Guitar String Thread...What do you like? Why?

[LittleJohn]

Originally Posted by 3rd world order

who breaks strings? i havent broken one in about 10 years... are they breaking at the head or the tail?

I used to break them all the time, then I quit the six pack of beer and whatever else was around before the sets, and have not broken one since.

amazing. I'm still scratching over that one.

[octatonic]

Originally Posted by 3rd world order

who breaks strings? i havent broken one in about 10 years... are they breaking at the head or the tail?

I tend to change my strings regularly, make sure the saddles and nut are smooth and I use 10-52's or above.
I rarely break strings on those guitars.

The Nashville set- that is a different story.
The G breaks almost every time- but that is a 009 and tuned a min 3'rd above what it really should be.

[dbbubba]

I forget who told me this, but I seem to recall that it was a distributor that knew his stuff, but I think that there are only two american string manufacturers.
GHS might be one of them.

Like someone posted earlier, they are going to buy their steel or wire or what-ever it is from the best source price-wise as long as it isn't pure junk.
That means that the quality can vary all over the place.... which it does.

Personally, I like 11 -52 on a Strat or Tele and I'll go with 11s on top, but HEAVY bottoms on a Gibson. If I play the LP de-tuned to say D I'll go up to a 12 or even 13 on top.

As my old friend Joe Kubek called them... Clothesline Wires!

[enroper]

D'Addario EXL110's. Cheap & Reliable. Basically what I grew up playing so I'm afraid of change.

[chetatkinsdiet]

Originally Posted by dbbubba

As my old friend Joe Kubek called them... Clothesline Wires!

Definitely 12s or 13s sound massive. You have to tune down a 1/2 step to make us mortals be able to move them. Even guys like SRV tuned down to make it more manageable, right? I can't imagine what a Strat would feel like at std pitch with 13s. Yikes. But Danny, then you've got guys like Kinley that bend bass strings better than I can bend 9s.

mike

[henryrobinett]

I don't pay a lot of attention to strings, but on my acoustics I like Martin Marquis 80/20 Bronze 012-054.

On my Gibson ES-355 I like D'Addario 1/2 Rounds 012-052 "Jazz Light Gauge."

On my Strat I like D'Addario XL 010-052.

I also really like Everlys.

[chetatkinsdiet]

For those of you that play hollow and semi-hollow bodied guitars, do you treat them differently than your other acoustics or electrics? Like the above that puts different strings on the 335? I do that on my Gretsch, but just use my regular electric strings on my 335. I never really thought to try something different there. I know it just depends on what sort of music you're playing and sound you're going for.

m

[6strings]

Originally Posted by jamsmith

And I hope to God you do realize that many of these string manufactures use they same machines and buy the same wire as each other and the only real differences are the packaging and advertising. And some brands are only rebranding of others..

This is true.

But some companies may have better quality control than others. (Don't you hate it when you get a set with the wrong gauges in it?)

But string wire all pretty much come from the same spool (so-to-speak)...

[chetatkinsdiet]

Originally Posted by 6strings

This is true.

But some companies may have better quality control than others. (Don't you hate it when you get a set with the wrong gauges in it?)

But string wire all pretty much come from the same spool (so-to-speak)...

While I do understand what you're saying here, you have to be careful throwing out blanket statements like this. This is really akin to saying all guitars are just wood, steel and plastic, so they're all the same. Or God forbid we say something as silly as cables are all the same. Right? ;-)

m

[djwayne]

Originally Posted by djwayne

D'addario's light gauge, coated.

EXP 16's on the Martin D-18,

EXP 38's on the Taylor 450 12 string

I forgot to say why..

First off they feel good on my fingers, easy to play, not stiff at all like some others I've tried.

They sound great.

They last a long time before changing.

I've tried many different styles and brands and these EXP's are my favorites out of the one's I've tried.

