new string day - soon

nickp

my strings are definately a bit meh across the three main loves of my life.  

should I buy more bog standard strings or should I buy a pack of three elixr.  I bet we have views about coated strings so I'd be grateful if you would give me the benefit of your thoughts on this divisive, difficult, complex and parliament wrecking issue that goes to the heart of our constitution  

and wtf are nano, poly or opti?  The three set i've seen for £32 are the nanoweb if it makes any difference

Ben_McCarthy

I used to use elixir strings maybe the nano ones can’t remember exactly. They sound OK in isolation however I really don’t think the tone of coated strings is a patch on uncoated. 

I do remember breaking a string and changing a set for uncoated and it really was night and day, I wouldn’t use coated again personally.

BUT and it’s a big but, if you don’t like changing strings often they will sound and feel 10 times better than a set of dead uncoated strings 

Modellista

I can’t go back to uncoated strings. They go dead so quickly. Personally I think Elixirs sound better at all stages of their life than anything else, save perhaps an advanced formulation like NYXL which seem to have the benefits of coated but not being coated. 

The coating does wear off eventually, so you get little patches of tarnishing around the picking/strumming area. I always think if the string wasn’t coated, the whole string would be tarnished like that.  Elixirs are great value because they last so long they’re actually a cost saving exercise. 

bacchanalian

I have never liked coated strings at all. A bit like taking part in a Turkish wrestling bout; hard to get a grip on anything.

However, I have recently fitted the new D'Addario XTs and think they are great.  Feel like regular strings but too early to say whether they are lasting better.

edited following some legal advice.

JerkMoans

bacchanalian said:

 A bit like wrestling in a paddling pool full of olive oil; hard to get a grip on anything.

I believe there’s a super injunction still in force regarding all that.

uncledick

I find coated strings like playing with Marigolds on.  I use regular D'Addario EXLs on my Fenders and NYXLs on my hum bucker equipped guitars.  The NYXLs feel slightly odd at first but after an hour or so they seem to bed in and last for ages. 

Corvus

I like Optiwebs, thinner coating, don't feel so odd, sound good. Last ages. Praps more stiffness than equiv normal strings. Didn't really like Nanos, thought they had a slightly odd tone to them, scooped maybe. Got some NYXLs as well they seem to have a brightness to them, also thought they felt odd till a bit of playing in.

meltedbuzzbox

Never liked the slippy elixirs particularly on acoustics.
Yes they last a long time but so do daddarios if you wipe them down after use and keep the guitar in a case/bag

BeardyAndy

nickp said:

and wtf are nano, poly or opti?  The three set i've seen for £32 are the nanoweb if it makes any difference

Check out their website, all about brightness n stuff. I think Opti is the stock option?

I used to use them but now i'm on Daddario XLs because like me they are cheap!

ICBM

I can't stand coated strings. I'd go for something uncoated that feels good, sounds good and lasts a long time - try Newtones.

Funkfingers

From the title, I expected this thread would be about possibly purchasing one string in the indeterminate future. I concluded that the OP was a bassist. 

Roland

ICBM said:

... go for something uncoated that feels good, sounds good and lasts a long time - try Newtones.

This

impmann

Tbh, I like Exlirs (nanos). Yes, they do sound a bit different to regular strings but certainly not 'bad' to my ears (and I mainly use clean/low gain sounds). 

I've had so many fake strings though - my last load of Amazon D'Ads were duds. Wucking Fankers. So I'm getting cheesed off with D'ads - not their fault, granted, but perhaps ensuring their own appointed dealers are selling legit strings would be a good starting point.

And cheap end strings suck ass (and tone). I tried some god-awful things that came free with a magazine recently... fuck me they were terrible.

Yeah... so I'd go with a 3 pack of Elixirs, tbh. Great value. 

Lestratcaster

The only coated strings I use are on acoustics as I tend to play it less often so can leave them on there longer, think the most recent set I changed had been on for 6 months. For electrics I use Ernie Balls. Bright and snappy, just how I like it.

tone1

New strings?....... Not on my watch

nickp

Funkfingers said:

From the title, I expected this thread would be about possibly purchasing one string in the indeterminate future. I concluded that the OP was a bassist. 

In fairness i haven't been spanking the plank as much as I should have done, so strings are lasting longer as a result. If I was being good and practicing for an hour a day like I dream of doing, then replacing strings happens much more frequently

nickp

ah bollocks to you all - I'll try the three set and report back in due course

Fez

nickp said:

ah bollocks to you all - I'll try the three set and report back in due course

I think that is the only way to find out if you like them. Strings are such personal choices I don't like Da'ddarios but for no really good reason.

Wonky

I've just bought a new guitar and therefore have a reason to try out D'addario's new offerings, the XT thingy's.  I'm sticking them on tomorrow, so should be interesting to see how they compare to other things.  I really like NYXL's and also Thomastik power brights.  Many years ago in my teenage years I won a competition in guitarist magazine with a prize of 100's of sets of Picato strings 9-42 and to me they felt exactly like what I'd been using before that, which was Ernie Ball super slinky's, but as I've got older my liking for EB strings has disappeared, due to them not lasting and also snapping a lot.  I haven't tried Picato in years, so I might give them a go again for old times sake.
I'll report back also about my XT exploits.

skullfunkerry

I had a set of those strings with the black coating years ago, can't actually remember what they were now or how they felt, but I remember them looking pretty cool.

Question: can you/do you need to use things like Fast Fret with coated strings? I presume they still need to be wiped down after you've been playing them?

Musicwolf

I don’t really like the feel of coated strings but my main reason for not using them is that I don’t see them as being good value for money.

I can destroy a set of strings in one gig (horrendously acidic sweat), this also applies to coated strings.  If coated would last 2 or 3 times as long then fine, but for me they don’t.  I have to change strings frequently, and as a result I can restring really quickly (I have locking tuners on all my gigging guitars to speed things up), and I buy strings in bulk which means lowest prices plus I’m never without a spare set.