I gave up on Ernie Ball many years ago because so many of them kept coming with little rust spots and pits on the strings. I don't know if it was because it was old stock on the shelves or what, but I wanted strings that looked fresh and new. Now I almost always use D'Addario EJ16 for acoustics and EXL120 for my newer Telecaster. I am very partial to D'Addario strings.