String longevity - personal best?

[alex1fly]

Working on a personal record. I've had the same set of regular 'ol D'Addario XL Nickelwound 10s on my main guitar since... geeze, probably last fall some time. So we'll say 7 months and a round 100 hours of playtime including 1 1/2 step bends, Floyd trem use, and plenty of Frusciante-esque string smacking. Their tension has decreased slightly, so the second fret of the B string flirts with fretting out, but other than that they still sound and feel great! Usually I change strings "when I feel like it", but it's been fun to ride these for so long.

Any other personal bests with string longevity?

 

[jeremy]

i havent changed the strings on my turner model t baritone since i got it, 2019 sometime, maybe 2018 even. times not real anyway

 

[GuitarStv]

Just a warning - When I was broke in university I used to leave regular D'addarios on my guitar until they were extremely rusted. I don't do it any more. Because they're rough the rusted strings seem to wear your frets much more quickly . . . and a fret job is way more expensive than a couple packs of strings.

With the Elixirs I use now I regularly get around 100 hrs of play time before they start to have trouble tuning up . . . and no rusty/scratchy roughness eating into my frets.

 

[Mincer]

Humidity here (and sweat when you play outside) won't let you keep strings on the guitar that long without a tetanus shot.

 

[ErikH]

Depends on if it's a regular player. My main players get string changes every month to couple months depending on the wear. I have some that haven't been restrung in a couple years and since they are kept in the cases, the strings still look good.

I think the longest I've gone on a regular player is 3 months.

 

[St_Genesius]

I've had the same set of flats on my medium-scale bass for the better part of a decade now...

 

[PFDarkside]

One of my favorite quotes on this was when ImmortalI6 mentioned he hadn’t changed strings on his bass since the Clinton administration. :chairfall

Just a warning - When I was broke in university I used to leave regular D'addarios on my guitar until they were extremely rusted. I don't do it any more. Because they're rough the rusted strings seem to wear your frets much more quickly . . . and a fret job is way more expensive than a couple packs of strings.

With the Elixirs I use now I regularly get around 100 hrs of play time before they start to have trouble tuning up . . . and no rusty/scratchy roughness eating into my frets.

I’m addicted to Elixir now. I love picking up any guitar and having to spin the whee of string dullness.

 

[Synapsys]

A few years back I swore by Dean Markley Blue Steels.

Suddenly the quality dropped to abysmal levels - got packs from different sellers, and they were all rusted inside the packaging- so I switched to Elixirs.

They are definitely worth the money, especially since my sweat is not overly corrosive. Sound awesome too.

 

[UnderTheFlame83]

On the guitars that I play the most I like to change the strings every 3 months. Longest I went without changing strings was on my acoustic for about 3 years. When you have a lot of guitars it can be pretty expensive buying strings, so I bought the Dunlop Ultraglide String Cleaner and Conditioner. This stuff works great and makes old strings feel new again.

 

[LLL]

This is easy...

1 year + for a single set.

Played approx every other day/2 days off/sorta thing for few hours a day.

They were Optima Golds, that's why.

 

[Aceman]

Humidity here (and sweat when you play outside) won't let you keep strings on the guitar that long without a tetanus shot.

One gig at Whiskey Joes on the bay = New Strings


I had a set on a Floyded Superstrat for a year of casual playing until a string broke. NYXL's when they were new. I was impressed.

 

[UnderTheFlame83]

NYXL's are great. 10-52 set I bought 6 months ago still sound new.

 

[beaubrummels]

The longest lasting set I ever experienced was Kaman Teflon-coated 8s back in the 1980s. They lasted 3-4 years without breaking. I actually lost the guitar they were on before I could change them. (Loaned it to a 'friend' and it disappeared from his house.)

 

[Mincer]

I've used the D'addario XT strings, which are treated (not coated). They sound good, but get just as icky after a 4 set show outside in Florida as their XLs. Not worth the extra $. I have yet to try their new acoustic coated strings, the XS.

 

[oilpit]

There's a newish kind of Slinky called the 'paradigm', that have some crazy guarantee that if they break within like a month, they will replace the whole set (something like that). Presumably they're meant to past far longer than that. I haven't tried them but I was impressed by that replacement thing.

 

[PFDarkside]

I've used the D'addario XT strings, which are treated (not coated). They sound good, but get just as icky after a 4 set show outside in Florida as their XLs. Not worth the extra $. I have yet to try their new acoustic coated strings, the XS.

I’ve got some XS right here I’ll try out after these Elixirs. I really like D’Addario, so I’m hopeful.