Is it the saddle or the string?

[fdesalvo]

Sounds more like you may have a sharp edge on the bridge - maybe a small burr of metal that you can't easily see.
I would have it looked at and maybe see if the contact surface can be smoothed. Nut sauce is good stuff but won't help if there is a sharp edge digging into the string.
Also it could be that the nut was cut for 10-46 and the grooves in the saddle aren't quite big enough for the 12-56 and as a result dig in a bit and ultimately cause string failure

This right here.  Pick up some abrasive cord in a few gauges and carefully clean out the saddle notches and round off the notches edges - gently.  You only want to break off the sharp edge.

[CommonCourtesy]

Had the saddles smoothed out again, also raised the height of the tailpiece a bit cos the original position made the string touch the edge at an angle where the saddle is  on the base against the edge of the metal. Now the strings don't come into contact with the edge of the saddle.

Had rehearsal tonight and everything is still intact at the moment!

[fdesalvo]

Nice!  Hope she treats you well, brother.

[CommonCourtesy]

Yeah, if I get any further breakages in the next 3 months I may just give up and get a Jim Root tele haha. I noticed the tailpiece on my back up guitar (also a Les Paul) is higher and I never break strings on that, even though I don't use it much for band stuff and its got a lighter gauge on it (10-52). Can only hope this small adjustment is the fix it needed!

[fdesalvo]

It's usually something minor!  Doesn't take much to pop a string.

[CommonCourtesy]

I've had this guitar for 5 years now and I must have experienced about 3-4 breaks in each year, always at the saddle. No other guitar with a saddle I've got has this problem, I started to believe there was a faulty saddle or even faulty strings!

[FELINEGUITARS]

Daniel - I think that much of the problem may have been that the tailpiece was down hard on the body and the tension for the strings over the back lip of the bridge and consequently over the saddle was a bit punishing for the poor bass strings. It may be the reason also that the strings were marking up the saddles with string  winding marks which in turn could be a burr than eats into the string.

Now that we raised the tailpiece it will help a lot to ease that for you. Just have to remember not to tighten it back down to the body when restringing or cleaning the guitar.
You could look to have the Tonepros tailpiece studs which will lock it in place and hold it at the chosen height

or look at the Faber tonelock parts we briefly mentioned - this is a series of washers that will hold the tailpiece at a height and lock it all down solid.

Here is a link: http://www.tokaiguitar.de/xtcommerce/product_info.php?info=p5_TL-ING--Inch-thread--nickel-gloss.html

Also be interested to hear how much disconnecting the tone pot helped with the sound.

[CommonCourtesy]

Thanks for looking at the guitar Jonathan, I think the raising of the tailpiece may just do the trick now, as I never noticed that it was making the strings rub against the edge of the saddle. I'm still going to change strings often though!!

And when I do change I'll change half at once before the other 3 so the tailpiece doesn't move.

Will definitely consider the Faber or Tonepro in the future, just hoping this fixes what was troubling me before.

Disconnecting the tone pot made the guitar brighter and somewhat louder, as I had to raise my noise suppressor threshold level! Presumably as the signal was now hotter, no more complaints from Mr bass man for being too "low-endy" haha.

[Dave Sloven]

One of the main reasons I went for TonePros bridge and tailpiece sets on my Nashville type guitars is that the set up is locked in and the tailpiece and bridge stay solid even with all of the strings off the guitar.

The only PITA with that is that you lose the setup still if changing pickups on a 'batwing' SG as the bridge has to be removed to remove the pickups but that is not a concern with Les Pauls.

You can see the TonePros set in this photo (note the grub screws). I've also top-wrapped mine, which allows me to keep the tailpiece low while retaining a good break angle.  It is more difficult to restring that way however and some brands of string don't like it too much.  With the TonePros set the top wrap is aesthetic really, and makes no difference soundwise because the tailpiece is locked tight anyway at any height.  You can see how the pickups mount to the pickguard, and the bridge does through the pickguard ...

[CommonCourtesy]

Hm, that's interesting, never been a fan of top-wrapping as I find it loses its sustain. I may not even need to change my bridge and tailpiece hopefully but its something to think about should I get regular string breaks again in the next few months. As I mentioned before when I change strings I do it 3 at a time so the tailpiece never has to move so I won't accidentally lower the position inadvertently.