Guitar Strings

[JeffB]

Re: Guitar Strings

Tried everything brand, composition, gauges...a thousand times. On certain guitars and pup combos I may like one thing and on my other guitars, hate the sound or feel. Some just aren't very stable and never stay in tune for me. Some are rock solid but sound like garbage.

Strings can make a big difference, less bass, more mids, brighter, warmer, more bite, thicker, etc.

In general, I like Slinkies (classics or nps) on single coils and dislike them for humbuckers. There are exceptions. Big problem is they rust and last about 2-3 days for me, even after wiping/cleaning religously. Love the (when fresh) zing and string to string tension though.

I like(d) Dunlop nps for brighter humbucker guitars. They have a beefy acoustic type quality. I had been using them pretty exclusively for two years on my #1. But stopped using them when they changed their packaging as I was getting rusted/tarnished strings and dead strings too often after the change-over.

I've since made some drastic pickup changes and need brighter strings, and Gibson Brite Wires are always my fave there.

I am lucky to get 2 weeks out of strings, so I avoid the cheap stuff that doesn't last but a few days to begin with, or the high $ strings that don't provide any extra value for me.

GHS Boomers are the most stable, consistent pack to pack strings I have used over the decades. But they rarely work for me tonally. Sucks for me because they are affordable and last a good while.

 

[Open lane]

Re: Guitar Strings

I've tried a couple. I like curt mangan (i think that is how it is spelled) and elixir. I just ordered a pair of ghs progressives for my V, hoping i dig. I like the gauge of yngwie's fender (.08) but they wear out kinda fast.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Guitar Strings

I'm loving my sets that I figured out how to balance for a Fender headstock: 11,15,20,32,44,59 or 10,13.5,18,28,39,54. Give them a try! Increased bass and even feel from string to string compared to a regular set.

 

[daenius]

Re: Guitar Strings

D'addario NYXLs for me! They're rather expensive, but they feel great, easy to bend, and have very clear tone while not sounding thin. They're not coated so while D'addario advertises string life that rivals coated strings, I do not find that to be true at all. They're just better and more expensive regular strings.

I throw Elixirs on my guitars that have Floyd Rose bridges, because I'm lazy, LOL

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: Guitar Strings

I have to admit that I'm a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to strings, but I have a large family and money is generally tight. I started switching my electrics to d'Addario XL 9-42s about 7 months ago and have been quite satisfied with them. I have 9 electric guitars and rotate through playing out with all of them, and am consistently getting 3+ months before needing a change. I generally buy them in a 10-pack which costs around $30, so the price is very reasonable as well.

I'm finding that I don't play my acoustics anywhere near as much anymore, so once I go through the 3 or 4 sets of strings I have on hand I'll probably switch to Elixirs just to keep the corrosion from lack of use down.

One thing I've been doing for a couple years now is buying packs of individual strings of each size and keeping them on hand. It's great for dealing with the odd string breaks that occur when the rest of the strings still have plenty of life.

Also (and here's where you get to see the nerd in me [emoji851]), back in June of last year I started an Excel worksheet to track string breakage and changes... it's pretty interesting to see the patterns that emerged which pointed me toward maintenance that was needed, plus it helps me to remember and track the last string change for a given guitar. If anyone's interested in it, PM me and I'll be happy to email you a blank file.

Some notes for reading the chart:

• String breaks show as a white "x" on red
• String replacement show as a white letter on green
• String replacement same day shows as a white "x" on red/green
• The "# breaks" near the top counts the number of "x" that are in each given column
• Complete string changes show as a single bar across all 6 (or whatever) strings

A couple of patterns:

• Notice how many fewer string breaks have occurred on any guitar AFTER the switch to the d'Addarios
• Notice on the Perfect 10 how many string breaks I had on the high G string in the beginning (there were also 3 or 4 in the first couple of months I had it, prior to when I started tracking). Until 10/22/16 I was using a .009, but on 10/29 I replaced it with a .008 which didn't break until last night.
• Same guitar, near the end of September I had some breakage of both D strings, but some careful filing to the bridge and tuner holes to remove burrs seemed to get the desired result.

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[shupe13]

Re: Guitar Strings

D'Addario XLs for me.


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[daenius]

Re: Guitar Strings

I have to admit that I'm a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to strings, but I have a large family and money is generally tight. I started switching my electrics to d'Addario XL 9-42s about 7 months ago and have been quite satisfied with them. I have 9 electric guitars and rotate through playing out with all of them, and am consistently getting 3+ months before needing a change. I generally buy them in a 10-pack which costs around $30, so the price is very reasonable as well.

I'm finding that I don't play my acoustics anywhere near as much anymore, so once I go through the 3 or 4 sets of strings I have on hand I'll probably switch to Elixirs just to keep the corrosion from lack of use down.

One thing I've been doing for a couple years now is buying packs of individual strings of each size and keeping them on hand. It's great for dealing with the odd string breaks that occur when the rest of the strings still have plenty of life.

Also (and here's where you get to see the nerd in me [emoji851]), back in June of last year I started an Excel worksheet to track string breakage and changes... it's pretty interesting to see the patterns that emerged which pointed me toward maintenance that was needed, plus it helps me to remember and track the last string change for a given guitar. If anyone's interested in it, PM me and I'll be happy to email you a blank file.

