Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Dmoney on July 01, 2013, 12:01:18 PM
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Simple question.
I've started using 11's on a guitar to keep in D# standard. I've always used Ernie Ball 10's even when playing in D standard tuning but then I tended to switch between D, D# and E a lot back then. Now I like the tension on the 11's but I feel like they aren't as bright as the 10's. Anyone know if there are some easily available 11's that will be brighter than the ernie balls?
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I've always found that D'addario XL's are nice and bright (IMO) have a look at www.stringsdirect.co.uk (http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk)
they should have most gauges available
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LaBella Hard Rocking Steel (HRS) are pretty bright
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I have found that my 11s have a different resonance peak than 10s which may be part of the issue also. As noted above a steel string like DR Tite Fit, D'addario, or GHS should be brighter than EB or pure nickel strings.
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aren't steel strings meant to wear out your frets quickly though?
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^ yeah i think so. the only guitar i've ever worn the frets on i was using stainless steel strings (before i realised they were the culprit, obviously).
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What frets are we talking here? Stainless steel on stainless steel?
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i'm talking about steel strings on nickel-silver frets being dodgy (I believe most guitars have nickel-silver frets as stock)
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Would a pure nickel string be lighter on your frets than a nickel coated string ? Or no difference ?
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pure steel strings definitely brighter but as said by others, chew up frets
DR Hi-beams are suppose to be brighter than their tite-fit strings
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The brightest strings I have ever tried were Thomastik Power Brights. They look rather bronzen from the metal coating or whatever they have, or maybe it is a different alloy or something.
However they feel like normal strings, pretty great ones at that to my taste and when I put them on my Crawler axe they to me seemed much brighter than the nickel ones I had on there before. Really brought what the Crawler needed.
Can highly recommend you try them.
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I'm using 11-48 in Dstd and I know what ya mean they do sound darker than 10s and 9s (which I'm cool with). Could be wrong but I don't think you're going to get that sizzle and sparkle back in exactly the same way that you do with lighter strings. If I'm in standard and Eb I just use 10-46 and raise the action a bit for Eb. I know a few Thrash players that use 10-46 in Dstd even. It's all about the set-up :)
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blue steel by dean markley! they are much brighter and also last a bit longer than most
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I'm using 11-48 in Dstd and I know what ya mean they do sound darker than 10s and 9s (which I'm cool with). Could be wrong but I don't think you're going to get that sizzle and sparkle back in exactly the same way that you do with lighter strings. If I'm in standard and Eb I just use 10-46 and raise the action a bit for Eb. I know a few Thrash players that use 10-46 in Dstd even. It's all about the set-up :)
I tried using 10's in Eb but after using 10's for the feel on a longer scale guitar I found I was loosing some punch with the Ernie Ball 10's in Eb that I never noticed for the years I did that anyway. Which is why I went to 11's, but then it got a bit dark. I might try some D'addarios and then maybe some cobalt ernie balls and then work through this list. I've always used Ernie Balls unless I've had no other choice.
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I tried 11-48 in Eb but it just felt a bit aquard with big bends but then I do like a typical metal/shredder set-up. In D they feel somewhere between 9s and 10s in E which is great. Guitars in standard tuning just sound so polite. I fancy an old school Yammy SG strung with heavy 12s in C to bash out Matt Pike riffs :D
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i'm talking about steel strings on nickel-silver frets being dodgy (I believe most guitars have nickel-silver frets as stock)
me too
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I use DR Tite Fits and DR Hi-Beams and I can tell you that the Hi-Beams are certainly brighter. There's a lot more cut to them than the Tite Fits.
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I use D'addario's 11's on my guitar tuned to D. I've always liked them and they feel nice and tight. I also get good use out of them as they stay bright for a while. Only down side is they need a couple of hours to settle down and hold tune. Ernie Ball's have the edge there as they are good to go right away but they don't last as long.
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You don't stretch them in? I find EB need a fair bit of stretching in. Newtone are better in that regard but still need it.
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I stretch them, but I've always found EB's faster to stretch and be ready for use faster than D'addario's.
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I stretch them, but I've always found EB's faster to stretch and be ready for use faster than D'addario's.
do you change the strings one-by-one or take them all off at once?
i found its better to change one string, stretching the new one, get it in tune, and then go onto the next. it seems to avoid the couple of hour settle in time. a tip i got from feline i think..
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On the Floyd Rose I have, I change one by one but the others I do them all at once, tune and pull on the strings, tune it then let it sit for an hour or so. I will say D'addario's are better today than what they were for stretching.
But I will try string by string next time.
