Titanium coated Strings

[nexrex]

Just noticed that Ernie Ball are marketing Titanium Coated Electric strings. Also saw them at my local guitar store. They are supposed to prevents string breakage, string slippage, and they say are proven to keep your guitar strings in tune better than conventional plain strings.

Has anyone actually tried these? It sounds like a load of marketing hullabaloo and a scam to me.

 

[line6man]

How do titanium coated strings feel? Like coated or non-coated strings?

Also, how do the bass strings do on stringwear?
Coated strings are typically a bit softer on the fingerboard than bare metals, but if the coating is a metal, perhaps it would be a bit more abrasive against the board, as if it were not coated.

 

[JaySwear]

i wonder if they'd wear down frets more quickly

 

[lidesnowi]

I have tried them and they sound good and feels great but the problem is that they stretch out VERY much ,i constantly had to mess with the intonation by making the string length shorter and shorter every day,very annoying indeed!
I have not tried the regular Ernie Balls since the mid 80's so i don't know if they have the same stretch out problem?

 

[nexrex]

OK, regular slinky's definitely don't do that for me. I might buy a pack, and see how they go anyway.

 

[rossalex]

I bought a pair of the Ernie Ball Titaniums, and one of the stings broke the first week. Its possible it was a bad set but thats enough to turn me off for good. If you market something as less breakage, it better last longer than your cheaper "regular" strings.

 

[line6man]

I bought a pair of the Ernie Ball Titaniums, and one of the stings broke the first week. Its possible it was a bad set but thats enough to turn me off for good. If you market something as less breakage, it better last longer than your cheaper "regular" strings.

A pair? :icon_scratch:

 

[rossalex]

I bought a pair of the Ernie Ball Titaniums, and one of the stings broke the first week. Its possible it was a bad set but thats enough to turn me off for good. If you market something as less breakage, it better last longer than your cheaper "regular" strings.

A pair? :icon_scratch:

a PACK you pairsy.

 

[Superlizard]

Jimi never needed no titanium goop on his strings...

 

[exaN]

Jimi never needed no titanium goop on his strings...

Not because Jimi didn't need em that it's a bad thing :icon_tongue:.

 

[Graffiti62]

I have tried them and they sound good and feels great but the problem is that they stretch out VERY much ,i constantly had to mess with the intonation by making the string length shorter and shorter every day,very annoying indeed!
I have not tried the regular Ernie Balls since the mid 80's so i don't know if they have the same stretch out problem?

I've used standard sets of Ernies for a while, and, to me, they don't seem like they go out of tune any shorter or longer than any of the D'Addario, Fender or Gibson strings I've used. I'm actually thinking of going with a custom gauge set, as I like the feel of small bottom strings, but also like big top strings. I dunno--I've still gotta work that one out.

 

[-CB-]

Haven't looked up titanium coated strings.... but....

Titanium by itself is a rather abrasive metal, as metals go.  We had tried titanium pump shafts on some magnetically coupled pumps.  Fuggettabouddit.  The shafts held up, but wore the bearing of the impellers probably 100x the speed of the stainless steel.  Back to stainless.  We tried titanium because its not subject to corrosion.

Also, titanium can be quite soft, smeary soft.  You can smear the surface with cutting tools or even grinding tools.  Its weird stuff.

Titanium-nitride, a different subject.  Very hard.  They use it on drills to make them wear better.  Or so they say.  What they REALLY do is make crap drills and coat them, to make them wear like well made drill ought to. 

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Curiosity gets the better part of =CB= (again)

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Well I looked,  There are at least two companies offering titanium strings.  One has titanium cores, the other (EB) has titanium coating.  I dunno.  What color are the EB strings?  If they're yellowish, thats TiN coated.  I know you can evaporate pure titanium on metals, but it gets very lumpy finished, not sure how that would feel.

Hell, give 'em credit for trying to bring something new to the market.  It will either catch on, or flop.... or flounder for ages.  They gotta do something to try and get some market share (and sales).

 

[SeanM]

I have not personally tried them as I don't see any benefit to a coated string. You pay more for a string that is suppose to last longer but the extra cost and the extra life you may get out of it are not always on the same level, so I tend to stick to plain but thats my 2 cents.

An extension onto what CB Mentioned, Titanium is very susceptible to fatigue failure. Any surface defect on titanium decreases fatigue life exponentially, so depending on how the coating is processed, if there is any void in the coating the string will not last long at all, and further more depending on the thickness of the coating and once again the process the stretching of the string alone could be detrimental to string life because if i remember correctly titanium does not like tensile applications. This is assuming it is just a titanium coating not TiN.

 

[Strat Avenger]

I just like regular strings. I don't need coatings and such. My traditional nickle/iron Ernie Ball Slinkys sound good, and I wash my hands before playing my guitars, so the strings don't get funky or dull.

 

[Graffiti62]

I have not personally tried them as I don't see any benefit to a coated string. You pay more for a string that is suppose to last longer but the extra cost and the extra life you may get out of it are not always on the same level, so I tend to stick to plain but thats my 2 cents.

An extension onto what CB Mentioned, Titanium is very susceptible to fatigue failure. Any surface defect on titanium decreases fatigue life exponentially, so depending on how the coating is processed, if there is any void in the coating the string will not last long at all, and further more depending on the thickness of the coating and once again the process the stretching of the string alone could be detrimental to string life because if i remember correctly titanium does not like tensile applications. This is assuming it is just a titanium coating not TiN.

I could see maybe where you could get some life out of these is if you use a heavier gauge and were more a rhythm player. Seems to me these may be kind of a niche thing after the newness of them has worn off, kind of like the eBow or MIDI effects are today--we all thought they'd be the next big thing, and the popularity waned and they have their own happy little market now.

 

[Dan025]

good job cb, maybe doug can also elaborate.

TiN coatings are titanium nitrides. nitrides are hard compounds, harder than carbides if i am remembering my studies right. the fact that it uses titanium as a base means little, compounds can have very different properties than base materials. TiN and TiAlN coatings are used on cutting tool to help maintain sharpness. it is pretty much impervious to corosion and wear but the drill bits you see at home depot and sears with "titanium coatings" are low quality bits to start with. the stuff you get through tool suppliers that manufacturers use can last a very long time.

titanium comes in 2 main varieties, alpha and beta. there are grades as well but working on aircraft i was only exposed to the highest grades and never learned that system. beta phase titanium is strong stuff and fairly resilient but not as strong as the strongest tool and stainless steels. it is fairly hard but can easily be cut with high speed steel like typical drill bits are made from. it's main strength is a mix of good strength without the weight of steel or nickel or other high strength metals.

alpha phase is more often the common variety of titanium and is often associated with being gummy, soft, prone to adhesion.

i think a titanium string core would have a different acoustic property and feel very slinky. i dont think titanium cores would work on an electric. TiN coatings may make them last longer and slide at the friction points better. inh the end it's still an ernie ball string and are just as prone to breakage do to over stretching, just maybe slightly less prone to imperfection and nicks in the surface that lead to breakage.

 

[ORCRiST]

Hmmm, from what I know of (aircraft/military grade) titanium its very light, on the brittle side of strong, has an insanely high melting point, and is very hard to machine/mill properly. Never heard of the Alpha/Beta propereties before, I guess ya learn something new every day.

I dunno about titanium, but I just recently found and am tryin out some DR Black Beauties that I actually like a lot (as far as string coatings go).

ORC