It happened a couple of weeks ago. During rehearsal. I broke a string. The B string. And I think it broke at or near the saddle.

Now I happen to be a bit meticulous about my guitar strings. Okay, I happen to be a bit meticulous about more than just my guitar strings. But in this case, I do everything to ensure that I avoid breaking strings during a performance.

In some venues, that means having multiple guitars on stage.

More often than not, I only have one guitar with me.

I play D’Addario EXL110s, Nickel Wound, 10-46s, on my Strats. Have done so for as long as I can remember.

I change the strings frequently as I am usually on the instrument 5-10 hours a week. String lubricant is applied to the saddle and nut. There is rarely any heavy string bending in my play. I am a dynamic player and I do use a firm 2mm pick.

When was the last time I had a string break on one of my guitars? About 14 years ago. I was playing an American Standard Strat and the saddle was quite rough. Strings would break on a regular basis. Always the B string. I tried to smooth the saddle out but to no avail. I finally purchased a saddle set from Graphtech. Problem solved.

Since then, I have been playing custom shop Strats without any issue. Until a few weeks back.

There is something about having confidence with the instrument that matters. It is a bit annoying to have, in the back of your mind, a sense that maybe a string will break when you are playing out.

I am debating giving the new Ernie Ball Paradigm strings a try.

The strongest strings known to man. They even come with a 90 day guarantee.