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Never gave a thought about it but I usually change + stretch my strings one by one (except when I have something else to do that's easier to do with all strings removed, that is about once a year per guitar) and stretch them again once they're all in place, and have very few "settle down" time - in fact I sometimes change strings just before a gig and it just needs about 10' playing to be safe.
wrt/ the "brighter strings" stuff I use Dean Markely "Blue Steel" on my SG and LP (both 11/52 now) and while not quite as bright as the 10/46 they are still rather bright (and keep the brightness waaayyyyy longer than Ernie Balls anyway - even when using 10/46 I killed and EB set in less than a week). Now 11/52 wont sound like 10/46.
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Maybe I should try Daddario again, 'cause my balls only last a week before dead also. But I remember Daddario being a fair bit tighter, though? Was a long time ago.
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When I change my strings I take them all off at once. Gives me a chance to properly wipe the board, at times oil it and maybe polish the frets a bit real quick.
When putting them on I go one by one, low to high, bringing them up to 1 step of their destination right away, then going to the next string. Everytime I tune up a new string I give the others a handfull of light tugs and quickly bring em back to 1 step away.
Then when they all are strung up I bring em up to the desired tuning and again tug a little for 2-3min.
I find that this working up greatly reduces stretching time. Also seems like I break less strings stringing up. With Newtones especially there is like 1 more tune up of up to half a step and then they are pretty much stable.
Additionally I like to do the locking technique when putting them in the tuning pegs. Dunno if it actually helps, but I like to tell myself it does.
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That sounds like a Chinese tea ceremony, Kiichi :lol:
I replace em one by one alternating between high and low strings. Then stretch the cr@p out of em and tune up.
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That sounds like a Chinese tea ceremony, Kiichi :lol:
It really is a tranquill ritual. :)
I like to do things right. If it is worth doing it is worth overdoing.
I have a lot of those little things. My coffee making is rather harmless, but you should see me making my smoothy which I currently mostly live of (weight loss and training stretch). That thing is rather mental for anyone watching.
The one I made today had about 18 different things in it :lol: Was really, really yummi. Probably more good things in there than my body can process.
Back on the topic of strings, but still related: The amount of strings I have tried is pretty insane I think. At least people I meet tell me that it is.
The ones that stuck with me are Dīaddario in the category of available everywhere and very nice, DR I generally like a bit better but are harder to find, Newtone even more so (but I will not replace the nickel masters on my acoustic with anything else by now) and Thomastik are strong uprisers as I only recently tried them and I really like the Infeld and so far love the powerbrights.
Of all those the brightest ones are, as I said the powerbrights. Behind that I would put DR High Beams, however being steel strings and hexcore I found them to be less enjoyable in tone.
Generally I just keep coming back to nickel and nickel steel and always roundcore.
Hexcore and steel just donīt feel and sound right to me.
With the powerbrights you get a very detailed bright tone with that smooth feel of roundcores. Also just looked up why my plains look so different with them, they are tinplated!
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Maybe I should try Daddario again, 'cause my balls only last a week before dead also.
That's worrying at your age.... :?
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I knew someone was gonna pick up a pun but I really couldn't be arsed to edit it :lol:
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I've always found Ernie Balls to be one of the brightest when brand new but to get dull quite quickly when played for a bit.
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GHS used to make progressive sets, that were quite bright. They also made a Dave Mustain set, that was 10-52. If its primarily the low strings you want chunky, that might be a good fit.
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Got a set of Dunlops today for a change. They're meant to be have a bright tone, we'll see. 11-14-18-28-38-50+68ernie
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With this thing in Eb I don't plan on playing too much lead and don't really want lighter tension on the unwound strings. It's cool to have a list of things to try but it'll take me a while to get through them.
one LP with 10's, one with 11's, and my Vigir was set up for hybrids (9 to 10's) and I really like how that feels, but that stays in E and I play totally differently on it than on the les pauls.
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Well, the Dunlops are definetly brighter than Ernies and have a good tension. Couple of quid cheaper than Ernie too which is nice.
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Interesting thread this. I've been using DR Tite Fits and Hi-Beams for a while now but perhaps it's time to experiment with some others. Anyway, I've used loads of strings over the years and here's my experience so far:
Ernie Ball - Sound great but die quickly.
D'Addario - Very solid and cheap string. Good tone for minimal expense.
GHS - I loved the tone of these strings but like Ernie Ball, I found they lost that tone very quickly.
Rotosound - Snapped too easily for me.
Elixir - Good tone and lasted forever but they don't tend to feel as natural.
Thomastik - Great tone and lasted well but not cheap.
Skull - Good tone and lasted well but almost impossible to get hold of.
