try to avoid changing strings before they've been on the bass for four years. I've broken three strings in the last 34 years. One was the result of me tuning the string an octave up ... I wasn't paying attention. Another was a LaBella tapewound that was defective. The store gave me a new one. The third one broke for no apparent reason at a jam session. I wasn't playing hard at all. It was just bizarre.