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Post by GuitarAttack Forum on Feb 24, 2024 8:18:39 GMT -6
All -- I probably get more notes concerning guitar strings than anything else.
The notes generally ask questions about brands, cost, gauge, tone, and how long they last.
What are your favorite strings? What are your least favorite strings?
As with anything, if you love or hate something, please let us know why. Tip: If you want to try new strings, buy a set and try them. Like picks, strings are part of a journey and we tend to have our preferences change over time. For example, I went through a Guild Sidebender or nothing phase a long time ago.
I'll start - these are my opinions - and I am not a paid endorser for any of these:
Favorite electric guitar strings. Ernie Ball Super Slinky, 9-42. I have been using these since the last century and they are always the same. I'm not sure if its because I've become accustomed to their sound and feel or if they are just genuinely better. Ernie Ball has a number of permutations of the Slinkys, and I have the Mighty Slinkys, 8.5-40 on a Firebird, and they are great. The coated Slinkys are pretty cool, and they don't have that odd feel like other coated strings and last forever. Bottom Line; Gimme Pink Slinkys, and I buy them in bulk.
Favorite acoustic guitar strings. D'Addario EJ16 Phosphor Bronze, 12-53. A Nashville Staple. Nothing feels or sounds better to me. While they don't last forever, they have a ring and tone that just sounds right. I buy them in three packs and tend to use them up very quickly.
Least favorite electric guitar strings. D'Addario NYXLs. While some folks swear by these, including some of my friends, I never connected with these strings. They feel stiff to me and I prefer the tone of the Ernie Ball strings.
Least favorite acoustic guitar strings. Don't hit me: I am not a fan of Elixirs. If you want a string that lasts forever, get these. If you want a really good sounding string, get the D'Addarios. These have gotten better over the years, but I am not a big fan of the coating.
Bass Strings. On my P-Bass I use Ernie Ball Slinky Flatwounds. These are incredible because they sound like roundwoud strings but feel like flatwounds. Some kind of new technical voodoo, I guess, but if you want a bright sound without the string noise, this is it.
Look forward to hearing your opinions.
Much more to follow, and we are going to explore some folklore about string gauges, too.
John
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Post by dnic on Feb 24, 2024 12:24:24 GMT -6
I thought I'd try something new a while back. I put some StringJoy strings on my #1 guitar. (That's the Padauk top with double P-45s that John built for me. P-90s with a true coil tap.)10 gauge, they sound thin to me. I played it a couple times and put it away. I need to go back to my favs. There's a lot of hype around these strings. I'm definitely not sold.
MY FAVORITE ELECTRIC GUITARS STRINGS. Ernie Ball super slinky 10-46. Most of my customers use the Ernie Ball's in varying gauges.
MY LEAST FAVORITE ELECTRIC GUITAR STRINGS. Well right now that would be the StrngJoys. I'm also not a fan of coated strings.
MY FAVORITE ACOUSTIC GUITARS STRINGS. I can't even tell you what I started out using 40 plus years ago. But I've been using the Ernie Ball Earthwoods 10-50 for a very long time. And I like the band new chimey sound I get with them. I also use D'Addarios and they are a great second choice for me. Many of my customers prefer the D'Addarios. My guitar tech friend in town played my new acoustic yesterday and he said it sounded to good to have Earthwoods on it. He prefers the D'Addarios.
MY LEAST FAVORITE ACOUSTIC GUITAR STRINGS. Hands down are the Elixirs. But a lot of my acoustic guitar customers bring me sets of coated strings. Everyone of them say "they last twice as long" and then I say "but they cost twice as much". Then in my head I say "but they sound like crap"
BASS STRINGS. I'm not a bass player but most of my bass customers play fretless and use flat wounds. And if memory serves they are split about 50/50 between EB and D'A
I will most likely restring my #1 with flat wounds. I've used them in the past and liked them a lot. Not only the sound but the feel.
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Post by antares on Feb 24, 2024 18:01:28 GMT -6
You know I recall stating once that in the 1970s and probably on into the 1980s I used Sidebenders and you said you'd done the same! For myself, I know that our mutual colleague Dusty would remonstrate with me, but I was and still am pretty hard on strings and would break them frequently. Sidebenders stood up to my abuse, but I certainly didn't choose them on any sound preference, just resilience. I used them on my Takemine dreadnaught too, and I got used to an unwound G on that acoustic. For years I had one remaining pack in a guitar case and by then Sidebenders had disappeared from emporia, so I put them on my 1973 Stratocaster. They're long since gone.
