Guitar Strings: You Can Never Go Wrong With...

Martin solid mahogany guitar is what I play the most, but I'm completely fond of Dean Markley blue steel strings. Where I live, I have to order them on the internet anyway, so having tried dozens of strings, that's what works best for me. The DMBS strings seem to stay the same tone-wise and tuning-wise until they are worn out. I use a lot of alternate tunings, and really appreciate the DMBS's holding the pitch.

After that, I like D’Addario EXP and Ernie Ball's Earthwood. All of them have a different feel and sound. I do a lot of fingerpicking, but also some strumming and picking. DM's for overall happiness, imo.

Always D'Addario for me. My opinion might not be as valuable in this particular discussion because I'm a bass player, but D'Addario have never given me any grief. I'll never buy anything else. Whatever your choice, just stay away from cheap garbage like GHS; you'll have nothing but migraines with those.

I go completely with ernie ball

Earthwood Phospher Bronze Medium Light 12 16 24 32 44 54 on my Acustic

Beefy Slinky Custom Guage Nickel Wound 11 15 22 30 42 54 on my Les Paul Standard

Perfect for Down tuned Drop D/C

I believe they sound very nice in standard E tuning also, Very Rich

It' my 43rd Year Playing and these are the strings I find to be the best fit for my style of playing

originally posted by: Peeple

?

That's the question. I thought I give the ol' Bender (I know it's not very fitting to call a Fender acoustic western guitar without any technology attached whatsoever "Bender") a Sunday treat, polished him, put on new strings and I hate them.
I hate how they sound, feel, even how they look. (They're Martin MSP 4050 phosphor bronze custom light, for the geeks amongst you)

So the question is: with what strings can one never go wrong?

Heaviest you can reasonably get.

Smooth tone, great harmonics, good pitch accuracy (they don't 'detune' as the amount of vibration changes).

Only issue is that the action of your guitar has to be set-up properly.

a reply to: Peeple


I used to use D'Addario on my acoustics. 10's (maybe 11's???) for regular, normal, E tuning; 12's for E-flat or D (one whole step down).

I also used them on electrics.

They are decent enough, last a fairly long time. Don't flake off like Elixers do (or feel like snot when you move your hand!)

But as the tour band van load guitar list grew, changing strings became a full time job!

After trying them out (and a few others, like Elixers), I have switched to ClearTone. All guitars. You just give them a wipe down when done playing (should do that anyway). I have a set on one acoustic going on over two years! I was just thinking, "Man, it is just about time to changes them... just because!"

Strings are a personal choice like picks. Try several brands. Find a brand you like. Hint: After putting on a set, keep the label. Write notes on them (when you put them on. Initial impression; a few weeks later; if/when one broke; how long before you had to replace them. Ya know, get some data points!) Then you can make an informed choice.

If you go by the interweb, some players HATE ClearTones. Some love them. I chose them because I am lazy and hate changing strings every month. Get some 15 guitars... well, you see what I mean!

PS - Bender the Fender... love it! Goes really well with my "Dora the Explorer" I just purchased! I haven't even plugged her into an amp yet! I usually let the finish rest in the air to finish any curing. Play her everyday... just not plugged in... yet.

Happy strumming!!

Ernie Ball Earthwood for Acoustic. (Particularly Amazing on any Martin Acoustic Guitar)

D'Addario EXL110 Nickel Wound for Electric Guitar. (Slap your mama for the last bite!)



a reply to: Peeple

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

That's pretty interesting, gots some questions for ya!

Do you find your hands aging your instruments more than most? How long did the elixirs last before flaking and which coating(s) did you use? Annnd, how aggressive do you play?

Ill never use another brand for my own stuff, but your feedback may help me provide a bit better personalization for clients.

Thanks buddy!

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

I've already decided d'addario and ernie ball will be the first two I'll try. But thanks for the pro-tipps.

a reply to: Peeple

TEOT really gave the best advice; this sort of thing is ultra personal. Plenty of folks haven't even tried more than one brand and just stick with what they know, others literally try everything they can get their hands on and go with their favorites.

Either way, or anything in between, if you are loving the music you are making it doesn't matter much what you're using to make it.

a reply to: Serdgiam

I know, but I got to start the testing somewhere, right?

a reply to: Serdgiam

The electric maple fretboards get gunky pretty fast. The rosewood (et. al. natural, no finish, dark wood fretboards), darken rather easily and show where I play most (it reminds me to play more F and B-flats!).

Mostly, it is fret wear I
see. Yes, I am a pretty aggressive strummer! And I tend to play upbeat/punk style songs so my fretting hand tends to hammer down hard flattening them out and occasionally notching them. I also use Ultex picks around 1.0 mm, flipped to the other end (not the pointy part) to get clean strumming sounds. I guess it all started when I started playing and had 12s or 13s on my first electric! It kind of followed from there. I cannot even play 8s and tend to snap 9s.

The Elixers had the polyweb on them. They came free as a sample with some purchase I made. Even wiping them down, they started flaking after 4 or 5 days. A week after that, the guitar was covered in white silicone snot and the strings were bare (IIRC, electric. It was one of 3 guitars I had at the time). That was when they first came out too. They may have gotten better (I have not tried the nano coating ones) since then but got decent results from ClearTones, so that is what I use now.

I use 80/20 blends on acoustic. 11s and 12s (I checked last night) for E and E-flat. One guitar is tuned to D and has 13s (D'Addarios) on them but need changing.

Hope that helps!



PS - The new Explorer still has the factory Gibson set on them! They might be coated because they last a bit longer than either uncoated strings or factory Fenders.

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

Thanks for the "free data"

I stick to the nano and optiweb, fwiw, but if you have something that works I can't see much reason to change.

Fun story: My current favorite is a Jackson Mark Morton DX2. The thing came to me completely, completely beat to hell. After very literally gluing it back together .. something really special was born. Everyone who plays it tries to buy it (lol) even though its alongside some pretty darn nice instruments. Its one of the only ones that simply is not for sale. Though, the CIJ Tele is gaining ground pretty quick...