What is your favorite string brand?

[Rex_Rocker]

Right now, Dunlop Heavy Core's. 10-48. The core wires in the wrapped strings are thicker than average. The .48 would be the equivalent of .54 in most other brands.

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Do they have the info published where they show the tension of each string to compare it to D'Addario's?

[80's_Thrash_Metal]

Ernie Ball, that's all I use. Every few years I go crazy and try a bunch of new strings.... Always end up going back.

[Archer250]

Elixirs, easily.

[misterwhizzy]

I started using Elixirs because even at their price-per-string cost, their price-per-month cost was way, way lower than anything else. But then I started to really like the feel and the tone. So Elixirs.

[Rex_Rocker]

I've always wanted to try coated strings like Elixir, but they have really poor variety when it comes to heavy gauges, so I haven't been able to.

[dave74]

EB on everything,,,,,,,,,with the exception of a couple guitars that are very naturally bright and scooped that like Boomers better with their round cores.

[Mikelamury]

Dunlop 10-52, or Dunlop Wilde 10-46 (I think these are now called "Heavy Core"), and I just started trying EB Slinky Cobalt 10-46.

I've never had a problem with the Dunlops after using 20-30 sets in the past 10-15 years and they sound great. I've only been using the Cobalts for a few weeks but they sound and function good so far. I used to use EB Slinkys all the time up until about 15 years ago and they were good, better than most.

The worst strings I've ever used were the GHS Boomers...I've never broken so many strings in my life!! With just about every set at least one string would break. It was ridiculous!

I know what you mean about the Boomers, I broke multiple strings some more than once when restringing my Les Paul. I was using locking tuners and that's what was breaking them, when I would screw the locking pin down it would snap through the string, I think they would be fine for regular tuners but idk all mine are locking and I never got past the string change after about the 3rd or 4th string break I just went back to my good old Fender NPS 10-46. I ended up sending the rest of the boomers to my friend that uses them(somehow)

[dave74]

Boomers/GHS waited forever before they started sealing their strings for freshness. Before that they were having terrible issues with black spots on the plains and cores of the wounds.

They only started sealing them a few years ago in-fact, maybe 4-5, time flies. That said I never had a problem breaking strings of any brand at any time except in the late 80s early 90s when I was a noob. Maybe part of that is I only play floyded guitars with all those smooth contact points.

When I was a noob my main guitar was an LP studio, and I did break strings with that.

[El Dunco]

I started using Elixirs because even at their price-per-string cost, their price-per-month cost was way, way lower than anything else. But then I started to really like the feel and the tone. So Elixirs.

Do you use the poly/nanoweb?

[GuitarStv]

Do you use the poly/nanoweb?

Elixir has three coatings:

Polyweb - Very thick and plastic-y feeling to me. Also, they seem to flake off pretty quickly for me. These make the strings sound noticeably darker. I can see why they're popular amoung some jazz guitarists . . . you get very little finger noise, and more fundamental. Didn't like them at all for general rock/blues/metal kind of stuff.

Nanoweb - These came out a few years after polywebs and are miles better. The flaking issues with the polywebs is very much reduced, and they sound much more like regular guitar strings . . . maybe the slightest hint less treble. Feel-wise, they're a little bit slicker than regular guitar strings - this is something I've become accustomed to over the years and actually prefer now. I can do long slides on wound strings with less discomfort. I find you have to be a little more precise when bending because there's a bit less grip from the string.

Optiweb - To me, these sound and feel pretty much like a set of uncoated strings that have an hour of play on them. There isn't a huge difference between the nanowebs and these (I have switched back and forth many times with no issue) but they're a tiny bit brighter and feel grippier like a regular string. If you haven't tried elixirs before, try Optiwebs first. They'll be very familiar feeling but will last you ages longer than you're used to.

As far as longevity, the Nano and optiwebs last quite a while for me - probably four times what I get out of regular D'addarios. The polywebs always seem to get flakey and only last 2-3 times as long.

[JB_From_Hell]

I'm equally happy with D'Addario, SIT, or Webstrings. I use 10-52 and 11-56, all 3 of those brands have the same gauges in the sets. I don't actively dislike any string brand I've tried, but I hate when the 10-52 set has a .044 A.

I'm trying to use up all the odd-ball singles I've accumulated over the years, so there are some funky combos right now. My drop B Carvin goes 11,15,18,30,40,59 and works pretty well.

[Chistopher]

With guitar strings I'm pretty polyamorous. Sometimes I use big coated elixirs, sometimes I use tiny uncoated strings from some brand no one ever heard of and went out of business after a year of making strings. Most of the time I'm somewhere in between

[Rex_Rocker]

but I hate when the 10-52 set has a .044 A.

Same! Especially as you translate that to heavier sets. Companies other than D'Addario tend to do that a lot. Even Ernie Ball does it to a degree, I feel.

What about you downtuners? What do you guys like?

[Mr. B]

After over 30 years playing, and having tried about every string brand and size out there, unless they were crazy expensive, I have D'Addario 9.5-44 set on most of my guitars. For my 7 string guitars, I use the GHS 9-58 set.

[misterwhizzy]

Do you use the poly/nanoweb?

I use the Nanowebs, but I have a set of Polyweb with my stuff for when I go crazy. (Tongue firmly in cheek.)