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 ?
Comments
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.
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.
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
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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are guitar strings the only product in the world that has no actual quality difference in for example the base materials.