No, bad connection will cause the fillament to fail early due to flickering (which you may not even see) Any induction in the circuit causes high voltage but the induction in the coiled tungsten filament is negligible so high voltage is not the explanation (or at least not the major influence) Flicker causes higher peak current draw, and magnetic vibration in the coiled filament.
Is the threaded part of the base made of brass with the wire from the bulb soldered? Or is the threaded part made from aluminum and the wire is just bent over the aluminum? We had a bunch of the latter, and they didn't last at all.
What does the bottom connection look like? It should have the lamp wire soldered there and be quite a large contact area for the socket. Might be clean and bright, but no solder.
Paul
I haven't had a problem with these fixtures for years. Now the bulbs are suddenly burning out quickly in all 4 fixtures. The 2 have been in there a week and doing ok. Just got to the other 2 today, bulbs from another box.
Standard household bulbs are made on high-speed machines (several machines running in parallel porducing hundreds of bulbs/minute), so if something drifts out of spec, a lot of bad product gets made rapidly. Every bulb is lighted and tested for operation, gas fill and other things that might affect performance, but a few bad bulbs always get out and usually they're in the same package or box. It sounds like the OP has gotten some bad bulbs. Call Sylvania and ask for replacements. Usually, the bulbs will be replaced for free along with a couple of extra for your trouble. I worked for a lamp company in the complaint dept. for several years and a few bad bulbs were a common complaint and quickly handled; but you do have to write, e-mail or call. You can always find someone with stories about bad bulbs, but the number of "bad" bulbs from the major manufacturers, especially if the bulb is Energy Star labeled, is a fraction of a percent. You can see how bulbs are made here:
Vibration will kill them, we always lost bulbs after the kids had friends over dancing.
Another thing that will shorten the life is screwing them in too far. I think that it damages the rather fragile seal at the base. Contact plus 1/8 turn is all you need.
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