Win a Year's Worth of Rotosound 's New Guitar Strings

polybius

Nice, the new packaging looks great. Much more modern. I've been a big fan of Roto Yellows since I got a pack free with a set of BKPs. The inclusion of the spare high E is a nice touch as well

littlegreenman

I like the new packaging. Although the giveaway would be of no use to me due to my nickel allergy, so I'll have to stick with my Elixirs.

Greggypoos

Cowboyyeehaa1 said:

Greggypoos said:

dhaywood67 said:

I've not actually tried Rotos, so it'd be an ideal opportunity to convert me from Ernie's!

The new pack designs look great by the way.

They are much less bright than new EB, but last FAR longer. Much better value to me.

Like theyve already been on the guitar a good few weeks before youve even started? Ive tried them, a bit flat and uninspiring.

Ended up going with d'addarios after being a long time ernie ball user. not sure what happended with the ernie balls - im sure they go dead a lot quicker than they used to.

the packaging looks far too busy. = an assault on the eyes whilst trying to scan for the information you actually need.

Not for me, no. Like EB after 3 days, I would say. I used EB in the 90s - they went off in a few weeks even then. The bright zing they have when new never lasted more than a couple of days for me.

Rotos sound quite similar to standard d'addarios to me - certainly not flat in comparison. I wonder if the strings you tried had been sat in the shop for 2 years?!

Yorkie

Greggypoos said:
Rotos sound quite similar to standard d'addarios to me - certainly not flat in comparison. I wonder if the strings you tried had been sat in the shop for 2 years?!

I was a long time D’Addario user before I switched to Rotosound. I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference in a blind test. 

jdbwales

Love it - I’m a lifelong Rotosound Orange user and the new packaging looks modern, professional and eye-catching, a definite improvement on the older versions.

UnclePsychosis

For what it's worth next time I run out of strings I'll be trying some Yellows again. I'm trying to support British manufacturing as much as possible and since the gauge of the yellows is exactly the same as the Slinkys I'm currently using there's no good reason not to. 

I'm no expert on branding but I prefer the new look too. 

kossofffan

The packaging refresh is a superb eye catching design & would seriously love to be in the bag to win a years supply

Caffeine_Vampire

Nice. Quite distinctive although some colours suit the design better than others in my opinion. The layout gets list in the red, pink and particularly the orange.

Actually, taking another look, the pink is fine, it's the red, orange and to a lesser extent the green that aren't working for me. 

euan

I’ve been a long time Rotosound user too 

Like that new packaging helps with avoiding the fakes for a short while. 

gatheredinsong

I think the new packaging is an improvement.

Fair comments about the colour contrasts, although the large font declaring the colour mitigates this significantly.

I just looked at your website and I'm surprised by the range of products. I never knew you made effects pedals!

gatheredinsong

P.s. D'Addario user here, but would like to try some.

Chuffola

Also a D'Addario user but purely out of habit. Have used Rotosounds previously and they were absolutely fine. Like the new packaging and any opportunity to buy something not American these days is a plus!

Bigsby

Good to see the green is distinctly green rather than greenish yellow, judging by the web site photography:

bermudianbrit

So I'm blind and therfore can't see the packaging, but I love the spare string idea. Also, is each string individually packaged? For sometone that can't see the colours of the ball ends, that would actually be worth a lot to me when I change strings independently. Or worst case, please state the colours on the website or online somewhere, then I can use a colour-identifier app to determine which is which...figuring out which is B and top E is really difficult by feel alone.

lincolnblue

I really like the new designs. On the Orange and Red designs though the logo looks hard to read on the images. Possibly could change to a lighter shade? But the whole idea of each gauge sharing a colour is a brilliant idea.

BillDL

bermudianbrit said:

So I'm blind and thefore can't see the packaging, but I love the spare string idea. Also, is each string individually packaged? For someone that can't see the colours of the ball ends, that would actually be worth a lot to me when I change strings independently. Or worst case, please state the colours on the website or online somewhere, then I can use a colour-identifier app to determine which is which...figuring out which is B and top E is really difficult by feel alone.

Hi @bermudianbrit.  The Rotosound guitar strings are packaged in a sealed outer thick crinkly "cellophane", although perhaps this material has been changed to a thicker and less crinkly plastic that is recyclable.  The strings are not in individual paper packets inside this outer packaging.  The absence of this "excess packaging" is one of the selling points from a "save the planet" point of view, however this will obviously be an issue for you and other blind people.

The strings are coiled together in three sets.  The Low E and G strings with blue ball ends are coiled together, so if you identify the thickest one you know you have the G with it.  The A and B strings with a white ball end are coiled together.  It may not be as easy to tell the difference between the A and the D strings as with the Low E and G strings.  Lastly the D and two High E strings with red ball ends are coiled together, and the High E is probably a lot easier to identify as the thinnest by feel alone.

Where it could be problematic for you if you are changing one string at a time would be after you uncoil the blue, then white, then red grouped sets to change the Low E, A and D strings in turn, you then have 3 plus one spare strings lying loose on a table somewhere for you to locate and identify.  The easiest way to deal with this would be to change the Low E and G strings as you uncoil them, then do the same for the other coiled strings.  On an electric guitar with a tremolo bridge block like a Stratocaster, or a through-body stringing like a Telecaster, or one with a stop tailpiece like a Gibson it would probably be easier for you to remove all the strings, then drop or push the strings through their respective holes as you uncoil the pairs, and then work your way through string up the guitar.

