Top 3 things you consider when buying strings

Top 3 things you consider when buying strings

  • Material of construction

  • Useful life of string

  • Brand name

  • How it feels

  • How it sounds amplified

  • How it sounds unamplified

  • Weight of strings

  • Cost

  • Immediate availability for purchase

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RVA

RVA

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Inspired by a question asked in another thread, I am curious to know what the most important factors are for you when choosing strings for your instrument. Do you like them heavy for a fat sound, do they need to feel right to inspire the tone in your fingers, do you swear by a certain brand or matreial of construction, or do you just like 'em cheap!?

I have thought of some other consideratioms for the poll. Let me know if you think I missed any. As the title says, you may choose 3 and change your vote if enlightened by your fellow tone chasers.
 
Quite honestly, I have never really thought much about strings. I use 10-46 for regular tuning and 11-48 for slide, always have. Ernie Ball Regular and Power Slinky. I buy them because... I have tried other brands and can't say I notice much of a difference, but I keep coming back to the Earnie Balls. Not too expensive.
 
My reasoning is simple I guess, I started using D'Addario 10-46 strings on my electrics and liked them and never tried anything else. On my Strats I use Fender Bullet 9-42s. That's what originally comes on them and I like the way the feel and sound.
 
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Strings are consumables. I throw them out after 6 hours or so of play time. Reasonable price, consistency are more important than esoteric features or long life.

D'addario and Ernie Ball strings are available everywhere, come in gauges I use, cost little and work fine for me.

P.
 
I have tried and sampled and learned.....d'addario for the most part halfrounds on my 6 strings.....feel good ...last and are not break the bank priced.
I am way more finicky about the bass stings, because as you know those are a liflelong commitment...(at 30.00 and up a set ---it has to be I have paid less for the whole fooking bass!)
Always flatwounds.........or tapewounds --- usually Fender-- but d'addario makes a SILKY smooth tapewound bass string I just recently tried and I am very impressed......talk about playing like BUTTA .....I missed a couple slides because my finger just kept going and going......
 
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I go thru a lot of strings. With doing repair & setup work and building dulcimers and cigar box guitars.
The brands I use most right out of the packs are Daddario and Ernie Ball.
They have proven consistent quality at what I consider a decent price.

I like Daddario Chromes for my flatwound applications.
And Daddario nickle wound & Ernie Ball Slinkys are inter changeable in my opinion on electrics.
They both get the job done, this is where I look for deals in buying quantity. Buy 10 sets get 2 free, etc...
Ernie Ball Earthwood get the nod for acoustic strings.
And Daddario flatwound for bass.

I also buy Rogue individual bulk strings in 12 packs from Musicians Friend.
For the price they are a sweet deal. Starting at around $2.19 per dozen and going up with gauge.
I keep at least one 12 pack of every gauge from .008 to .048 for custom gauge sets and dulcimer & CBG strings.
Very handy if you break a string, you don't have to rob one from a set.
 
You are the one that turned me on to the d'addarios Hackmaster ;) AND flatwounds in general-- I had never played a 6 string WITH flatwounds ---
FOr that I am forever grateful :)
 
plain ol D'addario xl 10s on electrics except same 9s on strat.
Plan on trying 11s on Jaguar.
Tried Ernie Ball slinky, buzzed more on base strings. not any better than the plentiful and inexpensive Dads.

Tried the Musician Friend brand, cheap and not terrible but a little stiffer than than the Dads.
 
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Ernie Balls come in single gauge packs of 6. I buy them to make my semi-custom gauge.

Buy a 9-46 set, throw away the .009 and put a .010 on instead as the .009s sound so weak and thin to me. So my set is 10/11/16/26/36/46.

Even at that, buying 10-packs of sets, and 6-packs of singles a set of strings comes in at <$4, often closer to $3.

P.
 
I really like the feel of Gibson Brite Wires 9-42. A couple of years ago a local store had five packs on sale for a ridiculously low price so I bought quite a few five packs. Can't remember how many but I'm down to my last set so I may be trying other brands but for the past two years I've been very satisfied with these.
 
D'Addario 10-13-17-26-36-46 on all the guitars now.
I used to string the 2 ES335s 10-46 and 2 of the SGs 10-38 (Markley F150)
and use a custom gauge set 10-13-15-28-38-49 on the SG with the 57 & 57+
but now I just string everything up with the same strings.
(The Luke and the 2 Miras also get the 10-46s.)
 
I care about the feel, amp sound and cost.

I use light gauge strings but like them stiff, so I'll look for stiffer brands like GHS boomers or Brazilian made NIGs.

The unplugged sound is pointless in a strat, so...

Cost matters because it's a different aspect when you live outside the US. A set of Elixirs or other high end series will cost here about 4 times what it costs in America. Sometimes it's just not worth it.

Besides I gig often, and so I change strings every month to minimize breakage. That puts "useful life" out of the equation to me
 
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Raiyn said:
D'Addario Balanced tension 10s, it's probably a placebo, but they feel special to me.
Click to expand...
I tried them once a few years ago and really liked them. The came a as a promo with a set of regular 10-46s. I've never been able to find them since.
 
I have been trying a lot of strings lately. The feel and sound are most important to me. I don't play enough to worry about constant string changes so price doesn't come in to play at all. The ones I've found that are working for me right now are the Gibson Vintage Reissue in 10-46 and 11-50 on my Les Paul's and 9-42 on my SG.
 
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I marked long life, sound when amplified and price.
I also seem to go through a lot of strings, so I buy D'Addario 11s in cartons of ten sets at a time.
I was stringing all my electrics with these, but recently went back to 10s for my Telecaster... She favors those.
I favor good brand strings at an affordable price. Elixir strings really are worth their cost, because they do retain
their tone longer than other strings. But if I can get ten sets of D'Addarios for less than $39.00, I'll pounce.
...and just change them more often.

For acoustic, I do the same, watch for good brands to be onsale. So I'll use D'Addario bluegrass strings (med. bottom, light top)
on my dreadnought Mossman, and D'Addario or Martin light gauge on my old 0-17 and new XC1T. I watch for them to go onsale
and buy them when they do.

For bass, I like D'Addarrio round wound strings... I can get two sets of those in one pack for $24 if I watch... and I do.
I play D'Addario's half round strings on my fretless. Rotosound round wound are the world's best, and so are Elixer's
and if they ever went onsale, I 'd be sorely tempted. But they never do. Always $$$$$$$$$
 
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I pretty much stick with Ernie Ball 10s and 9s. I have tried heavier EBs, and other brands (D'Addario, Rotosound, Monoprice) but have had problems with the high E breaking when I started stretching the strings. Probably just bad luck, but it's never happened with Ernie Ball strings.
 
For a long time I used GHS Boomers on all my electrics, buying in bulk packs. Being gone as much as I am though, a lot of my guitars would be stored for 6 months or so, and I'd drag it out to find rusty strings. I tried Elixers, and that eliminates that problem.
A couple years after changing to those I bought a new LP, and it came with Cleartones. They retained their sound longer than the Elixers and didn't rust, so I've went to those on electric and acoustic. They're more pricey, but in the end it's better for me.
 
does anybody else feel that Fender guitars behave better with one grade lighter
strings than Gibsons? I don't own a Strat, just talking from experience with my Telecaster.
 
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