Elixir strings - up close and personal

EdGrip

p90fool;16573" said:

I too have corrosive sweat, so having to change my EBs every gig for three decades means that I never play with knackered strings, which is what coated strings sound like to me.

The reason I can't abide Ernie Ball strings is that the plain strings immediately turn to a sort of black, crusty, cheese wire the moment I touch them. Rotos don't, and nor do D'Addarios. Worth you giving them another chance, maybe?

randomhandclaps

Like with any piece of equipment, the money saving value is only relative to your use. When someone is telling you they last between 6-12 months it tells you something about the usage of that particular instrument. In those cases I understand a money saving appeal. Sweat also damages the guitar and makers could go about coating them in nanoweb to protect them. Anyone who thinks that coating a resonant string in plastic isn't ultimately going to effect tone is buying way too much into the marketing. Guitar players spend ages talking about tone and the effects of woods, pickups etc. With every other guitar variance you can point to well respected players who back that choice. However, even elixir's own artists roster suggest their aren't many tone-hounds lining up to endorse plastic coated strings. There's also a lack of rival manufacturers following suit. As I said, if you like them that's great. To compare even a 3 month old set of plasticised strings with a fresh set of uncoated strings is for me a non-starter. It boils down to horses for courses.

ESBlonde

Well I'm reviving this ol' thread.

I bought a Telecaster a month or so back and the seller kindly restrung it before sale, it now turns out they are coated strings.
So just two rehearsals and one gig later and they are draggy and feel like greasy and in the third set I thought they would cut my finger tips.

I got out the naptha at home to try and clean off whatever was on the fingerboard before I remembered this thread and the possible cause of the irritation.

So they don't last and the feel terrible to me (yes I have corrosive sweat it would seem). But I'll not be wasting my money on the likes of them. I can get better life than that from regular strings.

ThePrettyDamned

I'm going to try them again to save money. I change strings every few weeks (I'm one hard playing, sweaty fat mofo).

II'm hoping a bit more bass and presence will fix the sound, but to be honest, they'll do me fine for money saving at least.

p90fool

ThePrettyDamned said:

I'm going to try them again to save money. I change strings every few weeks (I'm one hard playing, sweaty fat mofo).

Are you gigging? I'm a sweaty bugger too and I'm sure my strings would last a couple of weeks or more at home, but I've always had to change them for every gig.

I can get 10 sets of EBs for the price of 4 sets of Elixirs, so I can't imagine how I'd save money even if I managed to stretch them out to two gigs a set.