JeffB
Let it B
these absolutely $hitty DR brand strings again...
(bear with me, I'm torqued up here :laugh2: )
I have NEVER EVER EVARRRRRRRRR had such a piss-poor experience with a guitar related product. I've have bought 12 sets of these things ( Pure Blues, and Tite-Fits) in the past year and a half or so. I've bought them from various retailers both local and online.
In the past my experience has been either these are the best strings I've ever put on an axe, or the biggest frigging HEADACHE I've experienced.
My issues are thus
1) Extreme wear within a couple of days on the wound strings (flatten out/groove and/or windings break. Whether they are pure nickel or nickel coated)
2) Rusted plain strings, straight out of the (vaccum sealed) box
3) quick breakage at the saddles (but not having breakage with other brands on the same guitar)
The biggest issue? (if those were not enough)
4) Extreme out of tune/intonation problems.
Right after I got my new Dean, I scrapped the strings that were on it cos they were a lil' old and dead. The shop did not have D'addarios in stock in the guages I wanted, and I'm always experimenting so I grabbed some EB Slinkys and some DR Tite-Fits.(see below why I even bothered). 10-46.
I put on a set of Ernie Ball Slinky 10s, tweaked the rod and action and the guitar really came to life. But they were a little too sloppy on the low strings. I knew from past experience that the Tite-Fits were tight on the low strings and yet still very flexible for bending on the upper strings.
Well I put them on, tweaked the rod & action, and the guitar sounded absolutely brilliant. Increased resonance and sustain, clear as a bell, and no intonation issues. Stayed in tune. blah blah blah. 3 nights ago I decided to change them as they were starting to groove badly (the wound strings). For some reason I could not find my other pack of Tite-fits so I put more Slinkys back on. Went on fine, nice and warm, intonated fine, held tune, but still didn't feel quite right.
I found the pack of DR Tite-fits the next day, and put them on....and like I'd experienced before on other axes...horrible, horrible, tuning/intonation problems. Every string was WAYYY off being intonated. Nor would they HOLD tune for more tha 2 minutes. I tweaked and tweaked and 3 of the strings just would not intonate. Just like had happened on my Tokai, and my Explorer. I messed with the guitar for over 2 hours. Now the same exact strings (guage and type) previously had required no intonation tweaking, and also stayed rock solid in tune from the minute I put them on! WTF????
Off they came in my rage, and all I had laying around in nickel wrap was a set of D'addario 9-46 guage instead of my normal 10-46. I had a set of Pure Blues 10s laying around but I wasn't about to put MORE DR strings on this thing. The D'addarios went on without a hitch, and even with the difference in guage, the intonation was nearly perfect , they held tune, no issues whatsoever.
This is NOT the first time I've had this issue with DR strings...as I said, I had the same issues with them on my Explorer and my Tokai. On my USA Hamer Standard, my first Dean ML, and my Gibson Faded V, I had the winding and saddle breakage issues with the Pure Blues and the Tite-Fits. Then there are the rust plain strings (I'd say half of my 12 packs suffered from at least one rusty plain string) .
When you get a GOOD set, of DRs they are absolutely the most incredible strings for sound/feel/tuning I've played...but only about 1/3 of the sets of DR strings that I've bought have been these "incredible" strings.
I think DR should prolly stop making these by hand (as they so proudly claim on the packaging) and go with machines to get some shred of consistency. It's pretty sad that D'addario, GHS, EB....i.e. the "cheap" string companies can put out a far more consistent, and better built product for half the price.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr:yell:
(bear with me, I'm torqued up here :laugh2: )
I have NEVER EVER EVARRRRRRRRR had such a piss-poor experience with a guitar related product. I've have bought 12 sets of these things ( Pure Blues, and Tite-Fits) in the past year and a half or so. I've bought them from various retailers both local and online.
In the past my experience has been either these are the best strings I've ever put on an axe, or the biggest frigging HEADACHE I've experienced.
My issues are thus
1) Extreme wear within a couple of days on the wound strings (flatten out/groove and/or windings break. Whether they are pure nickel or nickel coated)
2) Rusted plain strings, straight out of the (vaccum sealed) box
3) quick breakage at the saddles (but not having breakage with other brands on the same guitar)
The biggest issue? (if those were not enough)
4) Extreme out of tune/intonation problems.
Right after I got my new Dean, I scrapped the strings that were on it cos they were a lil' old and dead. The shop did not have D'addarios in stock in the guages I wanted, and I'm always experimenting so I grabbed some EB Slinkys and some DR Tite-Fits.(see below why I even bothered). 10-46.
I put on a set of Ernie Ball Slinky 10s, tweaked the rod and action and the guitar really came to life. But they were a little too sloppy on the low strings. I knew from past experience that the Tite-Fits were tight on the low strings and yet still very flexible for bending on the upper strings.
Well I put them on, tweaked the rod & action, and the guitar sounded absolutely brilliant. Increased resonance and sustain, clear as a bell, and no intonation issues. Stayed in tune. blah blah blah. 3 nights ago I decided to change them as they were starting to groove badly (the wound strings). For some reason I could not find my other pack of Tite-fits so I put more Slinkys back on. Went on fine, nice and warm, intonated fine, held tune, but still didn't feel quite right.
I found the pack of DR Tite-fits the next day, and put them on....and like I'd experienced before on other axes...horrible, horrible, tuning/intonation problems. Every string was WAYYY off being intonated. Nor would they HOLD tune for more tha 2 minutes. I tweaked and tweaked and 3 of the strings just would not intonate. Just like had happened on my Tokai, and my Explorer. I messed with the guitar for over 2 hours. Now the same exact strings (guage and type) previously had required no intonation tweaking, and also stayed rock solid in tune from the minute I put them on! WTF????
Off they came in my rage, and all I had laying around in nickel wrap was a set of D'addario 9-46 guage instead of my normal 10-46. I had a set of Pure Blues 10s laying around but I wasn't about to put MORE DR strings on this thing. The D'addarios went on without a hitch, and even with the difference in guage, the intonation was nearly perfect , they held tune, no issues whatsoever.
This is NOT the first time I've had this issue with DR strings...as I said, I had the same issues with them on my Explorer and my Tokai. On my USA Hamer Standard, my first Dean ML, and my Gibson Faded V, I had the winding and saddle breakage issues with the Pure Blues and the Tite-Fits. Then there are the rust plain strings (I'd say half of my 12 packs suffered from at least one rusty plain string) .
When you get a GOOD set, of DRs they are absolutely the most incredible strings for sound/feel/tuning I've played...but only about 1/3 of the sets of DR strings that I've bought have been these "incredible" strings.
I think DR should prolly stop making these by hand (as they so proudly claim on the packaging) and go with machines to get some shred of consistency. It's pretty sad that D'addario, GHS, EB....i.e. the "cheap" string companies can put out a far more consistent, and better built product for half the price.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr:yell:
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