DR - Great tone and last well though I've found that recently I've been getting more faulty ones.
Dean Markley - Not used these for years but I seem to recall that they were decent strings.
Of the strings mentioned so far in this thread, I'd like to try some Newtones as they seem to get an awful lot of love on this forum so I assume they're really good and don't seem to be hugely expensive. The Dean Markley Blue Steels also sound interesting. Are the nickel plated steel strings and are they roundcore? Anybody tried the Dean Markley Helix HD strings?
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Interesting thread this. I've been using DR Tite Fits and Hi-Beams for a while now but perhaps it's time to experiment with some others. Anyway, I've used loads of strings over the years and here's my experience so far:
Ernie Ball - Sound great but die quickly.
D'Addario - Very solid and cheap string. Good tone for minimal expense.
GHS - I loved the tone of these strings but like Ernie Ball, I found they lost that tone very quickly.
Rotosound - Snapped too easily for me.
Elixir - Good tone and lasted forever but they don't tend to feel as natural.
Thomastik - Great tone and lasted well but not cheap.
Skull - Good tone and lasted well but almost impossible to get hold of.
DR - Great tone and last well though I've found that recently I've been getting more faulty ones.
Dean Markley - Not used these for years but I seem to recall that they were decent strings.
Of the strings mentioned so far in this thread, I'd like to try some Newtones as they seem to get an awful lot of love on this forum so I assume they're really good and don't seem to be hugely expensive. The Dean Markley Blue Steels also sound interesting. Are the nickel plated steel strings and are they roundcore? Anybody tried the Dean Markley Helix HD strings?
I've tried blue steel but not the helix, I personally found dean markely are even better than d'addario and always consistent I think they are the best two brands. The problem is the increasing price in the UK of blue steels and lack of shops that stock them, in america I got 20 sets for $40 in 2005, yet here they are over Ģ7 for ONE set, just ridiculous how much of a rip of it is... but that's another subject.
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Lately I've been experimenting with Ernie Ball Slinky Cobalt strings and have a set of 12 - 56's (described as " not even slinky " ) , on a Painkiller equipped hardtail RG (drop C tuning) ,and a set ot of 11 - 48's on an Adam Black Orion Custom with Seymour Duncan P Rails (drop D ).
The RG gets the most use and even though the Cobalt strings cost nearly twice as much as the regular slinkys , so far , they have lasted 3 times as long and still haven't lost any of their clarity , brightness or dynamic abilities and sound just as good as they did when first put on and stretched and played in , despite considerable abuse from a metal tipped Dava pick.
I'll be interested to see how long they last with just an occassional wipe over with a lint free cloth and the retunings the recent heatwave has neccessitated , but well worh a try and so far , economical too.
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I've recently put some Blue Steels on one of my guitars and so far I'm impressed with the results. I get the impression that they need more initial stretching than DR strings as I seem to have been retuning all the time in the last couple of weeks, though they are now settling down. With DR strings I generally just put them on, retune a couple of times and that's it. When I run out of Tite Fits for my other guitar I may well switch to a standard Dean Markley set as I suspect they'll be good and somewhat cheaper, though Pagan7 has me interested in trying Cobalts now :shock: I've noticed them before but they are rather expensive at Ģ11.95 compared to standard Dean Markley's at Ģ4.50. I'd be interested to know how you get on with these Cobalt strings. If they end up lasting as long as Elixir strings I would be very interested.
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My string experience summary:
DRs: Somehow both dull and thin sounding. Like a high and low pass filter is on the guitar. Moderate strength and life.
Dunlop: I like the tone of the heavycores I've used. Balanced, if a little tailed off in the highs but it seemed to be just enough to have less fizz frequencies. They die so fast it'll make your head spin.
EBs: Sound alright when fresh on. Die even faster than dunlops.
GHS: Boomers are boomy. Seem to give out too much low end. Decent life.
Newtone: Used these for ages for the thick core option. Dulled high end, but up to there they're alright. Fantastic life, break more often than you'd hope, not often enough to really care except that you have to wait 2 months for more.
Elixir: Only used them for one band I recorded a while ago, because the guitarists in that band used them. The feel is odd (slippery?), the lifetime is quite astounding, the tone is slightly strange in the high end - not in an unpleasant way, they just lack a bit of metallic bite that I like.
Rotosound: One pack to the next is a gamble and I think they might be made with weak spots intentionally built in they break so often.
Kerly Sinister: Good strings, I'd score them medium-high in every department, and would be happy to use them if the sets I wanted werent out of stock all over the place (while the strings I do use are the most common...)
