What brand of .011's do you guys use?

3

357mag

New member
I've recently switched from .010's to .011's and so far it's going great. I have no problems playing the slightly heavier string and I have a tone which is a bit more solid.

So far I've picked up some .011's by DR Pure Blues, Fender, and D'addario.

I've noticed that there does not seem to be a standard when it comes to .011's. Most all manufacturers will give you the same E, B, and G string. But once you get to the D, A, and low E string different brands have different sizes.

Just wondering what you guys are using for your .011's.
 
Re: What brand of .011's do you guys use?

Thomastik-Infeld hands down. They actually make three types to choose from: Power Brights, in regular 11-46 or heavy bottom 11-53 (these are closest to the sets you mentioned); and two types of jazz strings: Jazz Swing flatwounds and Jazz Bebop roundwounds, both 11-47. Both are pure nickel wraps on round core. The Bebops are very versatile - clear and crisp and almost piano-like. I've used all of them and they're all great for their intended purposes.
 
Re: What brand of .011's do you guys use?

D'Addario or Ernie Ball, and I replace the G with a .024 wound and use the leftover plain Gs as cat toys. For all I know, both brands made in the same place. I cannot tell any difference between them.

Most of my Fenders and P-90 guitars have 11's. My carved-top Pauls have 12's. (One has humbuckers, and the other has P-90's.) My SGs have 10's with a plain G, as does my 330, but I may start using a wound G on the 330. My Tele has stock Hybrids, which are 10 on the bottom and 9 on the top with a plain G. My old Strat has Skinny Top Heavy Bottoms with a .022 wound G. One Strat used to have 15's (for about 10 years), but it is having the neck refinished, and I will use 13's when it is done. I kept the 15's on it just to play surf music, which I don't do much any more.
 
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Re: What brand of .011's do you guys use?

Yeah, and a .022 wound on that old Strat with the skinny top heavy bottoms, and .026 on the Pauls with 12's.

Note that I am not a shredder. I play a blues/R&B/early-rock-n-roll rhythm/lead mix style of guitar for the most part. They don't bend as well as a plain G. But they sound much better IMO. And I keep plain Gs on the guitars that are best suited for fast leads (SGs, 330, my Tele). But all the rest have a wound G.

One note about them, if you want to try them, is that you need to buy extras. They wear out the fastest. The frets put dents in them, and the windings peel back. Maybe not an issue if you change strings frequently...but I don't. I replace strings one at a time as they break, and might do a whole set from time to time. The 12's have been on one of my Pauls since 2006, and none of them have ever been replaced except for several wound Gs. Plain strings are still shiny too, cuz I wipe them down.

It's not that strange, especially for a player that doesn't bend a lot. More people would do it if there were more strings that came that way.
 
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Re: What brand of .011's do you guys use?

11 D'Addarios. I've never found a reason to buy ones that cost any more. I've got a stable of guitars needing 11's to feed. 9's are noodles. 10's are OK. 11's bring the balls. Any higher and the sound gets too thuddy for my taste.
 
Re: What brand of .011's do you guys use?

Gearjoneser said:
11's bring the balls. Any higher and the sound gets too thuddy for my taste.
Click to expand...

With some guitars, but not all. My 15's sounded far from thuddy on my Strat. They were pure crunch and twang. Maybe cause the pickups were 57/62's, not humbuckers or hotly-wound Strat pickups.
 
Re: What brand of .011's do you guys use?

I've used EB power slinkys, DR Tite Fits, D addario and Elixir polyweb.

The power slinkys got rusty pretty quick, all it took was a few hours of playing and they got spotty and kind of rough.

the DRs were great strings, a different feel from most (you feel the texture on the wound strings more) and great sound.

D Addarios: My current string of choice. I haven't broken a single string through around 7 gigs, a little cleaning and a little love keep them clean and useable.

the elixirs were great strings but I dislike the very small loss of high end.

Ernie Balls have brokent the most, Elixir 3rd, DR comes in at 2nd place with much less string breaks.
 
Re: What brand of .011's do you guys use?

+1 for d'addario
i'd use non-blue-steel dean markleys if they were as available

i didn't mind the elixirs either
 
Re: What brand of .011's do you guys use?

What ever is available . I like 11's alright but I like 12's better . Seem they have more balls .

Ernie Ball is in my town ( strings factory ) so their strings kind of [ STAND OUT ] and I use them too . Also these heavier strings make tracking on a midi guitar synthesizer module really good and accurate .

HR
 
Re: What brand of .011's do you guys use?

Ernie Ball Rock-n-Roll.

I'm hooked on pure nickel strings and the EB's so far have the best tone and feel with the least amount of intonation issues.
 
Re: What brand of .011's do you guys use?

I normally use D'Addario 11's.

Right now I'm giving Webstring's 11's a try.
So far they seem pretty decent.
 
Re: What brand of .011's do you guys use?

Daddarios on everything. .010 on my electrics and .011 on my slide guitars and .012 on my acoustic guitars. Used to use .013 on my acoustics but not now.
 
Re: What brand of .011's do you guys use?

I used to run Daddario 11s, then Elixir, then back to Daddario, then back to Elixir once the Plated Plains came out. Now, I play those same strings but in 10. The 11s started giving me hand problems.
 
Re: What brand of .011's do you guys use?

I use 11 gauge Rotosounds on my Ibie S470 in Eb tuning, works for me.
 
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