For acoustic I changed to D'addario coated in a .012" top string gauge and I have never changed from that. I know folks rail against coated strings but I've never had any issues with them. Sometime pre-Covid, I had the nut replaced on my current acoustic by the maker and he restrung with uncoated D'addarios. I couldn't wait the short time it took for them to go dead and get a set of coated back on. Incidentally, I use D'addario "Flats" that are coated on my mandolin and they are just superb. I'm tempted to try Flats on my acoustic but I have a few packets of coateds to use up first. I have a set of Elixirs but I haven't tried them.
On electric guitars, I use Newtone round core strings called "Nickel Masters" in an 011" top string gauge set. The round cored strings tune up to pitch at a lower tension. I came to them from resonators and Michael Messer designed them with Malcolm Newton to be ideal for old and fragile instruments and resonators with old Weisenborns in mind. My resonator strings have a .015" top string! It's character building! After that I started using Newtone on the electrics and love them. DR Strings do round wounds too- I bought a few packets but haven't tried them yet. I recommend trying round cored strings, they have a more supple feel to them. The Newtones stand up to my attack too. The caveat with round cored strings is that they unravel if you cut them, so it is imperative to get them up to pitch before trimming.
A few years ago, I bought a dozen packets of "Olympia" strings. They were about 3.5 bucks a set. They are .011" top string gauge sets. They sound really superb but they are stiff and sure do fight back at you! They have a wound third and I am now a convert to a wound third on electrics because of those strings. The sound of them makes me willing to persevere with their unforgiving tension. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a great choice of electric strings with a wound third. A deal-breaker with those Olympias was that NONE of the low "E" strings would intonate. I wound up buying a dozen Rotosound low "E" strings to get around the problem. (no pun) I read somewhere that Yamaha had Olympia make strings for them.
I now use Newtone Monel wound strings on the resonator. They must be bomb proof because I've never broken a Newtone Monel string.
I tried Newtone Double Wound "Jazz" strings on my Heritage Sweet16, but they just didn't work on that guitar. They sport two layers of windings with commensurately thinner cores. Not knowing what else to try, I whacked on a spare set of the D'addarios that I had. Phosphor bronze wound, they are great on that guitar too, even amplified.
I have been unsuccessful in trying to find any strings that I like on my Yamaha classical guitar.
It must be evident that I like heavier strings? Re-reading this it doesn't seem to add much to your survey John, but all feedback must have some value?
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Post by dnic on Feb 24, 2024 21:41:28 GMT -6
I never heard of Sidebenders before this thread. And now they're not even available. I feel so left out.
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Post by stratpurist on Feb 25, 2024 9:09:15 GMT -6
When I first started playing, not long after the last dinosaurs went extinct, I used Super Slinkys 8s and sometimes 7s on a gibson scale guitar.
Once I switched to strats I used Fender bullets for a while, GHS boomers and then D'Addario XL nickels 9-42.
For the last dozen years or so, I became exclusive with NYXL 9-42 which are my favorite string. The NYXL 10-46 set seems to sound best on my strat with noiseless pickups
Least favorite are Elixrs. I have a family member that works at GORE (they make the coating) and bought me sets at the company store. I had lots of issues but bottom line not for me.
Favorite acoustic strings are D'Addario phosphor bronze. I've tried different gauges but 11-52 works for tone and bendy solos. I've used the same strings for several (4?) decades. Makes me think I should try something new...
Least favorite would be Martin. Right up (down?) there with Black Diamond. I had some issues at the onset and with so many other brands to choose from I never went back.
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Post by antares on Feb 25, 2024 10:40:43 GMT -6
Good heads-up regarding the EB Slinky bass strings. It's no secret that I still have the Rotosound roundwound strings on my Gretsch bass that I put on to replace the dead ex-works strings, so that dates them to the late 1970s! Of course with the bass hanging decoratively on the wall it's little surprise that they've lasted. I bought a set of Rotosound flat wounds for it sometime well before Covid, but it never pays to be too hasty! You're description of the Slinkys has got me thinking that I might give a set of them a stretch.  |
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Post by GuitarAttack Forum on Feb 27, 2024 9:42:00 GMT -6
I do like those Slinkys for bass. It was an epiphany when I found them.