Daddarrio. Some things just dont need to be $%&#ed with. Daddario make the best strings on the market, imo, in terms of tone and consistency. They also wear better than most and I dont think I've ever broken one. And they're cheap. The SM57 of strings imo.
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MDV - I currently use Dunlop Heavy Core 10-48 for drop D and i really dig them; am hoping to try some D'Addario strings at some point, would 10-52 work for a 25.5 scale guitar with drop D?
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From my experience you can't beat D'Addario soundwise. Unfortunately they don't last as long as I would like them to so that's why I use Elixirs when not recording, they sound good and are very durable.
Btw anyone has some experience with Cleartone strings?
Witeter: from my experience 10-52 works great for Drop-D although the tension might be a bit too much when on a 25.5 scale guitar. I used to play in Standard-E with Elixir 10-52s and that would hurt my fingers a lot of times, needless to say the clarity and spunk I got was amazing though :P
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I've got my paws on cleartones a while back. I have very destructive hands so all i can genuinely use is elixir or else they die after a week. (elixirs last me a month or 2 top... gives you an idea)
the coating on the cleartone is not up to par i think, i test driven one set for a week of teaching and by the 3rd day they were rusted to hell. YMMV but for acid sweat (and i do wipe the fretboard all the friggin time) it's definitely not as good as elixir
the cobalts i was pleasantly surprised with, they didn't rust and lasted very long, however my chemical warfare of a sweat doesn't agree with stainless or other alloys so my hands stung a bit, but definitely up there with elixirs and the tone was pretty beefy for just a set of 9-42 (i usually play with 11-48 and bigger)
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MDV - I currently use Dunlop Heavy Core 10-48 for drop D and i really dig them; am hoping to try some D'Addario strings at some point, would 10-52 work for a 25.5 scale guitar with drop D?
Sounds about right.
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cheers guys!
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I have been using a set of cobalts for a few months which is a record for me. They sound great but feel odd under my fingers but i adjusted quickly.
Usually I have to change strings every 2-3 weeks because my sweat seems to just eat strings something wicked. The cobalts still sound fresh after a few months of abuse and I haven't had to retune my guitar after the first few days, it has stayed bang on.
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Had similar experience with elixirs, didn't notice any difference in feel but they lasted so much longer. Totally worth it in my opinion, really want to try cobalts.
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Seems like I'm not the only one round here that has acidic sweat eating up hardware and strings :P
If the Cobalts are at least as durable as Elixirs that would be nice, will certainly try a set out :)
Thanks for the info on Cleartones!
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Seems like I'm not the only one round here that has acidic sweat eating up hardware and strings :P
If the Cobalts are at least as durable as Elixirs that would be nice, will certainly try a set out :)
Thanks for the info on Cleartones!
Every single screw on my go to guitar has rust!!! Even the tuners
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What is the brightness of Cobalts like? Are they like normal strings (Tite Fits, Slinkys etc) or are they more like Blue Steels and Hi-Beams?
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Seems like I'm not the only one round here that has acidic sweat eating up hardware and strings :P
If the Cobalts are at least as durable as Elixirs that would be nice, will certainly try a set out :)
Thanks for the info on Cleartones!
no I have it too, my strings only last half the normal life because of it
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I wipe my strings before/after playing and still it doesn't help as much as I wish it would xD
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Resurrecting this old thread for an update. I decided to try the Blue Steels and the tone is very good but I only put them on last week and the high E string has just snapped on me. I won't be buying another set! At Ģ7 a pack they're the same as Tite Fits but it seems they just don't last. At the moment I'm considering the Cobalt strings but as they're Ģ12 a pack and I clean my strings regularly anyway, it might be just as good to go back to Tite Fits.
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Another update on strings.
Decided to try the Ernie Ball Cobalts and put them on all three guitars. In each case, they feel fantastic when first played, they have more power and the tone is excellent, BUT....... and it's a HUGE but..... of all the strings I've tried over the years, these have corroded faster than anything and by a considerable margin. I clean my strings after every time I play them but with regular playing they'd started to corrode within days. One of the guitars I played, cleaned the strings and left it hung on the wall. When I picked it up again a week and a half later, the strings were badly corroded. As I'd bought a few packs I thought it might be a dud set so put a fresh set on. The same thing happened. That's four sets of these I've tried so far and even with the most meticulous care, not one has managed to make it even close to a month before they are in desperate need of changing. I'll never be buying these again that's for sure and I urge the rest of you to steer clear. I'm inclined to just go back to Elixir strings now for longevity. The tone isn't quite as good as Tite Fits or these Cobalts initially but their tone is still good, it is consistent and they do last forever.
