Members V Posted September 3, 2012 Members Share Posted September 3, 2012 Alright so I tried the new Ernie Ball Cobalts on three different guitars when they first came out. I had them on my Rickenbacker, my Tele, and one of my Strats. Ok, the good: They sound awesome when you put them on at first and they do sound good for quite a while. The bad (and I do mean bad): They corrode any piece of metal around them and rust very quickly and they also feel very rough to the touch making them difficult to play fast/comfortably. Ok, so the second might be fine for some players who don't like or want to play fast in the first place, but he more important issue, the corrosion, applies to everyone. I put these on the three guitars in question before I moved from NYC. One was played pretty regularly during that whole time, one was in a case for a while and packed away, one was out in the open and used less than the other. All three had rusted strings within a couple weeks. The rick (which was packed up for a while) also has to have its frets polished because those got corroded a bit as well. (I may complain about that especially to EB as its not cheap to have done). The Tele's brass saddles are now green which, ok, to be honest looks sorta cool but even the alnico pole pieces of its bridge pickup have some kind of "rust" on them now. Not sure how that'll play out down the road but i wasn't even aware that could happen as no other alnico pole pieces I've seen have rusted. It still works fine and sounds good, though, so it's just cosmetic. The strat's saddles and set screws are now rusty as hell. Really disappointed with this and thought I'd share so the same doesn't happen to others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hiwatt Bob Posted September 3, 2012 Members Share Posted September 3, 2012 Never tried them--but thanks for the heads up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members notjonahbutnoah Posted September 3, 2012 Members Share Posted September 3, 2012 I'm happy to hop on the "I hate cobalts" train. Hell, at this point, I'm buddies with the conductor. I never noticed any corrosion, but they are definitely not worth more than twice the cost of a regular set of strings. A rip off in my book. I tried a set on one of my Charvels. Restrung them on the same day. One with cobalts and one with regular D'Addario XLs. Not much difference in tone or string life. Not worth 10 bucks a set. Not by a long shot. YMMV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tom92 Posted September 3, 2012 Members Share Posted September 3, 2012 They were rubbish for the first few days then started to feel good for a few days but then they were just meh sounding again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members V Posted September 3, 2012 Author Members Share Posted September 3, 2012 I had to stop by GC to pick up strings and tried out the Dunlops this time so we'll see how that goes. So far they feel and sound good. But yeah the guy at the counter also said the same thing about the corroding strings and said he wasn't recommending the cobalts either after using them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Harvester1199 Posted September 3, 2012 Members Share Posted September 3, 2012 i hate them aswell, i found they felt rough and gritty compared to what i was using before (dunlop)they also seem to wear the fretwire a bit fasterthey sounded ok, lasted about the same as a set of dunlop'si went back to dunlop, i used dadderio before i discovered dunlop strings, both are pretty simillar i find dunlop strings to be a little smoother feeling and slinkier and last a touch longer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members IRG Posted September 3, 2012 Members Share Posted September 3, 2012 V is seems weird that they rust so quickly, and corrode other components. Is this just from home playing or out in clubs where maybe you're sweating a lot? It has been a humid summer here, maybe that's part of it. I don't try much variety when it comes to strings. D'Addario work for me, so I keep using them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members V Posted September 3, 2012 Author Members Share Posted September 3, 2012 V is seems weird that they rust so quickly, and corrode other components. Is this just from home playing or out in clubs where maybe you're sweating a lot? It has been a humid summer here, maybe that's part of it. I don't try much variety when it comes to strings. D'Addario work for me, so I keep using them. Yeah, it's been humid here too and I do normally wear down strings pretty fast but I've never ever had any actually rust before. I've got regular ernie balls on my other guitars with similar age/use on them and they needed changing as well after around the same period of time but they weren't rusty and never did anything to the metal on my guitars. The rick, literally, was almost not even played cause it was more or less packed away until a few days ago when I wanted to finally unpack it for recording. The other guitars stored in the same place were perfectly fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members chadd Posted September 3, 2012 Members Share Posted September 3, 2012 I had to stop by GC to pick up strings and tried out the Dunlops this time so we'll see how that goes. So far they feel and sound good. But yeah the guy at the counter also said the same thing about the corroding strings and said he wasn't recommending the cobalts either after using them. I've had pretty good luck with the Dunlops, they're decent strings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Likes Loomis Posted September 3, 2012 Members Share Posted September 3, 2012 S.I.T. strings are also garbage. Got several pair with burrs on them where QC