Aquila 91U Thunder Reds Ukulele Bass

I loved the sound of these red babies when I first put them on my bass ukulele. They were a marked improvement over the plain whites it came with. However, circumstances meant I didn't get to play the bass much over the last year since I bought them.

This week I picked up the instrument for the first time in ages and stated to play. The next day I noticed that the A string was beginning to fray badly and two days later it has snapped completely beyond repair when I was not even playing it. This fraying appeared between frets, so I can't blame the fret for cutting into the string.

Given that I have probably played the instrument less than 20 hours, all told, since I restrung it (although admittedly it was strung a year ago) I still feel that it should have had a longer shelf life. Had I been playing several hours a day I might have expected this result, but not having the instrument basically idle for most of the year.