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Thanks for the update, I'd probably kill them in 2 seconds by the sound of it
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I kid you not, my jaw dropped when I realised they were corroding within days and by 'corroding', I don't mean 'going off slightly'. They were completely rusty. Normal strings would take me months to get to the level of corrosion these managed in less than a fortnight.
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Interesting thread, I'm definitely going to try Elixir strings soon.
I just put on some Gibson brite wires yesterday. They have a bit more vintage character and are definitely not "bright", but I like them quite a lot.
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There's nothing better than Elixirs when it comes to durability. Their sound isn't bad either. For recording I'd go D'Addario but for the regular practice and gigging stuff Elixirs are the way to go :)
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Funny how every has different experiences ive only ever bought 2 packs of daddario's and they snapped within hours/days which is weird because I have a light touch. Needless to say ive never used them since.
Also in stark contrat to what slart was saying I leave the bog standard ernie ball strings on my guitars for months if im not gigging or recording and havent snapped a string on an electric guitar for at least a 3 years.
Ive tried out lots of strings and i just keep coming back to ernie ball but the differences between tone and brands is normally subtle but just enough to matter.
The only strings which had a massive impact on my sound were eddie van halens own signature set which were very 'spanky'. I rarely find signature gear can make you sound like any one but these really gave me a sound similar to van halen - finish what you started which was weird because its not a sound id ever intentionally go for and didnt want but I think theyd be great strings for strats if you want a chunky texas blues type sound but i havent got round to this yet.....
Im gonna try some ghs boomers for my strat first though and some elixirs for my acoustic but for my workhorse guitars its definitely ernie ball.
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I do wonder where these differences in experience arise from. Perception? Luck? Where they were bought (read how old are they)? How much of it is just chemisty (sweat and shite)? Or even just improper handling?
On the count of Balls I must admit I canīt comment on snapping. The longest I could ever stand a Balls set was about 1 week, at which point they lost tone quickly. Just donīt like the feel at all. Too soft and woobly. I am not saying they are bad strings, lot of people like them, but for my taste they just do not work at all. Might be that I like my core wire as thick as humanly possible and such...
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I do wonder where these differences in experience arise from. Perception? Luck? Where they were bought (read how old are they)? How much of it is just chemisty (sweat and shitee)? Or even just improper handling?
On the count of Balls I must admit I canīt comment on snapping. The longest I could ever stand a Balls set was about 1 week, at which point they lost tone quickly. Just donīt like the feel at all. Too soft and woobly. I am not saying they are bad strings, lot of people like them, but for my taste they just do not work at all. Might be that I like my core wire as thick as humanly possible and such...
In fairness im the only person I know who doesnt like the sound and feel of brand new strings (When I play them) I like them after a day or two of playing.
Needless to say I cant ever tell which guitarist is using which strings its just a personal feel thing although I would like to know what other people think of those EVH strings they were good but weird and not for me!
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The only strings I've had problems with so far are the ones that come with BKPs, the Rotosounds.
Out of the box at least three sets had a kinked string, which I threw out. Thankfully they were different strings, so I took them from another set of Rotosounds from a different BKP box.
I also snapped one at the bridge, but I've also done that with a Dunlop.
Here in Adelaide rust is not so much of a problem. The worst rust I've seen on a string (besides guitars that have just been let go to shite) was on the SG Junior I bought via ebay from a guy in Queensland. Much more humid up there and in the photos it looked like he had been hanging it on a wall rather than keeping it in the case. There were dark brown rust patches around the pickup area of the low strings. No idea what brand they were but I'm guessing it was caused by either sweat or humidity.
A crust punk friend of mine lived in Darwin and during the wet season everything went rusty, including the studs on his denim jacket
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In fairness im the only person I know who doesnt like the sound and feel of brand new strings (When I play them) I like them after a day or two of playing.
Make it two now. While I donīt hate super fresh strings I am not very fond of them. Too metallic. As you say, after one day or so (does not even need to be playing mostly) they are great. When I change strings I usually do it in the evening or afternoon and only play the guitar the next day, then all is good.
It is that window from that "played in" phase until when they start to just loose it which is golden.
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When I changed strings when I fitted the Stockholm to my SG Junior a couple of days back the neck relief went right out and the bow in it is really obvious. Not sure why it didn't do that when I first changed the strings (the rusty ones I got with it) to a set of Rotosounds I had lying around in a BKP box? Maybe it was because I restrung it one string at a time the first time, whereas the last time I had all the strings off, flipped it over a few times while fitting the new pickup, etc etc? Anyway I'm going to have to set up the bridge properly tomorrow and adjust the truss rod.