the string choices

[blindboygrunt]

just pondering about strings after a few recent posts .

it is definately one of the most questioned subjects here and i'm just wondering about it all .

i'm no expert here and to be honest i use mostly daddario strings due to availablilty and price and i dont find anything really wrong with them . i recently bought some 11's to see if it helped playability but i think i'll go back to 12's .

i have tried a few brands , john pearse , earthwood , several varieties of martin , elixirs, newtones and probably a couple more i cant remember on guitars in the past.

 

ordinary red packet martins i find last about an hour and they feel like year old strings ... apart from them i havent really reached a defiinate opinion on strings .

you guys have all told your string choices ,and seem to be very definate at which ones are the best for you .

whereas i seem to have come to a conclusion that it doesnt matter , or maybe a better way of putting it is that its a fruitless search , for me anyway ...... who's to say the elixirs wouldnt have settled into the best string ever after 12 months , or although the red martiins die quickly maybe they were the best for that one hour .

i have read many people saying that martins are the best ones they have tried .....

then theres the point that EA made that his daddarios sound fantastic plugged in !

 

seems like a never ending search and one which has too many variables to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

anybody think the same as me ?

[Gruffchris]

Hey,

 

I would normally use d'adrios, martin reds seem to last about 5mins or realistically 2 hrs?

 

Because I'm a cheapskate, I bought a 3 pack of martin reds for 9 quid from amazon. The first pack have been on my guitar for 6/7 weeks and still have a nice tone(they have started to go black though).

 

So now i'm totally confused?

[EuroAussie]

Ive got quite a different point of view on this BBG. I actually enjoy the experimentation and trying different brands, alloys, gages. Its a relativelly innexpensive exercise and a priceless reward when you finally hit the right set of strings for a particular guitar.

 

Interestingly right now I use 6 different types/ brands of strings across my guitars but to me the effort was worth it. The good thing is that once you find 'the one' for a particular guitar then the experimentation generally finishes.

 

Good example was my J-150, where its DR Sunbeams all the way, nothing compares for that guitar, while the experiment with 80/20's has been rewarding where much to my surprise they really make my thickly braced 69'er come alive.

 

The Ej-16's in a way make sense as they add more sparkle and when plugged in the tone is incredibly lush and balanced with the natural nectar of the Bird.

 

Its a nice little journey ...

[blindboygrunt]

i hope you all understand i'm not saying what the hell's wrong with you all . just having a conversation.

and also , i'm by no means saying that my guitar dissapoints me in any way , i couldnt be happier with my 45 .

as you rightly say EA , maybe i havent hit paydirt yet .

i have certainly found certain ones that i would not buy again ( although gruffchris has pointed out that we should never say never ) but the rest seem to be just fine , i'm no happier or unhappier with one tone over another .

back to buying different strings again :)

[geeterpicker]

I played D'Addario EXP16s for a very long time and still really like them, but have decided to go to uncoated strings for a spell. I was in love with Martin Marquis SPs, then they stopped making them. Those strings had a beautiful tone and feel, a long life to them and had that nice silk wrap at the bottom. Now I am going back and forth between regular Martin Marquis and the regular SPs, which GC had a good sale on a couple months ago. When it gets hot and sticky in the summer here in SW Ohio, I will go back to the EXPs. I hate when strings stick and grab my fingers. It's not an issue in the cool weather so much.

But there is also the issue of which strings the guitar likes best, not to mention the 92/8 and 80/20 debate. I do not have a formula for which of those to use on rosewood or mahogany. I will freely put them on either and still like the sound as sort of a viva la difference.

I do prefer light gauge strings on all of my guitars. There is an excellent guitar builder near where I live and I've taken a couple of guitars to him for some work. He does a beautiful job. He was very adamant about never using anything heavier than light gauge strings, almost to the point of militancy, to avoid future repairs. I have also read other small builders on different forums echoing that sentiment. But lots of players really like the heft of mediums. I have toyed with just using a medium low E, but getting single strings is just a PITA to me. I suppose you could custom order specific individual strings in bulk, but the cost is not so friendly. And string makers, while accomodating a mix of light and mediums with their "bluegrass" strings, don't offer a set that is essentially all light except for the low E.

Of coourse then we could talk about mandolin and ukulele strings. For mando, I am solid with D'Adarrio J-74s and for my uke, Aquilas are the one and only, after trying a few others.