Preferred Strings Folks

BobRob

p90fool said:

As a starting point I'd advise 10s too. Personally, due to hand injury and plain old age I use 9s but would prefer the feel of 10s if I could still bend them. 

I have corrosive sweat, which means I could get a couple of weeks out of conventional strings on my "at home" guitars, but less than a whole gig out of my gigging guitars.

Elixir Nanowebs have been a Godsend to me, I change them every four gigs. 


I used to hate changing the strings on my Basses i would leave them on for years....but loved the sound of new strings on my Acoustic...at the moment i have no need to change the strings on my Electric as i have a long way to go before I'll be good enough to start gigging 

p90fool said:

As a starting point I'd advise 10s too. Personally, due to hand injury and plain old age I use 9s but would prefer the feel of 10s if I could still bend them. 

I have corrosive sweat, which means I could get a couple of weeks out of conventional strings on my "at home" guitars, but less than a whole gig out of my gigging guitars.

Elixir Nanowebs have been a Godsend to me, I change them every four gigs. 

Neil

I used to use 10's on Gibsons and 9's on Fenders but now I just keep it to 10's all round to save mucking about.

Makes? Whatever is on  offer.

Using Rotosound yellows at the moment, got a free strap too! 

ICBM

thegummy said:

Philtre said:

I try to get up to a year out of mine. I'm a cheapskate.

Don't they sound completely dead for most of the year?

Is it coated strings you use?

I get 1-2 years out of mine at least, even when using the guitar quite a lot. They don't sound dead - they don't sound 'new', but I don't like that anyway - because I keep them clean. What usually kills them in the end is indentations in the windings where they press on the frets, which throws the intonation off.

I hate coated strings...

Rabs

For most of my playing life its always been Ernie Ball 9s (super slinkys) ...

Over the last year I have now moved to what I think is the perfect mix..  I now use Ernie Ball Hybrid slinkies which are 10s on the bass strings and 9s on the high strings ( .009 - .046 )... You get the perfect balance of slightly fatter strings for chording and nice easy bending strings on the high end for lead work.

jimmyguitar

BobRob said:

Just a feeler what's your preferred strings and gauges for Electric Guitar.
I'm newish to Electric and have just purchased a second hand Epiphone Prophecy plus Les Paul for  £200 with a Hard Case absolute bargain...strings fine at the moment but just wondering what strings folks are using and why....probably a stupid question as it's personal choice but just curious cheers Bob 

D’addarrio 10-52 on all electrics. Whenever I sell a guitar I convert another guitarist to them. As long as the guitar is set up well to accomodate them they just feel right.

cpcompany

Don't care about the brand, haven't really noticed much, if any differences when switching. Always use 9s as that's what I am used to. Never felt like experimenting with different gauges and tunings. 

p90fool

ICBM said:

thegummy said:

Philtre said:

I try to get up to a year out of mine. I'm a cheapskate.

Don't they sound completely dead for most of the year?

Is it coated strings you use?

I get 1-2 years out of mine at least, even when using the guitar quite a lot. They don't sound dead - they don't sound 'new', but I don't like that anyway - because I keep them clean. What usually kills them in the end is indentations in the windings where they press on the frets, which throws the intonation off.

I hate coated strings...

I wish I could do this, I wouldn't use coated strings either but they work brilliantly for me.

I find them brittle though, like you I have issues with disturbing them once they've been tuned up to pitch - if I slacken them enough to remove a Strat scratchplate for example the chances are I'll break one when tuning back up. 

I change them on gigging guitars as a precaution against breaking, not because they've gone dead, something I've never had to worry about with conventional strings. 

You can't have everything I guess. 

Stevepage

either 9-46 or 10-46.

Elixir Strings are my favourite but, I end up buying D'addario as they're cheaper and sound good.

scrumhalf

D'Addario 9-42, been using them for decades.

thegummy

ICBM said:

thegummy said:

Philtre said:

I try to get up to a year out of mine. I'm a cheapskate.

Don't they sound completely dead for most of the year?

Is it coated strings you use?

I get 1-2 years out of mine at least, even when using the guitar quite a lot. They don't sound dead - they don't sound 'new', but I don't like that anyway - because I keep them clean. What usually kills them in the end is indentations in the windings where they press on the frets, which throws the intonation off.

I hate coated strings...

I'm completely shocked at that.

Do you have a special maintenance routine?

Are you specifically going for an unusually dark tone?

thegummy

scrumhalf said:

D'Addario 9-42, been using them for decades.

Decades? Wow and I was thinking a year is insanely long :P 

amarok1971

I don't have sweaty hands and possibly have reynauds (my hands look like a corpses ones in winter!) My strings last forwver, no joke.

Philtre

Last year I changed the strings on my classical guitar. After 10 years. ;-)

Megii

It seems mad, but I can't find anything I like more than the Harley Benton Valuestrings that Thomann sells - I use the 11-52 gauge, and buy 24 sets at a time, usually with something else, to get the maximum discount.

DaevidJ

D'Addario 10s on my Mira and 11s on my Jaguar...

rico

Currently Ernie Ball 11’s on the LP and Brite Wire 10’s on Fenders. 

Voxman

ICBM said:

thegummy said:

Philtre said:

I try to get up to a year out of mine. I'm a cheapskate.

Don't they sound completely dead for most of the year?

Is it coated strings you use?

I get 1-2 years out of mine at least, even when using the guitar quite a lot. They don't sound dead - they don't sound 'new', but I don't like that anyway - because I keep them clean. What usually kills them in the end is indentations in the windings where they press on the frets, which throws the intonation off.

I hate coated strings...

1-2 years out of a set of strings?! You have got to be kidding me!!! 

I take good care of my strings and wipe them down after every use and clean them with fast-fret regularly. Notwithstanding string breakages if I'm using that guitar regularly I stil have to change the strings at the outside every 2 months simply because they lose their tone and tuning accuracy/pitch deteriorates.  Only thing I can think of is that you must be playing thicker gauge (11's upwards) and play mainly rhythm chords/open chords with little or no real bending i.e. you're putting a lot less wear/strain on the strings than a rock/blues lead guitarist like me.   The only way my strings would last 1-2 years is if I kept it in its case and didn't play it! 

lasermonkey

10-46s on all my 4 string electrics, either EB or D'Addario. I tried the D'Addario set with the wound G recently and while it was less successful on my Fender offsets, It suited my Ric 330 perfectly.

I had always used EB 8-40 sets on my Ric 330/12 but having just tried them on my Electric XII, I think I need to go up at least a gauge. They just seem so insubstantial on the XII.

Strings last ages for me, unless I let my best mate have a go. He has alien acid sweat which kills strings like nothing else I've encountered!

mburekenge

Elixirs for me. Due to climate. They are pricey, but non coated are a false economy in my situation.

Nikko

I like Ernie Ball strings. 9-42 on my PRS Custom 24 and 10-46 on my SG-A-LIKE.