I think the idea behind them is that the graphite composite helps prevent the strings from breaking if you're the type of player that uses a lot of tremolo or extreme bends.
My own experience, not with Graph Tech, but as a guitar player for many , many... many...... many years is that every time a string pops, it breaks closer to the nut or machine head, not the saddle... at least for me.
I like brass myself. I make my own brass saddles for both of my acoustic guitars.

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the thing to consider about "metal on metal" is the harderer will wear out the softer. bronze and nickel are both softer than stainless and chrome. bronze and nickel are harder than brass. either way, the strings are going to wear out the saddles, or visa versa. graphite is more a lube than a metal, so the idea is to help the metals move around without wear.
if i were you, i'd stick to the fender original saddles and put a thin coat of vaseline on the saddles. lube is lube, and vaseline is a whole lot cheaper than new saddles, or even a set of super bullets for that matter.

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Here's my opinion of them. They suck.

I tried a set on one of my guitars and the tone deadened quite a bit. It made the guitar sound bland. It made me a 100% believer that the metal saddle material matters to the sound of a guitar quite a bit compared to whatever they make those abominations out of. I took them off and later tried them on another guitar just to make sure I wasn't trippin' about it... Same result. I think Graph tech saddles are one of the biggest ripoff gimmicks ever to invade a guitar's tone.

I don't doubt that they won't cause your strings to break. They're a glorified plastic. And if a burr should occur in a saddle it wouldn't be much of a threat to a metal string. But if your metal saddles (whichever type) are in good shape, you shouldn't experience any problems. Maybe start looking for different strings or work on your technique.

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That is true. You should probably be looking for "import spaced" saddles if it's CIJ.. But as far as the hardness, you could do that. I don't want to get into any tonal differences between Stainless, Steel, Brass, etc.. But I've played, toured, and recorded with cheap entry level guitar saddles before without problems.

If you happen to have a burr in a saddle, here's a cool, cheap way to handle it. get a common fingernail emery board. The ones used for common fingernail filing. You can get them anywhere:



And just sand it off.. Depending on the type of saddles you have. Sometimes you can use the file from a fingernail clipper. You'd be amazed what you can do with fingernail products and minor guitar fixes. And they're dirt cheap.

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ive got graphtechs on one of my strats and ive never broken a string on it where as ive broken countless strings on my other fenders with normal saddles... so they seem to work, as for tone, its sharp enough for me, i like the sound of a brass bridge so the softer material works well, i play a lof of blues so i dont need that mectalic edge to my sound that a stainless or harder metal bridge can produce...

expensive but they do the job for me, although they tend to wear quickly especially on the fatter strings, when the saddles are dead id probably go back to a standard saddle or make my own brass ones...

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blues - its a religion...

depends how much you use the guitar, after a year of using the guitar 2-3 times a week chenging strings before every gig they are fairly worn...

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blues - its a religion...

A buddy of mine has a set of GREAPH TECHs on his tele. He's happy with them. They say the help to lubricate the strings to reduce friction. A nice little trick I use when I restring my guitars is as follows:

before stringing up, I take a pencil ( no need for a #2, it's not a test) an I rub the led on the nut and saddles. This will deposit the graphite from the led and lubricate your strings at both points.