For those who have experience with Elixir strings.

[EmgEsp]

What are your thoughts about them? Anything I should know about them before buying? The new Optiwebs interest me as they are supposed to be the closest sounding to non coated strings.

[1001gear]

I like 'em. Have a half dozen sets of The 12 - 52 polywebs left. Discontinued for some reason. Those last for 2-3 weeks; me playing - longer if I don't use 'em like those last sets. Polywebs have enough clarity for me though; at least for electric.

[EmgEsp]

Cool, so they actually work well. Thats good to hear.

[soundcreation]

They are the longest lasting strings I've ever used. And I need long lasting as where I live is 70+ humidity consistently. Regular strings will start to pit and rust within 2 weeks even if I don't lay a finger on the guitar.

 

Polywebs are a little too heavy and dead sounding. I use the Nanos, and while they aren't as nice sounding as regular strings, they are still very good. I'm very interested in trying those new Optiwebs.

 

The thing that impresses me the most is the unwound strings and how long they last. No other brand comes close.

[Freeman Keller]

Why would anyone be stupid enough to pay 13 dollars for a set of strings? It a rip off by big corporate America who has dupped the average guitar player into thinking that some fancy coating is better.

 

Of course what you could do is try a set of each of your guitar along with representative examples of other brands, compositions and coatings, record them and post the results on an internet discussion forum, kind of like what I did ten years ago

 

[EmgEsp]

I see what you did there, but seriously what was your verdict?

[Freeman Keller]

You have to understand the experiment. There were actually more strings than that - each guitar got each set of strings, played and recorded with the same mic, pick, settings, etc. I even tied a piece of string on the mic so I could position it the same distance from the guitar. The "playing" was single notes, some chords, some slides to the same note on each one (listening for finger squeak). I recorded it with the strings brand new and then after a week or so of play. It was a fairly exhausting test - I had no idea of what I was getting into. And I will agree that the test has some flaws but I think they are minor.

 

I labeled the sound clips for each guitar (but not strings) and posted them at the Acoustic forum. We had an animated discussion - some people could hear the difference, some could not, some hated strings that they thought they loved and vice versa. Remember that these are acoustic guitars and many people feel that strings have a significant impact on the sound.

 

The bottom line is that I have been playing Elixer Nanoweb strings on all of my acoustics since then (however I will go on a blind date every now and then). Your milage should and will vary.

[EmgEsp]

Roughly how much playing time do you get out of them?

[Bucksstudent]

I used them for years. When my local shop stopped being able to keep them in stock, I started using Ernie Balls because I needed strings. When I finally bought some Elixirs again, I went back to Ernie Balls.

 

Strings will last if you wipe them after playing, and they sound better without the coating to my ears.

[EmgEsp]

That is why the new Optiweb coating interests me as its supposed to be a very thin coating.

 

Were you using Polywebs or Nanowebs?

[Phil O'Keefe]

I have caustic sweat and I eat through uncoated / untreated strings super-fast - especially in the summertime. I just rust them out, no matter how much Finger Ease I use or how diligently I wipe my strings down.

 

Coated / treated strings are a godsend for me. I prefer nanowebs over the thicker-coating of the polywebs. Optiwebs are even better.

 

 

[EmgEsp]

Cool, I'll give them a try and tell you guys what I think of them.

[Freeman Keller]

I change strings on my normal acoustics every 3 or 4 or so months, probably longer. These get played more or less daily. I change strings on my 12 strings about 6 months, the resonators about 6 to 12 - these don't get played quite as much. I change the non coated strings on my electrics every 6 months or so, I can't tell any difference. And the archtop currently has some pretty expensive flat wounds on it, again probably every 6 month. When I was playing non coated strings I would change the main acoustics about one month.

 

I never break strings even tho I use a lot of altered tunings and I'm constantly retuning something. I also found that by standardizing on two different Elixer sets plus a few singles I can cover every guitar I own except the baritone 12 string.

 

One last comment, when I work on a customers guitar I either put on what the specify or a fairly generic non coated string. Many do spec Elixers, I charge accordingly.

[doublecross]

I was on that band wagon for a minute, Tried the coated D'Adds also, Just really didn't like the way they sounded, Kinda dead if you ask me,

[ugameus]

I have caustic sweat and I eat through uncoated / untreated strings super-fast - especially in the summertime. I just rust them out, no matter how much Finger Ease I use or how diligently I wipe my strings down.

 

Coated / treated strings are a godsend for me. I prefer nanowebs over the thicker-coating of the polywebs. Optiwebs are even better.

 

 

 

I am the same. The nanowebs sound very good and I now use them on electric and acoustic. They do not sound as good as uncoated strings but last much much much longer for me, especially the unwound strings. I can rust out the unwound strings in a couple days. IMO the polywebs are poop. I have not tried the optiwebs because they don't have 12 gauge available. I will certainly give em a go when available.

[Etienne Rambert]

I use them on my acoustics. I have their electric nanos on my archtop. But I normally play it unplugged.

 

I haven't put 'em on my Les Paul yet. I don't know how good they are on a solid body electric. Can they do bends and upper register leads as well as nickel-plated strings?

 

Dunno.

[Bucksstudent]

I'm not against coated strings, for the record. I use coated D'addarios for my acoustics, and a friend of mine gave me gold coated strings that have lasted for months.

 

I used both Nano and Poly. I preferred the Polywebs when I liked them.

[Phil O'Keefe]

I use them on my acoustics. I have their electric nanos on my archtop. But I normally play it unplugged.

 

I haven't put 'em on my Les Paul yet. I don't know how good they are on a solid body electric. Can they do bends and upper register leads as well as nickel-plated strings?

 

Dunno.

 

They bend just fine for me. I don't think I've ever read any complaints about that being an issue for anyone else.

[soundcreation]

I agree that non coated strings sound better. If I could I'd use Slinky's over everything, but they most certainly don't come anywhere close to the life of elixers and yeah I've tried wiping them down. Doesn't matter. As I said earlier, I could put a set of EB's on a guitar, put it on a stand, never touch it, and they will start to pit in about a week and a half. Rust will show up soon after.

 

Strange you preferred the thicker coating Poly's over the thinner Nanos. To me the poly's were way to dead sounding.

[soundcreation]

yeah I do too. combine that with the humidity where I live and regular strings rot in a ridiculously quick amount of time.

 

I use nano's simply because I'd need to change regular strings pretty much every time I used the guitars. With 8 or 9 guitars it's just not worth it. I get at least triple the life span and probably more like 4 to 5 times which means way less time swapping strings. Time is money in my book.

[Emory]

Love your posts and work Freeman. Try same test in Thailand, but one month after putting the strings on. The Elixirs will still have all six strings, some of the others will have blown off, played or not. I think that is the purpose of coating, to make them last in adverse climates or if you have string unfriendly sweat. . I could be ahead (maybe) for first 100 yds of marathon, but it leader at end that wins. I just got back to Pac NW, pulled my Gibson out from under the bed: still in tune after 15 months, uncoated strings still fine. Never would be that way in Thailand, strings look like vampire that got too much sun. Also I think Elixirs don't go flat as fast as other strings, but that may just be some sort of rationale in my brain to justify. What the heck, 3 Starbucks lattes or set of strings....