Some notes for reading the chart:

• String breaks show as a white "x" on red
• String replacement show as a white letter on green
• String replacement same day shows as a white "x" on red/green
• The "# breaks" near the top counts the number of "x" that are in each given column
• Complete string changes show as a single bar across all 6 (or whatever) strings

A couple of patterns:

• Notice how many fewer string breaks have occurred on any guitar AFTER the switch to the d'Addarios
• Notice on the Perfect 10 how many string breaks I had on the high G string in the beginning (there were also 3 or 4 in the first couple of months I had it, prior to when I started tracking). Until 10/22/16 I was using a .009, but on 10/29 I replaced it with a .008 which didn't break until last night.
• Same guitar, near the end of September I had some breakage of both D strings, but some careful filing to the bridge and tuner holes to remove burrs seemed to get the desired result.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Holy crap! You, sir, are extremely hardcore! HAHA! That made my day

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: Guitar Strings

Holy crap! You, sir, are extremely hardcore! HAHA! That made my day

Lol... I'm not usually quite this anal on stuff but I found myself constantly trying to remember how long it had been since the last string change and getting different guitars mixed up. I wanted to come up with an easy way to remember and ended up with this. It really worked out to be pretty handy and interesting! [emoji12]


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[stevie_bees]

Re: Guitar Strings

Thanks for all the info fellas, definitely food for thought. I tend to rotate my guitars too, in order to maximize string life. I'm gonna look into some of the suggestions and see if I can find some online deals.


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[Jacew]

Re: Guitar Strings

I'm loving my sets that I figured out how to balance for a Fender headstock: 11,15,20,32,44,59 or 10,13.5,18,28,39,54. Give them a try! Increased bass and even feel from string to string compared to a regular set.

I've been using 10,13.5,17,26,36,49 sets for a year now. Basically standard 10's with custom b and low e. Fixes the "softness" (in terms of tone) of those strings compared to a-d-g strings.

 

[HotHead]

Re: Guitar Strings

Ernie Balls have been my go-to ever since I started, but I never really stuck by them. I'd get XLs if my local shop was sold out of EBs (which was quite often). Now, I'm actively trying stuff out to see what I like. So far, I've tried Ernie Ball Regular Slinky, Cobalt, M-Steels, Elixirs, GHS Boomers, D'Addario XLs. I also bought a pack of Cleartones and NYXLs, which I have yet to try. I'm a Metal guy, so these were all brands that seemed to be down my alley. Fenders and Dean Markelys didn't really seem for me.

The Ernie Ball Regulars and Cobalt are pretty much interchangeable for me. I didn't notice much of a difference, other than one degrades SLIGHTLY less than the other. Cobalt might have more punch, but nothing substantial.

M-Steels I wasn't a fan of at all. They lasted longer than the other two, but I didn't like the sound.

I love regular XLs for my "clean" guitars. They're just so crisp and clean and they're cheap. I always teeter back and forth as to whether I like steel strings for heavy distortion. I'm always wary of using them, because they'll wear the frets out quicker. They stay good for a long time (or at least the way I use them.)

Surprisingly, I hated the Elixirs the most. The instant I took them out of the pack, I knew I wasted $12 that I'll never get back. I didn't realize that the coating was so noticeable. That Nanoweb coating made it feel like I was playing strings covered in snot. Playing was not enjoyable at all. Not to mention that the tone I liked the least out of all of them. I swapped them after a day. What good are strings that last for months, but have lackluster tone?

The GHS Boomers I love. They remind me of Ernie Balls, and I still have them on my test guitar now. They seem to last longer than EBs.

I'm waiting to try the Cleartones and the NYXLs to see if they live to the hype. I purposely saved those for last.

I'd also like to test those super expensive Brain May gold guitar strings some day.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Guitar Strings

I've been using 10,13.5,17,26,36,49 sets for a year now. Basically standard 10's with custom b and low e. Fixes the "softness" (in terms of tone) of those strings compared to a-d-g strings.

Nice. That looks like a good set.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Guitar Strings

Wow, Bri, that is pretty intense.
I can usually feel and hear when strings are starting to go on a guitar. I am also a very light player, but the humidity in Florida just kills strings, even if kept in a case. You feel the strings starting to get rough. As soon as I feel that, tuning issues are next and then they break, so I change them as soon as I 'feel' them.

 

[redbullnshimano]

Re: Guitar Strings

I have tried almost all brands from all over the world. Once I came across a now discontinued Yamaha **something** model. On the wrapper, it was described to sound alike piano strings tone.
It felt good, not too abrasive to the frets and yet not slippery on sweaty fingers. Full rich sound and yet it 'rings' easily in overtones. Long lasting too. But too bad, just as all good things, will come to an end.:17:
Now I have yet to find my new permanent strings. Still rotating brands of strings every string change.

 

[Wattage]

Re: Guitar Strings

I like pure nickel strings best but I mostly use D'Addario XL's

Depending on guitar and mod I could use anything from 9.5's to 11's. These days I've been hot on the 9.5's strings.

If I use pure nickel they're usually the Ginson Vintage Nickel in 10's

 

[baritone]

Re: Guitar Strings

I used Dean Markley for my 1st 5 years. I liked them; I don't know why I stopped using them.
Then I switched to Ernie Ball custom sets, and I've been using those ever since. I tried D'Addario a few times over the years, and I have never liked those.

 

[The JEM Ghost]

Re: Guitar Strings

Before switching to coated strings, I used D'Addario XL's, very pleased with those, but non-coated strings don't last long at all when I use them (my sweat is like Alien-blood lol, it bites through everything it seems).
I have been using the Elixir strings since switching to coated strings, they are satisfying for my needs. I'll give the GHS Coated Boomers a try in the near future since they are a lot cheaper, but can't comment on those since I did not use them so far.
Tried the D'Addario coated EXP ones, and did not like them since the unwound strings are not coated giving the same problem as the regular strings. Was kind of disappointed by D'Addario because of that, had expected better from them. But when you don't need coated strings I still recommend D'Addario XL's.