“Highest quality” strings (acoustic)

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sev112sev112 Frets: 2739
Ignoring (if possible) subjective likes such as bright/ brassy/ flat and 80/20vsPhosBronze etc. 

I can buy Martins and EB and similar acoustic strings in the £6 - 8 range
i can by Martins and Elixirs and similar which are coated in the say £15 range

what I am paying for there is the coating technology which is based on increasing the life of the strings; so be it and all well and good if you like / need that.

but, are there out there in the marketplace Higher Quality strings ?  Perhaps that are made out of a higher quality or purity base metal perhaps that just sounds better.  Or is it all marketing and taste and preference and the actual strings are much of a muchness.

if you bought the most highest quality hand made and crafted acoustic guitar,  would it come with “off the shelf” stings ?
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Comments

  • droflufdrofluf Frets: 3612
    Pulls up chair and sits back :)

    String quality is very subjective; what one person likes won't appeal to  another and strings that sound great on one guitar may sound terrible on another. Once you get above the eBay £1.99 a set strings quality-wise Martin, Elixir, D'Addioro are all  fairly similar and it all comes down to marketing and personal preferences.
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  • sev112sev112 Frets: 2739
    drofluf said:
    Pulls up chair and sits back :)

    String quality is very subjective; what one person likes won't appeal to  another and strings that sound great on one guitar may sound terrible on another. Once you get above the eBay £1.99 a set strings quality-wise Martin, Elixir, D'Addioro are all  fairly similar and it all comes down to marketing and personal preferences.
    That was what I was deducing myself, but thought I would explore if there were “custom shop” equivalents

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  • earwighoneyearwighoney Frets: 3489
    edited April 2021
    sev112 said:
    Ignoring (if possible) subjective likes such as bright/ brassy/ flat and 80/20vsPhosBronze etc. 

    I can buy Martins and EB and similar acoustic strings in the £6 - 8 range
    i can by Martins and Elixirs and similar which are coated in the say £15 range

    what I am paying for there is the coating technology which is based on increasing the life of the strings; so be it and all well and good if you like / need that.

    but, are there out there in the marketplace Higher Quality strings ?  Perhaps that are made out of a higher quality or purity base metal perhaps that just sounds better.  Or is it all marketing and taste and preference and the actual strings are much of a muchness.

    if you bought the most highest quality hand made and crafted acoustic guitar,  would it come with “off the shelf” stings ?
    IMO, it's more important to find the 'right' set of strings for your guitar more than the most expensive one.

    Different string sets suit different guitars, actions, playing styles and so on.  For your needs it could either be a £30 set of Thomastik strings or a £5 set of D'Addario 85/15's.

    From my experience, coated strings like Elixirs etc sound a little different to their uncoated counterparts, and it depends whether your needs will need coated strings. If you string once a year, then go for it, but if you switch between alternate tunings constantly then maybe look to change your strings on a more frequent basis.

    IMO, I'd spend £30 or so buying a selection of strings, different alloys, different brands, different gauges to see which ones suit you and your guitar the most.

    EDIT - I've tried so many different brands of strings I can barely remember, but I think standard 80/20 or PB D'Addarios are a good place to start and to move from there.
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  • mgawmgaw Frets: 5239
    the ones i prefer are GTS co from the USA...tried pretty much every other brand and settled on theirs
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  • artiebearartiebear Frets: 810
    edited April 2021
    You can spend a lot of money of strings like anything else. The problem is that, if you play a lot and even if you don't, strings, custom or not, have a finite window of usefulness. As someone who plays for a living, I have tried quite a few options over the years, a lot  of which just didn't suit me, regardless of price etc., but that's personal preference.
    A longtime ago I concluded that, because string die off through heavy playing, especially night after night live, or because of  the affects of time and the elements ( I have tried all the longlife variants, they just don't feel all sound good to me personally, plus I can still kill a set very quickly indeed  ), it is more cost effective to have boxes of the strings that do sound good fresh and change then very often indeed ( for me that's D'Addario PB's  in the gauges I need ).
    I don't really buy into the different brands etc for different guitars myself, preferring consistency, the instrument itself giving the variation required. 
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  • Tone71Tone71 Frets: 619
    I'll be first to leap in with Newtone, having put them on very recently (and working out the right gauge), they sound superb.

    https://newtonestrings.com/shop/heritage-series-acoustic-6-string/ ;

    I know they are new and have that new zing to them but they have noticeably less tension which I find really pleasing, now picking up my other acoustic with my old favourites on confirms that I wont be going back.

