String breaking puzzle

Igor Fiksman · From: Georgia, USA

Hi everyone. Hoping to engage a collective brain trust on an extreme string breakage issue I've been fighting for a couple of weeks. Very frustrating
Here are the facts:
3rd string (11.5 guage)
Never was a problem on my guitar for over 10 years
Ordered multiple batches of singles from the same manufacturer I've always used and they are now breaking every couple of songs up to 6 per gig!
Always breaks in the same spot (see picture)
I tore down the guitar and swapped fingers around to make sure it's not some invisible burr on a finger - problem did not go away.
A string pulled from one of the older sets I had lasted a lot longer.

My hunch is a bad batch of strings, though I guess technically it would mean multiple bad batches at this point. What do you guys think?
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SHO-BUD Professional SD-10 Black, SHO-BUD Pro III Custom D-10 Red, Goodrich Matchbox 6A, Steeler's Choice seat, Quilter Steelaire Amps.

J Fletcher · From: London,Ont,Canada

That has happened to me in the past . Turned out to be a bad batch of strings .

Johan Jansen · From: Europe

Bad Batch

Darryl Coyne · From: Georgia, USA

It does sound like a bad batch but multiple bad batches is hard to swallow. just to be sure, next time the string is off, you may want to spin the roller nut around with some finger pressure applied to feel for any sticking there.

Chris Templeton · From: The Green Mountain State

The brand wast probably GHS or SIT 11s and I was playing with Mathew Tan And The Singapore Cowboys, in Singapore, and I broke 4 or 5 in a row. Very, very embarrassing!
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Igor Fiksman · From: Georgia, USA

Darryl,
That's the only thing that gives me pause. What are the chances so many are bad? I even contacted the string company and they very graciously sent me 2 separate dozen of 11.5s. One dozen marked "blue" batch, the other marked "black" batch to try out. Every one of them from either batch popped after 2-3 songs max. It is rather embarrassing, especially when the band leader inevitably calls a song with an iconic steel intro as soon as you pop a string, so you have to fumble your way through a half-assed approximation and get funny looks.
I don't want to blast the string manufacturer, as I have had nothing but great experience with their product over the years and love their strings. It seems unlikely, but possible that they got multiple batch orders of bad wire from their supplier. I know they are trying to do the right thing and get me square, so I don't blame them. Currently have a dozen of singles on the way from a different boutique PSG string manufacturer just to verify that it is in fact the strings fault. Fingers crossed they don't buy their wire from the same plant.
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SHO-BUD Professional SD-10 Black, SHO-BUD Pro III Custom D-10 Red, Goodrich Matchbox 6A, Steeler's Choice seat, Quilter Steelaire Amps.

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

I had a thing with GHS cry strings that popped one particular string when tuning up to pitch...nobidy had contacted them...they discovered that it was a machine set incorrectly that made the string brittle...so there were a LOT of bad batches....they did not recall the strings, the strings worked sort of OK on short scale instruments, mine was a fraction of an inch longer and that did it...but mine was only 25", which isn't unusual...
So you could be seeing a manufacturing issue....
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