[henryrobinett]

Originally Posted by chetatkinsdiet

For those of you that play hollow and semi-hollow bodied guitars, do you treat them differently than your other acoustics or electrics? Like the above that puts different strings on the 335? I do that on my Gretsch, but just use my regular electric strings on my 335. I never really thought to try something different there. I know it just depends on what sort of music you're playing and sound you're going for.

m

Different guitars, being different, respond better to different strings, I have found. Certainly different styles of music too, relate to different gauges of strings. I play different guitars because I play different music on them and I also playing differently on different guitars. I basically play straight ahead jazz on my 355. I play rock and funk on my Strat. I play americana on my acoustics.

I don't bend much on the 355, but some. I bend like a wild man on the strat and I'm a strumming/fingerpicking maniac on the acoustics. It wouldn't do at all using the same strings.

[6strings]

Originally Posted by chetatkinsdiet

While I do understand what you're saying here, you have to be careful throwing out blanket statements like this. This is really akin to saying all guitars are just wood, steel and plastic, so they're all the same. Or God forbid we say something as silly as cables are all the same. Right? ;-)

No, any guitar company can easilly cut their own bodies out of a plank of wood. But the manufacturing process for wire and cable is very different, and much too expensive for every string company to produce themselves. If that was the case, strings would be MUCH more expensive.

And I hate to break it to you, but the same is true with guitar cables as well in that guitar cable manufacturers get the actual cable from wire companies. They may assemble, solder, and package the cable, but the cable they use is simply one of many varieties of coaxial cable (some varieties obviously work better than others, and some are assemble better as well). It's called "guitar cable" only because of the connectors and application. Do some research and you can make your own $200 "magic" guitar cable for less than a buck a foot.

Oh yes, there's also no Santa Claus and no toothfairy either!

[jamsmith]

Originally Posted by chetatkinsdiet

Definitely 12s or 13s sound massive. You have to tune down a 1/2 step to make us mortals be able to move them. Even guys like SRV tuned down to make it more manageable, right? I can't imagine what a Strat would feel like at std pitch with 13s. Yikes. But Danny, then you've got guys like Kinley that bend bass strings better than I can bend 9s.

mike

Give me some 9s and will literally bend a fifth. I think I might go near an octave with 8s! I was using 11s but running into the 12 and 17 on the way made the fourths I like to hit difficult so went to those Skinny Top Heavy Bottom strings. Same as 11's but a 10 instead of the 11 and a 52 instead of the 49.

How the guitar is set up is the key. I honestly didn't think I could even bend string with 13's but I guy brought in a Strat with 13's tuned down 1/2 step and I could comfortable bend whole step and with a little extra push catch a minor 3rd.

[allencollins]

Originally Posted by Unclenny

Very cool strings......still have a set around waiting for the right tune.

Well at $10 a pack I don't blame you
Im going broke now that I joined a folk band

[baikonour]

Guitars;

Rounwound Pyramid pure nickel 10-46 on my 64' Fender Jazzmaster and '70 Mustang.
Flatwound Pyramid Gold 10-52 on the Danelectro
12 strings Super slinky nickel 08-042 on the '67 Mosrite Celebrity XII

Basses:

Flatwound Pyramid gold (105-40) on the '67 Mosrite "Ventures" bass
Roundwound Pyramid nickel (105-45) on the '69 Mustang bass and '75 Jazz bass.

Fender Bass VI strings on the Bass VI !

etc...

[Yutaka]

EB Beefy Slinky on my Tele, .011-.054 with plain G .022, standard tuning (No, I don't play SRV licks).

[rockstar_josh]

I like Elixirs on acoustic guitars, but they feel slippery. Greasy.
I played D'Addarios for a long time, and like most people I didn't care really, but then I started "looking" for strings I liked and screwed myself up- so I don't like the XLs now, but I jumped around forever because I couldn't get settled on another brand. DRs are awesome, but don't last long enough for me. I primarily use GHS strings on acoustic guitar, and mostly GHS Boomers on electric. They're a good solid soution.