    I don't personally like Elixirs but get that loads do...I guess it's personal choice
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  • bbill335bbill335 Frets: 1368
    newtone
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  • markjmarkj Frets: 910
    Mangans, just superb on my HD28
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  • sev112sev112 Frets: 2739
    Thanks, as in the op, I want to ignore personal taste and technical differences.  I’ve been playing since mid 80s and always just bought e.g Martin / EB etc, and stick with what I want for a while

    but at no point have I ever been aware of premium, or luxury strings, and that’s what I’m trying to understand. Is there such a thing?

    thnaks for whoever said Newtone and Thomastik, I shall look them up
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  • earwighoneyearwighoney Frets: 3489
    sev112 said:
    Thanks, as in the op, I want to ignore personal taste and technical differences.  I’ve been playing since mid 80s and always just bought e.g Martin / EB etc, and stick with what I want for a while

    but at no point have I ever been aware of premium, or luxury strings, and that’s what I’m trying to understand. Is there such a thing?

    thnaks for whoever said Newtone and Thomastik, I shall look them up
    Newtone are a bit more expensive than D'Addarios, I think they are around a tenner a set but IMO they are the best strings on the market for my needs.

    I'm not sure about this particular issue, but for guitar players who use a lot of open tunings they seem to be a brand guitarists are very enthusiastic about.

    The new Santa Cruz adjusted tension strings are supposed to be very good.


    Aside from Newtone, I can't think of any other acoustic guitar string makers who make their strings according to tension.

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  • LewyLewy Frets: 4124
    There are the Santa Cruz "parabolic tension" and Martin Titanium Core strings which might fall into that upper echelon kind of category in terms of cost and claimed benefits. I've never tried either.
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  • moremore Frets: 230
    edited April 2021
    Most of the better string brands are of equal quality.  In the end, they are all made of wire. But, there are some small differences. The core wire can be round or hex. Also, the gauges of the core wire, in the same gauges, can be different and this will affect how the strings sound and how they feel. Matching the gauges to the tunings will have an impact.   Custom sets are often more expensive, because of lower demand. but will often sound better when tuned to the correct tunings. There are so many variables to guitars and the players, it all a personal choice.
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  • stickyfiddlestickyfiddle Frets: 26747
    I’ve tried tonnes of strings over the last few years - almost all 80/20 as that’s my general happy place. Basically all were similar quality in terms of longevity, and I had very little breakage - in all cases any breaks were a b or e string after a bout of open tuning changes. 

    I actually settled on Martin Retros- “Monel” which I believe is a nickel alloy. They simply sound better to my ears
    The Assumptions - UAE party band for all your rock & soul desires
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  • DavidRDavidR Frets: 727
    I’ve tried tonnes of strings over the last few years - almost all 80/20 as that’s my general happy place. Basically all were similar quality in terms of longevity, and I had very little breakage - in all cases any breaks were a b or e string after a bout of open tuning changes. 

    I actually settled on Martin Retros- “Monel” which I believe is a nickel alloy. They simply sound better to my ears
    ....and last 3-4 times longer. So considerably cheaper. I agree Martin MM12 favourites with me for a year or so. Less brassy/bright. Tone has a complexity across all frequencies. More steely. Play nicely. Worth a try (at least once).
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71952
    I also think Newtones are very high-quality strings.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • artiebearartiebear Frets: 810
    sev112 said:
    Thanks, as in the op, I want to ignore personal taste and technical differences.  I’ve been playing since mid 80s and always just bought e.g Martin / EB etc, and stick with what I want for a while

    but at no point have I ever been aware of premium, or luxury strings, and that’s what I’m trying to understand. Is there such a thing?

    thnaks for whoever said Newtone and Thomastik, I shall look them up
    You cannot ignore "technical difficulties"  A string is a degrading piece of metal, which will lose elasticity and tone over a fixed period of time. You can spend £100 on a "custom " set of strings, they are no better than an £8 set of strings that last three  weeks ( pretty much the norm for any serious amount of playing, depending on your perception of what is acceptable quality of tone, I know some people like the sound of dead strings, but then why pay more than fiver ?) . 
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  • TheMadMickTheMadMick Frets: 239
    If you play with a pick, you might like to try changing the size and stiffness of your pick. It makes a lot more difference than a change of strings.

    I find Martins are brighter than D'Addario but maybe that just me?
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  • sev112sev112 Frets: 2739
    Everyone is talking about tone and personal likes and needs, which I was trying to ignore in my question 

    are guitar strings the only product in the world that has no actual quality difference in for example the base materials.  
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  • artiebearartiebear Frets: 810
    sev112 said:
    Everyone is talking about tone and personal likes and needs, which I was trying to ignore in my question 

    are guitar strings the only product in the world that has no actual quality difference in for example the base materials.  
    What is the point of asking the question, if you want to disregard the option of those who go out of their way to answer on a guitar forum. Just do a price comparison, buy the most expensive and tell us what you think. 
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  • droflufdrofluf Frets: 3612
    sev112 said:
    Everyone is talking about tone and personal likes and needs, which I was trying to ignore in my question 

    are guitar strings the only product in the world that has no actual quality difference in for example the base materials.  
    I think you need to define quality to get an answer to that question. Perhaps refer to Pirsig? 
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