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What kind of strings do you use?

  • Thread starter Thread starter dwayneed
  • Start date Start date

What kind of strings do you use?

  • D'Addario

    Votes: 50 29.8%

  • Elixir

    Votes: 12 7.1%

  • Ernie Ball

    Votes: 44 26.2%

  • GHS

    Votes: 21 12.5%

  • Other

    Votes: 41 24.4%
  • Total voters
    168
There wasn't the option of choosing multiple brands so I chose "other" and will sort it out here.

If I'm playing live I use DR .009's on my Music Man Axis, Kramer 5150, and my Warmoth Strat. For my Fender Clapton model I use DR .010's. This upcoming build will most likely be using the .010's too.

If I'm not playing live and practicing quite a bit, to where I'm changing strings quite often, I use the same gauge but go with Ernie Ball's. The DR's are too expensive to be changing every 2 weeks or so.

Haven't tried Elixir's as of yet but I've only heard good things about them.
MULLY
 
Mainly daddario 10s, the standard thing, I keep some 11s around, usually one guitar is strung with 11s, going to try those pure nickels again sometime soon. The slide guitar has ernie ball .012 not even slinkies, but I'm going to get some .013 half-round jazz strings for it next. Flatwound feel, but brighter. For bass, my teacher started me on some no-name .045 - .105s for only $5 / pack and they sound great. For acoustic, where it really really matters, I am 100000% sold on Martin SP, currently .012 phosphor bronze.
 
been using 9's for ever. didnt like the feel of anything heavier. When I got my Warmoth set up, my tech guy suggested 10's or thicker...i told him no. He put 10's on there anyway and did not tell me. Dont know if this was intentional or a mistake.I was unaware that they were 10's...just thought the extra tension was from the scale length (my other main guitar is a Hamer sunburst with 24.75 scale).

So I changed the strings here about two months ago and found that the 9's that I put on were way too light...didnt notice any big difference in tone. took those off and back on with a set of 10's...now I REALY cant stand the 9's on my Hamer so I moved up to hybrid slinky's and on that guitar. even they were too light so i moved up again to heavy bottom skinny top EB's..probably have to have the nut adjusted or replaced on that guitar for these strings.

still havnt noticed any realy great tonal difference between gauges of strings. thinking of trying a wound G on the Hamer.

Brian
 
bpmorton777 said:
been using 9's for ever. didnt like the feel of anything heavier. When I got my Warmoth set up, my tech guy suggested 10's or thicker...i told him no. He put 10's on there anyway and did not tell me. Dont know if this was intentional or a mistake.I was unaware that they were 10's...just thought the extra tension was from the scale length (my other main guitar is a Hamer sunburst with 24.75 scale).

So I changed the strings here about two months ago and found that the 9's that I put on were way too light...didnt notice any big difference in tone. took those off and back on with a set of 10's...now I REALY cant stand the 9's on my Hamer so I moved up to hybrid slinky's and on that guitar. even they were too light so i moved up again to heavy bottom skinny top EB's..probably have to have the nut adjusted or replaced on that guitar for these strings.

still havnt noticed any realy great tonal difference between gauges of strings. thinking of trying a wound G on the Hamer.

Brian
Click to expand...


i used a wound G string from the Not so slinky sets of ernie ball and i dunno dude in my honest opinion it feels really strange, i tried to get used to it but couldnt, give em a shot and tell me what u think
 
I'm a bass player and I use Elixirs only. They're pretty expensive but they just last and last and last without going dead so in the end they're dirt cheap.
 
I personally don't think a big issue, or even an issue at all.  The coatings on Elixirs can't be super thick, but in Bass Player Magazine, Roger Sadowsky wrote in saying that they've experienced grounding issues using coated strings.  Apparently the coating is non-conductive and can impede the contact for grounding purposes at the bridge saddle.  However, this is probably only simulated in a labratory.  I would imagine break over angle pressure of the string on the saddle compromises the coating enough for grounding to take place.  Food for thought.
 
I used Elixirs once on recommendation. My analysis is that the wound strings sound really weird when new, but after about a week of break-in sound good. Problem is, by then the plain strings are as dead as any other set, so for me the extra $$$ made no sense. I'm really hard on strings though, bad shit in my sweat I guess.  :toothy10:
 
I always use Elixirs, they're my favorite.  I like how they feel on my fingers and how they sound. 
 
D'Addario
10's on the strat
12's on the PRS

I used to use hybrid slinkys but a couple years back tried a bunch of different strings and decided to change to D'Addarios

 
i like how elixer's feel, but I've broken every set of elixer's that I've ever strung up on one of my guitars, so between the high price and the frequent string breakage, it's really not practical for me. Diaddario's are my current favorite for electrics. 10s or 11s depending on the guitar. (I never use 9s anymore cuz they sound lame and I'm heavy handed.) Martin SP's are some of my favorite acoustic strings because they sound huge for a really long time and they never break. I'll settle for martin marquis though cuz I can usually buy those in bulk and then not think about strings for a while. always size 12's so it feels good for an acoustic. My last bulk pack is finally looking low, and i saw the 25 sets of diaddario strings for acoustic. I've never tried these before so I think I'm gonna do that and if they're good I'm gonna buy the super huge pack and be pretty much set for life.
 
I don't know why, but for some reason I almost never break strings.  Even on crappy guitars, I've broken maybe 5 strings the entire time I've been playing.  I don't play overly softly or anything either, so wtf?
 
hannaugh said:
I don't know why, but for some reason I almost never break strings.  Even on crappy guitars, I've broken maybe 5 strings the entire time I've been playing.  I don't play overly softly or anything either, so wtf?
Click to expand...

I'm the same. I've been playing guitar for nearly 8 years, and I've broken maybe a half-dozen strings. Always the high e. I think it has something to do with body chemistry. Case in point: the singer in my band breaks a string every time he plays guitar. He's a very corrosive person.
 
The only time I ever break strings is when I've done something funky like kink a string taking it off and putting it back on or something weird. In normal playing I never ever break strings and I never have. My guess is it's mostly people with heavy picks who 'hook' the string a bit on the stroke.
 
Most of the strings i broke were bends on the hig e using my Warmoth. Then I noticed that the saddle wasn't notched very smoothly. Fixed it right up. Oh, and I play with a 1.0-mm pick.  :laughing7:
 
I started using heavier strings because i broke the lighter ones all the time. Mine was from bending though.
 
d'addario exl-110 10-46.

ernie ball's seem to sound a little bit better but they are not as durable so i mainly use d'addario.
 
The last string I broke, I was turning the tuner above the locked nut of a Floyd Rose.  That was about 16 years ago, and hardly the string's fault.  That was the first, last, and only Floyd I ever owned.
 
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