Strings

[Where She Wept]

i wanted some opinions since there's alot of guitarists here.

I've played Ernie Balls since i started playing. I've tried all the other major brands and have never liked another set. but recently i joined a new band who plays in dropped-B so i thru a set of GHS boomers on (the ZW set with the 70 guage low string) becasue live i hit the strings very hard and needed the tension to stay in tune. i liked them for a bit but after a month or so i started to hate my tone. the strings still felt good so i didn't suspect them. Then i slapped a set of EB Not Even Slinkys on friday and played a show saturday, and suddenly the tone i love was back. so realised that that has never happened with the EB's, they always sound good and i never change them till i break a string. From the moment i slap a fresh set of EB's on my guitars i've never ever felt they went dull.

Just thought i'd share that here and ask for other people's opinions on strings and why they like or hate a certain brand.

 

[Metaltastic]

I remember using Ernie Balls for awhile, and they really didn't do it for me sound-wise; same with GHS Boomers, so my favorite for the past few years has been D'addarios. More importantly, though, as a general principal, I HATE HATE HATE those light top/heavy bottom sets (like the ZW one, for example), cuz a 10 guage high-E string tuned to C is so slack my initial hit knocks it sharp before it settles into pitch, and they just sound really brittle because of their looseness. So for me, I use standard sets that get progressively and equally thicker depending on my tuning - 10-46 for E standard, 11-49 for D standard, 12-54 for C standard, and if I were ever to play in B, then 13-56.

 

[Metaltastic]

Oh, and I used to play one guage up (so, 11's in E, 12's in D, 13's in C), but I realized that while tension is important, too much tension hampers the ease with which I can do varying subtleties in vibrato, and the guages I mentioned above are IMO a good balance between tension for intonation and slackness for vibrato (especially crazy vibrato on third fret pinch harmonics on the low string YEAAAAAHHHH). And I never play in drop tunings, so I wouldn't know if these guages would be good for them.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I use these (there are not a shit tone of choices for baritone strings):

 

[Ericlingus]

I use dadario right now but I plan on ordering on juststrings.com and getting their bulk strings to save money. Does anyone here get their strings in bulk? If so where do you get them? I used to just get a 10pack set at musiciansfriend but now that I play in B I have to use a much thicker gauge than what they sell.

 

[JBroll]

I like the light top/heavy bottom sets like the formerly-known-as-ZW 11-70 because slapping a wound 26 in the middle gives a great 7 set.

The problem with a lot of prepackaged string sets is that they're HORRIBLY unbalanced. The E can wind up between 2 and 5 pounds of tension lighter than the A, which means that heavy hitting will not only leave your E sharp but much sharper than the A... so much for tuning. Slight tinkering with string gauges - just go by Mind Riot's tension guide over at SevenString.org, or use a calculator, or PM me - gives a much better set.

Myself... GHS Baritone (14-70) for the Dean anywhere between C# and the current Bb (although the Bb is a little light), GHS ZW + a 26 (11-70) for the Schecter 7, and just for the sake of experimentation (and cheesy Ibanez shred) I'll soon be putting the Ibanez in C with GHS 12s.

Jeff

 

[JBroll]

I'll often tune my 7 up to E Standard + B and the Ibanez goes to E on occasion. I just have a lower voice than most rock/metal singers (Entire lower half of a piano, fuckers! I'm baritoning your asses!) so I need to have more accommodating tunings...

Jeff

 

[Katau]

I tune in A, and the EB Not Even Slinky strings are awesome. Used to play GHS Boomers, but not anymore...yucky yucky yucky.

 

[TomAwesome]

I really liked Ernie Ball for a while... then I tried other brands. I've been pretty partial to DRs for years now. I used GHS for a while, and they were all right, but the DR strings just had everything I like about GHS and more. DR strings also tend to last a lot longer than any other non-coated strings I've used. The strings on my baritone are several months old, and I'm just recently starting to feel like I need to change them. I end up using D'Addarios most of the time since they're the only 7-string sets I can get locally. I've got no complaints about D'Addario. I like them. DR just makes much better strings, IMO.

Also, Jeff is right about how horribly unbalanced sets are. When I'm feeling particularly unlazy, I like ordering custom sets online, using a string tension calculator to help me decide on gauges.

