I have used martin Marquis on my good old 1964 Gibson for 20 or so years, but heard so much about the Elixirs, I thought I would try them. I put them on, fingerpicked a couple of tunes, and a couple of days later, went to a big bluegrass jam. I got out my guitar and on the first strum broke my fourth string. Odd, I thought, I can't remember when I broke a fourth string. A couple of tunes later, I broke my sixth string. Odd, I thought, I don't ever remember breaking my sixth string in the 30-odd years I have been picking (and boy, have they been odd!). A few tunes later, the third string broke. I gave up and replaced the other three strings as well--along with the rest of the Martin Marquis package I had opened--and never looked back. The price of the Elixirs? $17.95 + tax. The cost of the Martin Marquis? $3.50 from a bargain catalog. I have deduced that the higher the cost of the strings, the higher the ratio of the breakage factor.