Rotosound

BillDL said:

SteveRobinson said:

I just think that identifying gauge by colour limits the range you can offer. 
Maybe it's a conscious decision to only offer the most popular sets but it does restrict future additions.

Philly_Q said:

......You could have lighter shades of blue, pink and orange as base colours (and a slightly greener shade of green), all with black printing, and I think they'd be more legible than the packs with two shades of the same colour. 
As it stands, only the yellow packaging is entirely successful in the sense that you could read it from six or eight feet away behind a counter ......

Out of curiosity I grabbed the image of the new packs all together and subjected it to an Ishihara Chart simulation (colour-blindness chart) using the two most common types of partial colour blindness, namely Protanomaly (weak red perception) and Deuteranomaly (weak green perception) shown respectively in order at a reduced size below the original image.  There are of course other types of colour blindness, for example weak blue perception (Tritanomaly) and also the less common "blindness" to red, green or blue (Protanopia, Deuteranopia and Tritanopia) as well as "50 shades of grey" (ooh, err) referred to as Achromatopsia.

Original:

Protanomaly (weak red perception) - Yellow and green almost indistinguishable.

Deuteranomaly (weak green perception) - red and orange confusable if seen in isolation.

That's my far from scientific observation 

Thanks for taking the trouble of running this through the colour blindness test. We ran tests with real people who have different forms of colour blindness using physical samples. Some tweaks were made and the colours we're running with have passed testing. Our primary focus was making the information legible. Comparisons between sets was the secondary focus, but even the closest colours were identifiable—especially as customers were reassured by reading large "Orange", "Reds", "Pinks", etc.

To everyone commenting on this image of the six sets, please note that this is a photo taken under particular lighting represented in RGB colour on a different device to the one we edited it on, therefore it's not an accurate representation of the colours. Please just use it as a guide of what to expect...

Rotosound

littlegreenman said:

I like the new packaging. Although the giveaway would be of no use to me due to my nickel allergy, so I'll have to stick with my Elixirs.

Have you tried stainless steel strings? Essentially the electric guitar version of our famous Swing Bass 66 strings, our British Steels range are used by a lot of players who suffer from Nickel allergies.

Rotosound

BillDL said:

bermudianbrit said:

So I'm blind and thefore can't see the packaging, but I love the spare string idea. Also, is each string individually packaged? For someone that can't see the colours of the ball ends, that would actually be worth a lot to me when I change strings independently. Or worst case, please state the colours on the website or online somewhere, then I can use a colour-identifier app to determine which is which...figuring out which is B and top E is really difficult by feel alone.

Hi @bermudianbrit.  The Rotosound guitar strings are packaged in a sealed outer thick crinkly "cellophane", although perhaps this material has been changed to a thicker and less crinkly plastic that is recyclable.  The strings are not in individual paper packets inside this outer packaging.  The absence of this "excess packaging" is one of the selling points from a "save the planet" point of view, however this will obviously be an issue for you and other blind people.

The strings are coiled together in three sets.  The Low E and G strings with blue ball ends are coiled together, so if you identify the thickest one you know you have the G with it.  The A and B strings with a white ball end are coiled together.  It may not be as easy to tell the difference between the A and the D strings as with the Low E and G strings.  Lastly the D and two High E strings with red ball ends are coiled together, and the High E is probably a lot easier to identify as the thinnest by feel alone.

Where it could be problematic for you if you are changing one string at a time would be after you uncoil the blue, then white, then red grouped sets to change the Low E, A and D strings in turn, you then have 3 plus one spare strings lying loose on a table somewhere for you to locate and identify.  The easiest way to deal with this would be to change the Low E and G strings as you uncoil them, then do the same for the other coiled strings.  On an electric guitar with a tremolo bridge block like a Stratocaster, or a through-body stringing like a Telecaster, or one with a stop tailpiece like a Gibson it would probably be easier for you to remove all the strings, then drop or push the strings through their respective holes as you uncoil the pairs, and then work your way through string up the guitar.

Thanks for explaining this so well! I tend to restring my guitars in pairs of strings as you suggest (fitting the low E and G, then the A and B, then the D and high E).

@bermudianbrit I'm not sure how your colour identification app works, but there's a guide on the back of each pack which shows the ball end colours for each string.

fretmeister

Rotosound said:

littlegreenman said:

I like the new packaging. Although the giveaway would be of no use to me due to my nickel allergy, so I'll have to stick with my Elixirs.

Have you tried stainless steel strings? Essentially the electric guitar version of our famous Swing Bass 66 strings, our British Steels range are used by a lot of players who suffer from Nickel allergies.

I have the same problem and it's worse with the Monel alloy.

I'm hoping that one day you'll figure out how to get that Monel Flatwound bass tone from some Stainless flats. I love the sound of those strings but within 10 mins of use my fingertips are painful and if I played for an hour with them the blisters would start to come.