Reading this makes me think I must be the last guy who still tunes to E Standard....

I have a guitar that's in standard. It is a 7-string, though...

 

[Notuern]

Reading this makes me think I must be the last guy who still tunes to E Standard....

As for strings, I find D'Addarios have a really wonderful quality to them that I can't find with other strings, and I've found them to stay sounding fresh for longer and lasting for longer than when I used Ernie Balls.

I do too, most of the time, but simetimes you just have to slip down to D or Drop C.
A tip if you play in E is to try DR's "TiteFit", they give the fat tone of thicker strings.

 

[LSD-Studio]

I used to play D'Addario EXL and still do on my standard-tuned guitars...those strings sound best and last very long IMO...
when I tuned down to C I wanted to have a plain G-String (lol) and the 11gauge d'Adario felt too soft, the 12gauge didn't have a plain G, so I switched to Ernie Ball beefy slinky cause they feel stiffer than D'adario (the 11gauge beefies felt just right for C).
Unfortunately ernie ball's are far inferior to daddario in terms of sounding "new" for a longer period of time....they become duller sounding quite fast and don't last as long as daddarios.....still I'm stuck with them cause they feel good in my tuning.

 

[hoehlentroll]

I used to play D'Addario EXL and still do on my standard-tuned guitars...

is there any place to buy them cheap in germany? maybe cheaper if you buy a big amount or sth.

 

[LSD-Studio]

is there any place to buy them cheap in germany? maybe cheaper if you buy a big amount or sth.

dunno...usually they're 6€ in most stores (at least the onces around here)....how much cheaper should it get?


https://ssl.kundenserver.de/s350523...353b/shopdata/?main_url=go.shopscript?a=28004

 

[Metaltastic]

I used to play D'Addario EXL and still do on my standard-tuned guitars...those strings sound best and last very long IMO...
when I tuned down to C I wanted to have a plain G-String (lol) and the 11gauge d'Adario felt too soft, the 12gauge didn't have a plain G, so I switched to Ernie Ball beefy slinky cause they feel stiffer than D'adario (the 11gauge beefies felt just right for C).
Unfortunately ernie ball's are far inferior to daddario in terms of sounding "new" for a longer period of time....they become duller sounding quite fast and don't last as long as daddarios.....still I'm stuck with them cause they feel good in my tuning.

Check out D'addario EXL145's Lasse - 12-54 with a plain G, cuz I totally agree on the sound thing

 

[Melb_shredder]

hmm, speaking of strings. DR's sound and feel best for me in Standard D, 10 - 52, NICE! For drop B i'm using 12 - 56 i believe??? In D'addario or something like that. I prefer the DR's overall though, they sound great even when they are wearing out! hehe!

 

[Deus.exe]

...when I tuned down to C I wanted to have a plain G-String (lol)...

Here, here!

DEATH TO THE WOUND 3RD STRING!!!


I tune to B Standard and because of the need for an unwound 3rd sting and general disliking of Light top/Heavy Bottom sets I ended up developing a custom gauge set:

13,17,22(plain!),36,52,60

It took me a bit of experimenting but it was worth it in the end.

 

[Metaltastic]

I dunno, a wound G string may be annoying for soloing, but for chording it sounds a whole lot better...

 

[JBroll]

That's why some people use guitars that have four wound strings and three plain string... silly blokes. That just works too well...

Jeff

 

[Where She Wept]

I use these (there are not a shit tone of choices for baritone strings):

Never saw those before. what do you tune to?

How do most people feel about logevity? i remember some old interviews with Satch and EVH where the said they prefer the tone old strings. I got curious after my experiance with the GHS boomers. In the 14 yrs i've played guitar i've always used EB's and never felt they were dull, i only changed them if i broke a string or i couldn't remeber how old they were. I mean, both my 7-strings haven't been restrung in at least a year, and they still sound fine. but after 2 months the GHS sounded dull to me. ( I don't gig with the 7's and i don't play them everyday, but i never picked one of them up and thought: "this sounds bad, time for new strings")

 

[TomAwesome]

One of my main problems with GHS strings was that they seemed to lose that new string sound pretty quickly, and then they sounded pretty crappy. I think it depends on the brand, really.