Metropoulos Forum

So many choices, What does everyone like? Gauge? Material?

Dadarrios, Ernie Ball, Fender, DR etc.

IMO - Ernies are pretty good all around, D'addarios are sortve plain or lacking, Fenders sound good fresh but die way quick and I've tried a bunch of others.

I originally hated DR's after dropping like 10 bucks on their black set. I thought itd look cool on my black/maple strat. They broke within hours and I swore never again!

But, I must say Ive been using DR Pure Blues (pure nickel) 10's for a while now and theyre a great string in my opinion. The wrap feels different and smoother to me. They actually take a string and start it a gauge bigger, then through compression winding they force it into the smaller gauge so in a sense theres more mass. Cool stuff but it has a rich balanced sound to me.

So what does everyone else like best?

basile865 wrote: I originally hated DR's after dropping like 10 bucks on their black set. I thought itd look cool on my black/maple strat. They broke within hours and I swore never again!

But, I must say Ive been using DR Pure Blues (pure nickel) 10's for a while now and theyre a great string in my opinion. The wrap feels different and smoother to me. They actually take a string and start it a gauge bigger, then through compression winding they force it into the smaller gauge so in a sense theres more mass. Cool stuff but it has a rich balanced sound to me.

So what does everyone else like best?

I like DR's but, I have to go through 2 sets before I get a good complete set. Every time get them, there is always 1 bad string. But they sound good and last a good long time.

snake oil rock sets 9.5-46 on gibbies/tokais and strat
pyramid pure nickels 9-46 on tele and gretsch

I know it's boring but I always end up going back to Ernie Ball. They're not very exciting, but they're consistent and I can't really fault 'em. D'addario's always sounded dull lacking in comparison, Fender's broke too easily for me (I dig in real deep and hard, very bad technique), and Dean Markley's sounded pretty dull too. And as for the cryogenic treatment on the Blue Steel's, well I sure didn't notice any difference and still broke 'em just as easy.
Tried Labella's as well, and found them pretty dull too. More exotic/expensive brands aren't as readily available over here as I'd like, but I find it easier to change tone elsewhere in my guitar/rig to worry about trying to find a replacement for strings that I get on well with.
And on acoustic strings, I've never found anything to rival Ernie's Earthwoods.

I'll have to try those snake oil sets sometime. Dean Markleys Blue Steel are lame I agree. I really do find that Elixers are the best acoustic string IMO. But I like something that lasts most because I dont play acoustic enough to want to change them much. But I like their tone better than the Dadarios.

For Jimi / Strat stuff, GHS Boomer 10's with the smallest wound G I can scrape up.

why the wound G?

Fender 150XL 9-40

basile865 wrote:why the wound G?

Because it sounds awesome. If I could deal with a wound G Id have one no question.

Pyramids rule in my universe. Whenever I try something else and go back to pyramids I think to myself 'baby, what was I thinking leaving you.' Lol. Its one of the more difinitive gear decisions Ive made. Very few things do I try and I so clearly like them better then anything else.

i cant imagine using a wound G. Hendrix wasnt using a wound G right?

By the way I just looked up pyramid strings - pricey pricey. Which set do you get? and where do you get them from?

I get mine here
http://www.tone-man.com/pyramid.htm

The orange set- nickel classics. If you get 11s it will come with a wound G. I found out the hard way but it does sound awesome. I just cant bend with it.

I'll definately give them a shot. I wonder how different they are from the DR pure blues strings. Both are pure nickel, hand made, and round wound on a round core

Really interesting article everybody check this out:

http://sobstrings.net/article06.htm

Billy Batz wrote:I get mine here
http://www.tone-man.com/pyramid.htm

The orange set- nickel classics. If you get 11s it will come with a wound G. I found out the hard way but it does sound awesome. I just cant bend with it.

I can Im no great player, but always take it as a compliment when guys play my stuff and ask how the hell I bend strings

I'll try some of those

anybody read that article I posted up? Its really interesting stuff. Sortve finally made his string gauge not a mystery to me anymore and also interesting talk about sound city amps, string tension etc.