The GC near me ran out of the Fender strings, so I tried a set of Ernie Ball Super Slinky's (9-42). They sounded way more balanced comparing the wound strings to the unwound strings than any strings I have tried before (except for strings with a wound G).

In reading the specs, I noticed that the unwound strings are made of tin plated high carbon steel instead of plain steel. I guess this gives them a more balanced tone between the wound and unwound strings.

I prefer the balance of the strings with a wound G, but did not like that I could not bend the G string. Now that I have discovered these strings, I have much better balance, and can bend the G string.

Has anyone else experienced this, or am I just hearing things?

_________________
American Standard Stratocaster

I've tried virtually every brand and every variation within the brands out there. Having said that, I've been using your exact Ernie Ball string set since 1968. Obviously, all around and to this day, this set still works best for me.

_________________
You dig?

i have used ernies for years and love them, read the back of the label and you see who has used them over the years.Clapton, Hendrix,Angus Young just to name a few.

I've tried them all over the past 45 yrsand have found D'Addario's the best for balance,long life,lasting new tone,and staying in tune.

_________________
'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I had for many years preferred the Ernie Ball Super Slinkys. Then I got a great deal on a surplus of D'Adarrio strings and had been using them for the past few years. Recently I had EBs put back on and wow. I'm not going to leave them again.

I have never found that a quality string has really any difference from one brand to another. I used Fenders for ages before switching to D'Addario's and really just buy them out of habit. But lately I have been hearing a lot about the EBMM strings I think I will check them out simply because I love what they have been producing guitar wise. But there is a place where 30 different sets of strings are all produced and I just feel a quality string is a quality string. I would love to see how many players could even tell what brand is on a guitar without seeing the ball end.

As you can see, strings are a rather personal thing to most folks...and everyone's taste is obviously different. Personally I used GHS strings on all of my electrics for a great many years. In the past year or so however I've been switching my Strats over to the Fender Super 250's (my Kramer and other's still have GHS). Now like yourself, my GC also ran out of Fender strings (something about re-packaging as I understand) and I picked up a set of Ernie Balls too...personally, I prefer the Fenders. The EB's are ok and they do the job but I think the Fender's have better tone on my Strats and actually a better "feel" (it's almost like those EB's feel a little "sticky" to me comparatively speaking).

Really, when it comes to guitar strings there is no right or wrong...if you like the EB's better than the Fenders than that's what you should go with.

Peace,
Jim

D'Addario makes a .18 wound string that's pretty easy to bend,I use them on all my acoustics.

_________________
'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I used Ernie from 1986 – 2005…there the best sounding string on the market (But)!!! that is only for the first 2-3 weeks there on the guitar….regardless of how much you wipe or clean them they last a very short amount of time before thy corrode and get very dull sounding and lose sustain. Even know they are relatively inexpensive I got very tired of changing so often for the optimal sound. After retrying everything on the market yet again I fell in love with the Gibson Bright wires strings….very, very similar to the Ernie ball but last much longer. Several months of daily hard playing before even start to wear out..I now use them on all but one of my guitars…the only difference is my YJM Strat I still use Fender super bullets because they are slinkier and I get better bending with them on the scalloped fret board……(Bottom line is Ernie ball are great but just too high maintenance for me)…

Cheers
Bill

_________________
(80’s Hair Metal) = A snapshot in time before Grunge ruined Rock & Roll forever!!!!

Ernie Balls are awesome! I've played them moving up in gauge from the Super Slinky .009, Regular Slinkys .010 and Power Slinkys.011. Mainly play them because Jimmy Page, Clapton and Slash.

Stick with what works best.

I agree with you. I just started using ernie ball strings
and they seem to be more balanced than the dean markleys
I was using.The tone is awesome too. I use the classic rock&roll
set - 11 - 48.

I find ernie balls horrifically bright and hard to keep in tune. I find that I can string up d'addario's and they will stay in tune nicely and play in much quicker, producing a much nicer sound that isn't overly jangly

There doesn't seem to be much love here for GHS strings. I have been using GHS for over 10 years having switched from EB. I will be honest the only reason I bought a set in the first place was because I heard SRV used them. I still love them though - they have a great tone when they are first on and really suit strats, but they do go off quite quickly. I'm going to give D'Adarrio's a go next but I still have another 10 sets of these GHS's to get through first.

D'Addarios are first choice for me - 9 to 46 set. But habit is a factor I have to acknowledge.

Failing that I'll go with Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinkys (same size).

I used Rotosound for a while, but that was because they came with a spare top E string. They're very long too.. you throw a quarter of the string away.

And thats it really. As much as I love Fender products, I have to say that I think their strings are terrible. They feel gritty to me, like a string thats just started to rust, even though they may look sparkling and clean.

On just about every Fender or Squier guitar I ever bought, there was a label saying "Use Only GENUINE Fender Strings"! Yeah right, stuff that. I can't get 'em off quick enough.

_________________
Fender Highway & Classic 60s Strats, Fender Toronado, Telecaster, Gretsch Projet, Charvel 3, PRS SE Soapbar II & Custom 24, Burns Batwing and many others!

I am not a big expert on strings. To me, they are all mostly the same. However, what seems clear is that Fender strings sound noticably worse than all other brands. Personally, I like D'Addario the best ... and this is one area I never buy Fender as they sound (to me) noticably sub-par to all other makes.

_________________
Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...