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which string brand do you use and why?


leyoculta

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EG's: Whatever is on sale in 11's, tey all perform pretty much the same in terms of durability, any tonal differences IMHO is minimal and can be eq'd out plus playing with gain lessens the impact

 

but for my hollow body tomastik Infeld flatwound. flatwounds more trebly truely a jazzer experience

 

Acoustic - elixirs

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I use 9-46 on all my guitars; for my Strats, I use Nicklewound Fender Super Bullets (I find that the bullet ends do make a difference in tuning stability, and I like the way they sound on Strats), and on my Tele and Les Paul, I am now using Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinkies (the ones in the Nuclear Orange pack). I used to use GHS Boomers, but I found that they were breaking all the time (I checked the guitars for burrs in the saddles, and there were none). The Ernie Balls sound about the same, but don't seem to break as much. They both wear out at about the same rate - I change all my strings after about 10 hours of playing.

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Originally posted by jackamo

I have had salesguys tell me that they are all made at the same plant regardless of brand...I don't know if I buy it...D'addario strings sound better and don't break, although they may not sound as good for as long ... those are the ones I use, and I will remain loyal to that brand of string (because I don't break 'em, and I've broken all the rest).

 

he was exaggerating but there are just a few factories in the US and some factories do produce for different brands.

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GHS boomer 9's. Prefers the tone. They also have excellent lifespan in my experience with them over the past 10 plus yrs. Daddario are too smooth sounding to me. Doesnt like them. Elixers are rather Daddario like sound wise to me. Ernie Ball is good choice if needs more crunch emphasis imo. Dean Marley blue steels are fave for stainless steel & my alt choice to GHS.

 

Jackamo > The sales people that tell you theyre all made at same place are idiots. Some brands are made in England & Germany, some brands are made in diff locations in america, some others are made in other parts of europe and the orient.

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Originally posted by Rich4Once



I didn't really notice a difference in feel between the Ernies and D'Addarios, but the price and packaging makes me favor the latter.

 

 

 

Yes, I also got D'Addarios because they don't give you all this packaging junk. I like their three sets in one box and each set wrapped with a plastic bag. And they're cheaper like that, too.

 

I didn't notice a differences w/slikies, at least not enough to make me wanna pay more and get all that extra waste packaging.

 

Someone here (and somewhere else) was claiming they have less tension than others, I'll give them another try because of that. That's what I'm looking right now (without wanting to change gauge).

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Originally posted by jackamo

I have had salesguys tell me that they are all made at the same plant regardless of brand...I don't know if I buy it

 

 

Well, it could be. There was a documentery on tv explaining how all latest fashion sunglasses ( Armani, DG, Channel, Ray Bans, etc.) are made at the same italian factory. Someone gives them the design, they manufacture them.

 

Same concept could apply here.

 

It would be fun to know if they really are all made at the same place.

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I just tried Sfarzo Signature series 10-46. I really like them a lot. Thye also come with a spare high E and B stringss. How cool, as those are the strings I break the most. I also tend to break the D string. Weird!

 

http://www.sfarzo.us/Signatureseries.html

 

I also use DR Pure blues 10- 46. I think I like the Sfarzos better. They feel nicer with less tension. I just ordered another 6 sets from juststrings.com.

 

www.juststrings.com

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Originally posted by leyoculta



Well, it could be. There was a documentery on tv explaining how all latest fashion sunglasses ( Armani, DG, Channel, Ray Bans, etc.) are made at the same italian factory. Someone gives them the design, they manufacture them.


Same concept could apply here.


It would be fun to know if they really are all made at the same place.

 

luxotica and Bausch and lomb(sp?) make most of them in high end glasses. They are quality lenses luxotica particularly makes most of the better optioned lenses out there for reading glasses. (thinner lighter shatterproof and the transition colouring)

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D'Addario 10-46 on everything electric. Been using 'em for years, largely because my Steinberger has a limited variety of brands to choose from, and I like to have everything strung with the same thing. There might be better strings on the market - I should probably break out of my rut and try something different....

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Mostly Thomastik-Infields, there are a few guitars I use other strings on for various reasons, but mostly T-Is. Either Jazz Flatwounds or Power-Brites.

 

Great tone, well made, long lasting. Reasonably expensive($12) but considering I get at least 5 times more life out of them than other brands, they're worth it. They just never seem to go "dead". Break very rarely, although I don't normally really "attack" strings.

 

I really think they're worth it and by comparison, I don't use Pyramids because the T-Is are close enough and cost almost 1/3 less.

 

Best string value out there.

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For the past few years I have used Gibson Les Paul Signatures (9 - 46, pure nickel) on my electrics, and D'Addario Phosphor Bronze on my acoustics. Lately I have started experimenting. I have the LP Signatures on my ASAT Classic, SIT Power Flats (9-46) on my Legacy, THomastik-Infeld Sliders on my LP Special DC and CS-336. Thomastik-Infeld BeBop Flat Wounds (10's) on my Epiphone Granada and D'Addario Chromes (10's on my Ibanez AEJ-70VBS. I am happy with that variety. The Thomastik-Infeld Sliders are very mellow sounding.

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Dean Markely 11-52 with wound third.

 

Must have a wound third. Unwound thirds are inherently flawed, and produce a nasty self-oscillation, especially in the higher frets.

 

It amazes me that unwound thirds are still sold today, and are in fact the majority when they sound like total crap.

 

People talk about tone all day long, but then they overlook something as major as the string itself.

 

Has no one else experienced this? I experienced this on all of my guitars. I thought it was old strings, my amp, or maybe a pedal. I could NOT for the life of me figure out what was wrong. I searched, and searched the internet in an attempt to diagnose the problem. I searched the net for days, and I found only one article. Thank goodness for the guy who posted this article!!

 

For anyone not using a wound third, read this for the explanation:

 

http://images.onstagemag.com/files/46/0202Setuptxt.html

 

One excerpt:

 

Technically, the reason that an unwound third string sounds "sour"

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Originally posted by Jody Butt

instead of a producing a smooth, stable note, holding a sustained note will produce a pulsating, or "beating" warble, similar to playing unison pitches on two strings, while tuning one of the strings to the other. This is the sound of the string

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Originally posted by GuyaGuy


yup...



















i LOVE that sound!

:love:

 

LOL. Man, it was driving me NUTS trying to figure out what was wrong. Funny side note: When I tried to A/B various distortions in my attempt to diagnose the problem, I found that with the Metal Zone, the warbling sound was much less present . Guess it really does kill the tone. Har har.

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I wear out my frets every 3 years or so, wish I didn't, but I play and they get ground down. I've been thinking the coated elixers might increase my fret life, anyone else do this?

 

Also, I'm thinking about that wound 3rd string, sounds good, but probably would eat my frets in a year since thats a main bending string. Thats the string that eats my frets the most.

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