JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Guitars and Guitarist Forum Guitar strings -- what kind do you use?

I try to keep it relatively inexpensive, but I still like to sound good. For my acoustic I find that these give me a nice, balanced tone for a pretty good price:

(I use 12's.)

As to my electric, I go with a classic: Ernie Ball 10's:


Is there anything that I NEED to try? Same price? Why would I need to/want to spend more?
What do you use?

Interesting seeing this as I just read that Page uses an.008 for a first string! (I knew Malmsteen did)

D'Addario EXP26 Coated Phosphor Bronze Custom Light
Acoustic Guitar Strings.

The coating seems to knock the twangy edge off that
"new string" sound, and keep the mellow "broken in"
sound more consistent, for much longer.

Gauges in this set run from .011" on the high E,
to .052" on the low E.

For me, a .011" high E is "just right", not too
stiff, and not too wimpy.

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.

Humm,
Black Diamonds my friend Black Diamonds. Just kidding. On my Acoustic Guitar's I use Martin Extra Light 80-20 Bronze strings. Guage 10-47. If you like what you are using stay with them.

I remember when Black Diamonds were all there were. I don't remember them coming in pack either.

I mostly use Elixir strings. They are more expensive, but I find that they last a whole lot longer, and I like the feel of them. But I still also use D'addario's from time to time, which I've always used and always have been happy with. They are really crisp with lots of sustain, and I always use phosphor bronze for acoustics.

I have too many guitars and like fresh strings so I have found inexpensive strings that work well. They are Darco which are made in the Martin factory in Mexico and as far as I can tell are identical to Martin except for the box. Any time I try another brand, I see no improvement and go back to the Darcos. I don't like the dead sound of coated strings.

I use 80/20 extra lights .010 - .047 (D2100) for the acoustics.

I use nickel plated electric strings in .009 - .042 (D9300).

You can find them on line for under $3 per set.

I bought some Darcos from Elderly Instruments for about 2.65 a set, free shipping. Got 15 sets, since I go through a lot of them. This week I ordered 10 sets of Martin 4200 SP, because I really like the way they record on my Martin Hd28v. The Darcos are a great string for someone gigging a lot, and who beats the strings up like us bluegrass guys.

Coated strings for me are hard to play. They don't seem as flexible for string bends, they sound dead, never as lively as a new string that has a little playing time on it.

Here you are, Ray and Rick.....

http://www.blackdiamondstrings.com/HTMLPages/AboutUS.html

I'll give the McCartney answer: "the long shiny ones."

But I like flatwound D'Addarios on my old Rickenbacker bass, I like any sort of bronzewound light gauge strings on my acoustic, and any sort of light gauge electric strings on my Strat. To be honest, the brand of strings really don't matter much to me, unless I want to record a "new strings sound" for something. Except for the first few plays when they're brand new, the tone of any particular brand of string contributes hardly anything compared to the way I pluck them...almost not even worth caring about. I used to go through a lot more sets of them than I do lately...in fact, I now keep them on until one breaks.

Black Diamonds are back..not sure if they are the same.

I like Darcos just fine for acoustic.

For electric, DR Pure Blues. They are pure nickel wound on a round core, just like vintage strings. Love 'em.

D'Addario XL10. I've tried Ernie Balls, but they tend to break more than the D'Addarios. Not sure what that's about.