[kafka]

Originally Posted by chetatkinsdiet

For those of you that play hollow and semi-hollow bodied guitars, do you treat them differently than your other acoustics or electrics? Like the above that puts different strings on the 335? I do that on my Gretsch, but just use my regular electric strings on my 335. I never really thought to try something different there. I know it just depends on what sort of music you're playing and sound you're going for.

m

I used only flatwounds on my ES-175 for maybe 15 years. After that I would occasionally put roundwounds on, but not that often. I like the feel of flatwounds. When I play the ES-175, I'm mostly going for a Jim Hall/Joe Pass kind of sound. I have plenty of other guitars for other kinds of playing, so I don't feel the need to mix it up that much. An ES-175 isn't really an archtop, though, IMHO, although it's shaped like one.

On an L-5 or any other spruce top archtop, I'd probably use roundwounds, just to get that clean, bright fingerpicked sound. The archtop has really evolved in the past 15 years or so. It's really made a sharp turn towards being a more fingerpicked instrument, and so brighter, easier playing strings start to make more sense.

I haven't had a 335 in a long time. I think I'd probably put .011 through .056's roundwounds on one, just to move the top and back a bit and get some of that hollow sound, but still be able to bend the string easily. I can't really imagine using flatwounds on one.

Mostly, though, I do agree with those that say there isn't much difference between brands of strings. I think John Pearse strings really stand out, but I can't tell the difference between the vast majority of makes. I used to think Dean Markely's were marginally better than the average for electric strings, but I think I must have got a box of D'Addarios on sale or something, because I keep finding sets all over the house. For roundwound electric strings, all brands are mostly the same (except Ernie Ball's, which are stupidly bright). I will stand by my assertion that the JP Nickel Wounds have a lot of character - at least for a roundwound electric string. I think they'd be great on an ES-335.

[Chris Williams]

I normally use Dr strings on all my guitars and my 5 string. We normally tune down half a step and then drop the e lower as well so you end up with Eb and C# tunings.

Thinking of trying to go another half step down to drop C and maybe C standard as well in the coming months.

dr strings have real bite, last for a good while and also hold lower tunings really well.

Guitars = Ibanez rg 550's
Bass = esp 305

[CharlieSFS]

D'Addario 10-52 for my tele
D'Addario EXP's 12-54 for the acoustic
and Savarez forte tension for my nylon string

[Mydog_Nixon]

D'Addario 10-52 for my strat and tele
D'Addario J31 Hard Tension for my classical

[big country]

I have martin phosphor bronze on this right now
I'm not a big fan of the nickel sound
this guitar is more acoustic than electric
doesn't make sense since it has 6 pick ups
plus I wanted to know how bronze sounds on regular pick ups
kinda give it a totally new sound

[CrankyRayHanky]

GHS Wylde 10-60 on a les paul

If you're drop tuning, I can't imagine playing anything else

[big country]

a while back I was attempting to build a string winder
I wanted to make guitar string out of Kevlar

it was a big failure

[octatonic]

Originally Posted by big country

I wanted to make guitar string out of Kevlar

for protection?

[big country]

was trying to create something different
Kevlar is a very strong material

I was trying to come up with a new sound and a really tuff string
for and acoustic

theirs more to life than the shit you buy at guitar centers

[rolandk]

All D'Addario here. Sound great and cheep at MF.

EXL110 for electrics
EJ16 for acoustic
EXL165 for basses

[3waytie4last]

I've used Thomastik Infeld Swing Series Flatwound 12s on all of my electric guitars (2 strats, 2 teles, sg, flying v, lp, 330td, 175-type) for years now, I also use their flatwounds on my 6 & 12 string acoustics. They last forever and don't sound significantly different new than old because they are flatwound, but you can tell when they are stretched out and don't hold intonation any more. The string tension is lower, so a 12 feels like an 11.

Guitars were originally outfitted with flatwounds, lots of people think you have to play jazz or surf music or whatever style, but they are idiots, you can get any tone you want out of flatwounds, they just don't icepick you to death, and they slide super smooth with no string noise.

They cost more, but they are worth it. Every now and then musician's friend or one of the chains will have a 10-20% off sale on strings, when they do, use it as an opportunity to save some money on these and buy a bunch, you won't be disappointed.