Recommend some coated acoustic guitar strings

[Sean Sullivan]

Ok, I'd never put coated guitar strings on any of my guitars but my girlfriend has small hands and about half an hour into her set her fingers get pretty worn out. The fews time I've played coated strings they seem softer to the touch, so I was going to get her guitar set up and try a pair and see what she thinks.

Are Elixers still the standard? I know D'Addario started making them as well.

[KevWind]

I have tried both back to Elixer now.... MY wife likes the ultra lights .47 -.10 easer on the finger tips

[Sean Sullivan]

Thanks for the suggestion! Those are like electric guitar string gauges! How do they sound?

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by upinflames

Thanks for the suggestion! Those are like electric guitar string gauges! How do they sound?

Actually I suppose it might depend on the particular guitar, type of wood etc. But on her 712 Taylor as much projection as the .53-.12s that I use. Worth giving them a try any way, cause they are kinder on the fingers for sure.

[doncaparker]

Martin Extended Life SP+ for me. Light guage, .012 to .054.

[Jay Dee]

Take a magnifying glass some time and look closely at those coated strings after a couple of months of solid playing... see how the plastic gets frayed and fuzzy. Wonder what that's doing to your tone? Hmmm.

[Sean Sullivan]

It's a guitar we only use for shows because it has a pickup and if something were to happen to it, wouldn't be a great loss (it's an Epiphone I think I paid $120 for with a hard shell case) so it only gets played a few times a month, probably 3 or 4 hours total.

[S.F.Sorrow]

Personally I would rather try different brands of uncoated strings. I think coated strings are awful. Strings are very different in regard to how much they wear out your fingers. The same gauge from different brands feels completely different. I play mostly bassguitar so my advice may be wrong but D'Addario is one of the worst for your fingers on bass.

Coated strings just don't do it for me. I would rather try some flatwounds, even on acoustic guitar. They are soft as butter and some of them are quite bright. Maybe look for halfwounds or something like that, I'm not sure if that excists for acoustic guitars but it might be worth to check out. Flat on the outside and round on the inside.

[Roots Rock]

Originally Posted by upinflames

Ok, I'd never put coated guitar strings on any of my guitars but my girlfriend has small hands and about half an hour into her set her fingers get pretty worn out. The fews time I've played coated strings they seem softer to the touch, so I was going to get her guitar set up and try a pair and see what she thinks.

Are Elixers still the standard? I know D'Addario started making them as well.

I think the action on the guitar would have more to do with it than the strings. That being said, I love the sound of Elixirs on my Taylor.

[doncaparker]

Originally Posted by Jay Dee

Take a magnifying glass some time and look closely at those coated strings after a couple of months of solid playing... see how the plastic gets frayed and fuzzy. Wonder what that's doing to your tone? Hmmm.

Play some regular strings for that long and see how they look under a magnifying glass. And we already know how they would sound after being played for that long: dull with poor intonation.

There's no free lunch here. If you want to have a very short period of great tone, and are willing to change strings very frequently, then use regular strings. If you want the tone to be a bit more mellow, and have that tone last longer, use coated strings. Play any sort of string for long enough and the intonation will go sour due to the strings being dented by the frets.

[sound_music]

i've tried the elixer strings on my acoustic guitars, they're great for live use as they are really bright and last alot longer, but the brightness translates to "plastic sounding" the second you put a microphone in front of the guitar in the studio. IMO, for recording purposes you're better off sticking to normal acoustic strings.

[Elvis Christ]

Originally Posted by sound_music

i've tried the elixer strings on my acoustic guitars, they're great for live use as they are really bright and last alot longer, but the brightness translates to "plastic sounding" the second you put a microphone in front of the guitar in the studio. IMO, for recording purposes you're better off sticking to normal acoustic strings.

elixir makes a phosphor bronze acoustic string now. they are a much warmer sounding string. my favorite acoustic string ever.

[Sean Sullivan]

I picked up a pair of D'Addario EXP13 strings, they only had the Elixirs in medium which is a little thicker than she likes to play. If the D'Addarios don't cut it, I'll try the Elixirs, and if those stink it's back to regular strings. To be honest, I don't really notice the coating on the D'Addarios, unlike my experience with Elixirs.

[seriousfun]

Originally Posted by Jay Dee

Take a magnifying glass some time and look closely at those coated strings after a couple of months of solid playing... see how the plastic gets frayed and fuzzy. Wonder what that's doing to your tone? Hmmm.

They'd still sound a lot better than everything-else-equal uncoated strings by then.

Back when I was gigging nightly, I had to change strings daily on my most-used guitars. Not cheap. Not fun.

[WorldOfStrings]

Originally Posted by Sean Sullivan

I picked up a pair of D'Addario EXP13 strings, they only had the Elixirs in medium which is a little thicker than she likes to play. If the D'Addarios don't cut it, I'll try the Elixirs, and if those stink it's back to regular strings. To be honest, I don't really notice the coating on the D'Addarios, unlike my experience with Elixirs.

We recommend and use D'Addario EXP coated strings. They perform excellently compared to the rubbery and unnatural feel of Elixirs. They last longer, play better, and sound better than any other coated strings we've tried.