How many guitar string manufacturers are there really?

[ebidis]

Iv'e always heard that there are only really 2 or 3 manufacturers in the USA and they make all the srings for all the companies that re-brand the products.

 

Anyone know how true/untrue this is?

[NotDead]

I know for a fact that if they make it, someone in china makes it.

Also... Aren't fender bullet end strings made in mexico?

[eric.chambers]

sounds like bullshit to me.

[wagdog]

Even if that is true, it doesn't mean they make all of the strings that are rebranded to the same specs.

[PanaDP]

Sounds plausible to me. One string manufacturer could easily make 15 brands worth of specs, sizes, and materials.

[SylphCo.]

There are actually only a very few string factories producing guitar strings in this country, and all the rest of the brands . . . including some of the really well known brands . . . are done as private label production.

 

Quote taken from Rickenbacker FAQ.

[cavpilot]

John Hall, Rickenbacker CEO, 8/29/1998 There are actually only a very few string factories producing guitar strings in this country, and all the rest of the brands . . . including some of the really well known brands . . . are done as private label production.

 

Notice he said in this country. According to a show I saw on Discovery Channel (IIRC?), there's only half a dozen worldwide.

[p4vl]

The only things that matter to me is gauge, material/winding, and durability (read: how long the pack sat around before I got to it). Durability you don't find out about until you break the first string.

 

Considering that there are only a few, you'd think they'd offer more variety in terms of gauge. Lazy Pricks.

[PlectrumPete]

The only things that matter to me is gauge, material/winding, and durability (read: how long the pack sat around before I got to it). Durability you don't find out about until you break the first string. Considering that there are only a few, you'd think they'd offer more variety in terms of gauge. Lazy Pricks.

 

Which gauge would you like them to make?

[p4vl]

Which gauge would you like them to make?

 

I've never gotten around to trying them, but DR has a couple of Dimebag signatures that are 9-48 and 9-50. I'd like it very much if Ernie Ball could see their way to making something like that for less money.

 

And every single set designed for really low tunings is either too thin in the lows (it's usually a 13-56) or has drastic and unbalancing jumps between the 3rd & 4th string gauges. Buying a set of 13-56's and tuning to B is never as much fun as I remember it being, due to the string inadequacy.

[ICMBeeotch]

I've never gotten around to trying them, but DR has a couple of Dimebag signatures that are 9-48 and 9-50. I'd like it very much if Ernie Ball could see their way to making something like that for less money. And every single set designed for really low tunings is either too thin in the lows (it's usually a 13-56) or has drastic and unbalancing jumps between the 3rd & 4th string gauges. Buying a set of 13-56's and tuning to B is never as much fun as I remember it being, due to the string inadequacy.

 

I use DRs pretty much all the time. Their strings cost maybe five or six dollars more than a set of slinkys, but they last forever and are made by hand in the U.S.A., somewhere in NJ, I think.

[PanaDP]

I've never gotten around to trying them, but DR has a couple of Dimebag signatures that are 9-48 and 9-50. I'd like it very much if Ernie Ball could see their way to making something like that for less money.

 

They make a 10-52 set if that helps any.

[cavpilot]

I use DRs pretty much all the time. Their strings cost maybe five or six dollars more than a set of slinkys, but they last forever and are made by hand in the U.S.A., somewhere in NJ, I think.

 

Strings that are made by hand??? I'll call supreme bullshit on that one.

[PanaDP]

Strings that are made by hand??? I'll call supreme bullshit on that one.

 

Definitely. There may be more hand work than usual, but nobody's going to convince me that someone wraps wire around wire all day and gets paid when a simple machine can do it.

 

Besides, with something that rely on consistency, I'm not sure I'd want totally handmade strings anyway.

[photon9]

Just one brand. Ernie Ball. Just kidding!

[jtr654]

It's true there are that few.

[olgluefoot]

Definitely. There may be more hand work than usual, but nobody's going to convince me that someone wraps wire around wire all day and gets paid when a simple machine can do it. Besides, with something that rely on consistency, I'm not sure I'd want totally handmade strings anyway.

 

well would you believe they sit around all day and help the machine do it.

 

I figured it would be completely automated. crazy!

 

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[phil47uk]

True..There are only 3 or 4 big string makers in the States.. All those different strings you see in fancy packets are made by one of only a few manufactures.

They just put them in different packaging.

I bought some loose 1sts and 2nds from the States a year or so back and bought about 700 spares for pupils etc.. They were from 'Musicians friend '.

Nothing wrong with them at all ( Well wound at the ball end ) and the guy who got them for me and posted them over told me they were Gibson .

[Help!I'maRock!]

D'Addario

Ernie Ball

GHS

DR

 

i know all of these make their own strings. i've heard that Gibson, Fender, and Martin are all contracted. everybody else is suspect.

[Radar-Love]

The US string manufacturers that I know of are D'Addario, Dean Markley,

and Ernie Ball.

 

Fender makes strings in Ensenada, Mexico.

 

Tomastik-Infeld makes strings in Austria and Germany.

 

There are 2 or 3 string manufacturers in China and 1 possibly in Korea and

maybe 1 still in Japan.

 

I believe D'Addario makes more strings than anyone else, and is the OEM

for several brands -- the same is probably true for Dean Markley.

 

Tomastik-Infeld has been making strings for aeons now.

[ICMBeeotch]

Strings that are made by hand??? I'll call supreme bullshit on that one.

 

check their web site http://www.drstrings.com/ , not saying youre wrong, and i have no idea how guitar strings are manufactured, but the box the strings come in says "the handmade string", if it wasnt true, seems like they would have been called out on the claim long before now.

[tiltsta]

LaBella makes their own strings. They even have pics of their factory in New York on their webpage. I've been using their stainless strings for many years.

[etawful]

D'Addario Ernie Ball GHS DR i know all of these make their own strings. i've heard that Gibson, Fender, and Martin are all contracted. everybody else is suspect.

 

In 1998, I can state for a fact that Martin made their own strings. I toured the factory and saw them being made. Whether that's changed since then or not I can't say.

[paul6string]

They make a 10-52 set if that helps any.

 

They also make a 9-46 (Hybrid Slinkys), and they're around 5 or 6 bucks depending on where you buy them.

[cavpilot]

I only use strings handwound and signed by Abigail Ibarra, on a winder salvaged from the old Fender Bullets factory. They are the only ones with true vintage tone.

 

Methinks you have strings mixed up with pickups.

 

I only use strings that have been wrapped on the thighs of nubile young virgins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, wait. My bad. That's cigars, not strings.

Carry on.