I remember the Guild Sidebenders came in a blue box. The older guy I worked with at the guitar shop told me about them. I then turned into a pretty hardcore GHS Boomer fan. Along the way I tried just about everything - Fender Super Bullets, Stay in Tune (SIT) Strings, and on and on. I even tried boiling my strings in water/baking soda ala Van Halen. That didn't work well, and after two tries I gave it up forever.
The Boomers are pretty solid strings. I've used those on repairs for some guys and they do sound and play pretty well.
John
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Post by antares on Feb 29, 2024 2:31:43 GMT -6
The Sidebenders came in a blue, black and white packet, but it's trivial to search and pull up the Google images. Folks try to sell them on eVilBay for unfeasible prices. Back then strings represented a significant percentage of my income, so they needed to last and Sidebenders seemed to do that. Other brands may have lasted too, but laying down cash to find out wasn't on my horizon. Also, implicit in that financial scenario was the fact that I wouldn't have even contemplated idly trying out brands to see what they sounded like.
I don't think that the Fender Bullets were really all that special despite Fender's bludgeoning marketing machine. I think that the bullet shaped string ends were Fender's attempt to stabilise tuning issues with their iconic Stratocaster floating bridge; down in that hole, a typical ball end on a string was alleged to settle at a different place after each whammy action leading to slight pitch changes. This was originally thought to be the bridge returning to a different rest point each time, and through the years since we have seen other attempts such as knife edge fulcrums and two bolt pivots leading to The Schaller locked down design and similar from competitors. Fender's bullet design was intended to ameliorate the issue but the jury's out on that in my view.
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Post by dnic on Feb 29, 2024 10:32:25 GMT -6
I've never purposely used the Fender bullet strings. I have had trouble with the ball ends getting stuck in trem blocks. Seems like the Bullets get stuck as well but it's been so long I really can't say for sure.
I did get a box of Bullet strings in the in the stuff I bough from the other guitar builder. ! pack of Elixirs as well.
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Post by GuitarAttack Forum on Mar 1, 2024 11:27:24 GMT -6
Super Bullets...ah, yes. I went through a stage with those, but thankfully it was a short stage. They seemed like they didn't last as long as the Ernie Balls and I recall that they cost a little more due to their special design!
I found a set of vintage SideBenders on Reverb.com, but I don't think I would actually use them.
I do have an original Ernie Ball Van Halen 5150 set of strings. I found them in a box from one of my many moves. They are 09-40. Van Halen used the 40 low E because that was what was used in the old Fender 09 set. I also believe that he used a 15 rather than 16 G string.
One note: The Elixir strings have gotten a lot better over the years. I think the coating has gotten thinner and more pliable. They don't seem to flake as bad.
John
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Post by dnic on Mar 2, 2024 10:44:35 GMT -6
I've got a 71 thin line tele in the shop I made a new neck for. Just waiting for tuners, agh! I made a conversion neck for it. The owner Petey'ed the neck off it 30 or more years ago. I think I'll use a set of the Bullets on it.
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Post by GuitarAttack Forum on Mar 2, 2024 19:27:58 GMT -6
I didn't realize you could still buy super Bullets! Let us know how it goes.
John
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Post by dnic on Mar 3, 2024 8:20:09 GMT -6
I didn't realize you could still buy super Bullets! Let us know how it goes. John I MENTIONED IN AN EARLIER POST THAT I GOT THESE STRINGS IN A BULK SALE OF A BUNCH OF STUFF FROM ANOTHER BUILDER. I have no idea if they are still available in stores. But I'll let you know what I think of them once I get this beast strung up. |
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Post by GuitarAttack Forum on Mar 3, 2024 9:25:00 GMT -6
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Post by dnic on Mar 4, 2024 10:42:46 GMT -6
Don't know how old but they are in sealed packages. I did get a lot of stuff from the guy. Maybe I'll do a thread on that with pics. |
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