And you guys said flats wouldn't break...

[Dave Vader]

I busted my E and my A on sunday afternoon at practice, set of fender steel 50-100 flats. Admittedly, my P-bass had spent a week in my freezing cold garage (been about -3 to -4 here recently) and then been played to heck for a good hour or so before the first one popped, but the strings are less than a month old, and I may dig in a bit with my fingers, but my super cheap Legacy roundwounds never died this quick.
Is this a temperature thing? Are fender flats too cheap to be any good (loved the sound btw, first ever set of flats) or should I stay round and turn up the contour on my backline?

[FromBeyond]

Originally Posted by Dave Vader

I busted my E and my A on sunday afternoon at practice, set of fender steel 50-100 flats. Admittedly, my P-bass had spent a week in my freezing cold garage (been about -3 to -4 here recently) and then been played to heck for a good hour or so before the first one popped, but the strings are less than a month old, and I may dig in a bit with my fingers, but my super cheap Legacy roundwounds never died this quick.
Is this a temperature thing? Are fender flats too cheap to be any good (loved the sound btw, first ever set of flats) or should I stay round and turn up the contour on my backline?

Can imagine the temperature shift combined with hard playing could break a few strings, but it could also be possible that you have a bad batch of strings. Mine are holding up for 4 months now without any problems whatsoever, and i'm not treating them very nicely, believe me
I'd suggest going back to the shop where you bought them with the receipt and see what they can do?

[Professor Jones]

All I know is I would never let my bass in a freezing cold garage for one week.

[Bardley]

Originally Posted by Professor Jones

All I know is I would never let my bass in a freezing cold garage for one week.

+1

Did you let the bass warm up at all before playing it?

[dalkowski]

If your bass was in the deep-freeze for a week, consider yourself lucky that your only problem is 2 broken strings.

[251]

You broke an E string?? Then an A?? That's severe.

I once broke a string by tuning it an octave too high. Once!

The elastic & strength properties of the steel core wire will not change enough in your garage to make a string brittle enough to break. The temperature will change the pitch but, if you're breaking strings, it's something else you're doing.

One question. Do you wrap the string around the post & then tune it or do you use the tuner to bring the string to pitch? Wrapping will twist the core wire & that can make the string do strange things.

[varunkapahi]

maybe you could have defrosted your bass in a microwave :P just kidding
where did your strings break from? the bridge or the nut? get it checked then, it might have sharp ends which cut the strings

[RCCollins]

Originally Posted by Professor Jones

All I know is I would never let my bass in a freezing cold garage for one week.

this is the problem for sure

flats can break - especially if you mistreat them

[jscomposer]

Originally Posted by 251

One question. Do you wrap the string around the post & then tune it or do you use the tuner to bring the string to pitch?

???

[snyderz]

I didn't understand the above statement either. If you haven't been breaking strings all along, I would rule out a sharp saddle, but it is still possible. The low temp seems to be the logical part of the equation. I keep my basses in a very controlled environment (temp/humidity). I couldn't even imagine leaving a bass in subzero temps for a week. Yow.

[fretlessguy]

Leave your bass in a garage below freezing for a week?
Not the thing to do, for sure. You are a lucky your neck didn't twist like a pretzel or warp in some way. Yes, the temperature is the culprit, I would think.
Leave your bass in the house in a temperature controlled environment. Be kind to your bass.

[Dave Vader]

My house is way too small, all my gear has lived in the garage for the last 5 years. I have clad the walls with wood and carpets to keep it a bit less hard on them. I keep 4 instruments in the house, cos that's all I have space for indoors. Only one of them is a bass, and it depends which one I'm using most. Usually the UK temperature isn't this severe so it doesn't matter much.
Unfortunately, not keeping my gear out in the cold just isn't an option.

[dmusic148]

At which end did the strings break? Do you string through-body?

[Dave Vader]

Bridge end, and no thru-body on my P no. Hasn't popped a string on me for about 2 years either. I blame the extreme weather, or Fender flats.