had not checked out the wind and they were just shipped straight out.Also started not liking GHS boomers recently. They've been hit or miss on quality for about 2-3 years now.Last time I string shopped, I picked up a set of Martin Darco's (because they were on sale for like 3 bux) and I'm sure they will suck, as the music store I go to was trying to get rid of them via sale.The other set I picked up were Dunlops. I hope they work well and I like them because I am tired of changing brands because the quality control sucks on the ones I used to like.Also worth mentioning, I have never liked Ernie Ball's that well, so that leaves me with very few major brands to choose from.Hope the Dunlop's are good. This will be the first time I've tried them. D'Addario's are ok. I'll use them in a pinch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y0UNGBL00D Posted September 3, 2012 Members Share Posted September 3, 2012 DR ftmfw. tried the cobalts. didnt have any of these problems, and they did sound and feel good, but not a big difference for the price IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members daysofspeed Posted September 3, 2012 Members Share Posted September 3, 2012 Last few sets of D'addarios I used rusted almost straight away. Not sure if I had a bad batch or what was going on. They were useless after a week with only a few hours play time. Been using Elixir recently, they're more expensive but this set have lasted 6 weeks so far and will probably get a couple more weeks before I change them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Crxsh Posted September 3, 2012 Members Share Posted September 3, 2012 I've had a set on my ASAT for a few weeks... and while I don't plan on buying any more for it, I didn't think they were that bad. No weird corrosion on mine or anything. I just didn't think they were that much better than standard EB's to justify the extra cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lefort_1 Posted September 3, 2012 Members Share Posted September 3, 2012 Galvanic Corrosion, aka "Fretting Corrosion"....oh the sweet irony of the English language. Some Cobalt alloys (espec w/chromium and other metals can be used as low-reactivity metals where humidity is high.I'm pretty familiar with one of them, tradenamed "Vitalium", which is commonly used in removeable partial denture metal frameworks. Apparently, that's not the alloy that someone sold to Enrie Ball...probably looked great when they were prototyped, but I bet the (offshore?) manufacturer pulled a fast one and switched to a lower cost alloy. Of course, this never REALLY happens. :rollseyes: UNEDIT: the post I found was from 2007 @EB... I think that pre-dates these strings' release. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Aaron SS Posted September 3, 2012 Members Share Posted September 3, 2012 Pics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members V Posted September 3, 2012 Author Members Share Posted September 3, 2012 Yeah I can take some a bit later. I should have taken pics of the ric before i sent it for polishing. Fretwork is one of the few guitar things I don't like doing myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TomCTC Posted September 3, 2012 Members Share Posted September 3, 2012 Yeah, big meh on them. I'm back to D'addarios, they're just fine for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Harvester1199 Posted September 3, 2012 Members Share Posted September 3, 2012 Yeah, big meh on them. I'm back to D'addarios, they're just fine for me. try dunlop and i bet youll switch, i did Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BrentMpls Posted September 4, 2012 Members Share Posted September 4, 2012 rust in peace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members V Posted September 4, 2012 Author Members Share Posted September 4, 2012 rust in peace More or less. Maybe you're supposed to wipe them down with machine oil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MojoZilla Posted September 4, 2012 Members Share Posted September 4, 2012 Thanks for the info. Although I had no inclination to try them myself, you've done everyone a service here. Too bad about the frets and saddles though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WildBilly Posted September 4, 2012 Members Share Posted September 4, 2012 I heard they don't even have a warranty and are a bunch of dicks about it too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zappa74 Posted September 4, 2012 Members Share Posted September 4, 2012 try dunlop and i bet youll switch, i did I use EBs but I'm going to give Dunlop a shot because you said so. If they're no good, it's your ass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OnWingsOfLead Posted September 4, 2012 Members Share Posted September 4, 2012 Used em and hated em. They sounded great for the first gig. Night two they were dead as a door nail.....seriously no tone left in them....and yes they rusted really quick. I'm back to Cleartones Dunlops have always been my touring string of choice. They are cheap, sound great, feel nice, hold up well, and intonate really easily. Also they do seem to lock in tune a bit quicker. I like the extra volume and snap of the Cleartones a bit more, though I must confess I get less breakage from the Dunlop strings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dr.Picklebottom Posted September 4, 2012 Members Share Posted September 4, 2012 yeah, uh- i think something else is going on here. ive got them on 3 of my guitars too, for months. no corrosion at all. they last forever and have never rusted on any of my guitars. do you leave your windows open when its raining? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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