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No pick?


cliffenstein

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I've had my IB64 Texan now for two months. It's still completely stock. Even the strings are the D'Addario PBs it came with. The thing is,..it still sounds insanely good. I'm guessing that's because I rarely play with a pick. I play every single day...it's gotta be that not using a pick is what is extending the life of these strings, right? When I played electric and was touring, I'd have to change strings every day or two. I used a pick back then and of course the performance we put on made me sweat, but still, it's amazing how good this thing sounds. And I've yet to even upgrade the dang strings!

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When I was even gigging 2-3 weekend nights a week, I'd change strings every cupla weeks and - pretty much needed to in my own opinion. I was mostly flatpicking at the time.

 

Now? Almost always fingerpicking and we've got better strings including Elixir-types and DR Zebras... Strings last ages, depending on the guitar and what I'm doing with it.

 

I also think that the regular 4-hour type gig puts far more strain on guitar strings than playing the same number of house at home. Part may be overall environmental in that you perhaps don't play as "hard" just messing around or practicing, and part might be that there is a lot more "crud" in the air and on one's hands when playing out full programs.

 

Another factor is that you're likely playing heavier strings on the acoustic or and AE. That's typical at least for folks not as "thin string nutty" as I am with my 9-42 DR Zebras on my fingerpicking flattops. And like 10-46 on flatpicking flattops.

 

Regardless too, I don't think "we" realize how much differently we may be playing in a gig as opposed to practice or just messin'.

 

m

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yeah...I hear ya. Our shows were highly intense, but only lasted about 45 minutes. And it wasn't only my sweat getting on the strings...I was right there in with the crowd every night with my electric, so it got it from all sides.

 

Now I'm playing in my upstairs office or in my living room with the wife and kids.

 

Obviously a big difference. Plus these are acoustic strings, not electric. Still didn't expect them to last this long...certainly not the stock strings anyway. Especially with how often I read people describing how awful their stock strings were on any number of acoustic guitars and brands.

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yeah, I normally dump stock strings asap. They may be fine if they're relatively "new," but I figure it's best if I put on "my" strings asap. Then again, with my newest guitar I got just before my 70-80-hour workweek "Rodeo Season" here, it still has the 10s on it with my 9-42 DR Zebra (designed for AE use) strings still in the box sitting on top of the case... OTOH, it's detuned a full step and capod up two frets for standard tuning/pitch.

 

(#$%#$%@#) Looks like it's going to be a while before I can back off stress games and get back to regular pickin' time.

 

m

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I have always played with my fingers and never used a pick on acoutic or electric. I still feel like my guitars eat strings. I am with an above posyter - first thing I do when I get anything new to me is dump the strings (which even if not dead are generally too light a guage) and the next is go have the guitar set up properly.

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