Elixirs, worth it?

[Stevepage]

So I've been using a new brand recently called Legacy. They sound good, keep tuning well but I've had them on for over a week and have just started to get a bit 'dark' in places due to sweat.

They only cost me £2.99 a pack so they're good value.

However, in the long run would Elixirs been a better saving?

They cost £9.95 per pack but they last longer due to the coating. Would it be worth getting one pack of these that may last me a few months or get 3 packs of Legacy strings and bother with changing strings more often?

[nfe]

If you like Elixers, you're best just buying the coated D'addario ones cheaper. Given that Elixer simply but buy D'addario XL strings and coat them, you get exactly the same thing.

[Twinfan]

For £9.95 a set, I'd rather change strings more often and have three sets of D'Addarios....

[Transcend]

i found that coated strings sound very peculiar i cant quite place it but theres something i dont like about them.

Try some DR Tite Fits

[FELINEGUITARS]

Elixirs and other coated strings are great for people who sweat battery acid and can kill a set of strings in an evening

But for most they are a false economy IMO - the reason being that whilst they wont rust or corrode the same they still get metal fatigue as quickly and lose their elasticity just as quick, so will sound as lacklustre as other types just as quick.

You can be fooled because they look all like new but they are fatigued and worn.

[gwEm]

i tried them when i first started playing and liked them - i think because of reduced string noise and a slide-ier feel. wouldn't use them again though. if you snap a string its hard to buy singles for example.. plus the other reasons listed here.

[Stevepage]

I thought as much. I tried Elixirs years ago but I don't remember much about them.

I quite liked DR coated strings but found that the colour comes off fairly quick and looks ugly after a while. I didn't notice an improvement in tone either.

As for D'addarios, I used to use them religiously, I wouldn't use anything else. But I've noticed over the past year that their quality has gone down. Strings snap in random places, unwrapping themselves at the ball end etc and this is on guitars that are regularly cleaned and maintained. Never had these problems before except for when I used Ernie Balls and Rotosounds.

May as well stick to Legacy and Picato's then.

[AndyR]

Pretty much agree with others. I've tried Elixirs on an acoustic and they're not quite for me. Even new, replacing dead strings, they seemed somewhat lifeless to me. They were just "OK" and lasted ages being "OK", and I even got used to the tone.

But the minute I put uncoated strings back on I was pretty much decided never to go near coated strings again... I'm not even gonna try them on electric. And I'm one of these battery acid guys that Jonathan talks of! :lol: My strings develop dark places visually with just one good 2 hour session - I've learnt to put up with it. I've found that, for the tones I want, they're still pretty cool for a week or two as long as I keep them clean.

Funny what you say about D'Addarios, though - I've had a couple of naff strings in the last year or so. No unwrapping, but I've had one top E that went while stringing (doesn't happen very often to me nowadays), and one G that had a slight kink in it out of the packet. Hasn't put me off D'Addario yet, but it's interesting that someone else has vague suspicions as well...

[Transcend]

Hasn't put me off D'Addario yet, but it's interesting that someone else has vague suspicions as well...

these are the exact reasons i stopped using D'addario mainly the unwinding, kinks and also ive had some that just snapped at the ball end that was the final straw for me

[Zaned]

I used Elixir's for some time. After that, I tried one of my ex-guitars (sold it to my father) with 'normal' strings and pretty much immediately went back to them. I don't sweat acid, but the tone laster a longer while with Elixirs. I guess my ears got used to them, but for me they sound a bit muffled right from the beginning.

I used Ernie Ball's and DR strings for a while, but recently I came across many sets on the DR strings that broke pretty quickly on my tremolo equipped guitars. Some even had two high E strings and missed a B, for $%&#s sake. Trying GHS at the moment, thinking about trying Dean Markley Blue steels for a change too..