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Post subject: Re: Guitar Strings
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 9:59 am
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Dolores wrote:
i figured throught the years they would of developed better strings.


Actually there are a few companies over the years who have tried to "re-invent the wheel" as it were. I remember a company some 20 odd years ago that made guitar strings called "SIT's" or Stay In Tune's. They were aimed at the plethora of guitar players who were getting into the whammy bar...the Floyd Rose and Kahler trems that had hit the market a few years earlier. They were kind of expensive and just really sounded like dung (IMHO). While I don't remember the name, I remember a few years back someone was selling "cryogenic treated" strings...something about putting the strings in a deep freeze that was supposed to change the molecular structure of the string or something...-REALLY- expensive (over $30 a pack) and I'm not sure I ever really got the point.

Most recently there's a brand out there called "Elixers" that have some kind of poly coating or something...not supposed to rust at all. Again really expensive and the first time I tried them, I sat there looking at the guitar thinking "Where'd the tone go?". Probably the singular reason I don't like Martin or Taylor acoustics as they come stock with those strings. I don't know what's in that coating but it just seems to totally kill the tone of the instrument...really sucks the life out of a guitar's sound (again IMHO).

Again I use GHS Boomer's myself (for my electrics...the acoustics get Earthwood's when I can find them). For me personally Boomers just seem to have the best balance of tone, longevity, playability and price. I've used Slinkey's many times over the years and while the sound decent enough, I just don't get as much life out of them. Same goes for D'Addarrio as well...those seem to rust out in nothing flat on me (and they feel a bit odd to me too). The Fender Super 250's aren't bad at all. They seem to hold up about as well as the Boomers and sound only a tich brighter, but they're also a couple bucks more per pack...and again I have quite a few guitars (including an even dozen Strats at the moment), so for me, that extra couple of bucks adds up pretty quick. Also...and I have to be honest here...lately I've been getting my Boomers at the local Best Buy which is right up at the mall. Same price as Guitar Center, but MUCH closer. If I want the Fender's, I have to drive out to Guitar Center to get them....even more money for gas!

Quote:
i see they are cheap to buy, and that makes me wonder how well they are made.


For the most part....pretty well. Quality Control in manufacturing has improved significantly over the past 20 years or so. More over, some of these companies such as GHS and Ernie Ball have been making guitar strings for a very long time now...they have a pretty good handle on what they're doing :-)



Alrighty...thats' about all I have time for right now....except...

Quote:
maybe ide play better after more Sobieski's Vodka..?


I hope your head feels better than mine this morn!!! That Malibu Black I was drinkin' last night is some good stuff...but made it rather hard to find the coffee pot this morning!

Peace,
Jim


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Post subject: Re: Guitar Strings
Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 3:13 am
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Posts: 186
Location: Minneapolis, MN.
got a question on strings.
I have been playing for 35 years, and use to get a grey line on my finger tips from new strings,
I stopped playing for about 10 years, then started back in the last 2 years.
I have noticed that the strings no longer make this grey line on my finger tips.
looked like i drew a line on them with a pencil, also would make the same marks on my cleaning cloth when wiping it down after playing.
Have they made any changes in the materials or coating on the strings in the last 10 years or so.?
this was with all types of brands i would use, but have been a GHS Boomer fan since the beginning.

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1986 Kramer Baretta
1989 Samick "The Samick" Les Paul
2007 Fender Strat MIM Deluxe / 1985 MIJ neck
1990 Epiphone Strat
Marshall JCM 2000 DLS 50 watt / Marshall 1960a 4x12

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Post subject: Re: Guitar Strings
Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 6:40 am
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Joined: Sat Aug 23, 2008 2:01 pm
Posts: 1598
Jimmikatt wrote:
got a question on strings.
I have been playing for 35 years, and use to get a grey line on my finger tips from new strings,
I stopped playing for about 10 years, then started back in the last 2 years.
I have noticed that the strings no longer make this grey line on my finger tips.
looked like i drew a line on them with a pencil, also would make the same marks on my cleaning cloth when wiping it down after playing.
Have they made any changes in the materials or coating on the strings in the last 10 years or so.?
this was with all types of brands i would use, but have been a GHS Boomer fan since the beginning.



Hhhhmmmmm....personally I never really heard that one before. That said, it's certainly possible as there is something that I noticed that has changed in recent years...at least with Fender and GHS strings. The packaging has changed! Used to be with GHS that you'd get the little plastic envelop with the flap and six paper envelops with one string each inside. Now a days they come in a sealed foil wrapper. Likewise with Fender strings...they used to come in 6 individual envelops inside the box but now you get all six strings with color coated ends inside one seal plastic baggie. I remember that part of it because I had been using Fender strings during their re-packing...had walked into Guitar Center to get a couple of packs and ALL Fender strings were gone off the shelves. The sales girl told me that they had been recalled for repackaging and when they finally got them back in, I found the whole color coated end idea to be...erm...rather annoying. I've changed sooooooo many strings over the years and have been changing them for so long, yea...I kind of have a pattern or system that I never really thought about: take the paper envelops out of the pack, turn them over and lay them on the floor, take out the low E and put it on the guitar and flip the paper envelop over next to the pile. Put the string on the guitar, trim the excess, then grab the next upside down envelop (A string), turn the envelop over on top of the previous...and so on...very mindless to say the least. Lather, rinse, repeat. With all the strings in one plastic baggie however...geezz...I had to actually stop and think about what I was doing! On some horribly subconscious level, that could be another reason I went back to GHS...even inside the foil, each string is still inside an individual envelop (you guys at Fender R&D listening there??) 8) .

Now I -am- guessing here so please don't take this as ANY kind of factual knowledge or anything, but my thinking here is that perhaps in the old days, when those strings were in the open paper envelops that were inside open plastic envelops (or boxes in Fender's case) where the manufacturers knew they were exposed to a bit of air and such, perhaps they coated them with some sort of very light oil/lubricant or other chemical to keep them from rusting or keep them a bit fresher in the package. Typically most metals WILL oxidize (rust) when exposed to air long enough unless it's coated with something. And while I certainly don't remember anything like that ever happening with me, I can speak from personal experience that different people tend to react differently to chemicals (including our skin)...in your case causing the gray line on the finger tips. Now that those string packages are completely sealed, maybe they use a different type of oil/lube/chemical...or maybe they don't use any at all....? Sounds logical....but again I am just guessing here.

Hopefully someone with some personal experience will chime in here...but yea...my initial guess would be that they changed something with the strings themselves when they changed the packaging.

Peace,
Jim


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Post subject: Re: Guitar Strings
Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 12:32 pm
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Location: Minneapolis, MN.
yeah this was when they came in the plastic pack,
i this doesn't happen with the new stings that come in the sealed foil packs.
maybe they coated them with something to last a bit longer.
as when it did happen, this would have been only on the 1st few hours of playing,
by the time i played for a few hours, and gave it a good wipe down, it wouldn't happen any more.
and my hands do not sweat much when i play.

_________________
1986 Kramer Baretta
1989 Samick "The Samick" Les Paul
2007 Fender Strat MIM Deluxe / 1985 MIJ neck
1990 Epiphone Strat
Marshall JCM 2000 DLS 50 watt / Marshall 1960a 4x12

https://soundcloud.com/jim-slimjim-cassi


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Post subject: Re: Guitar Strings
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 7:22 am
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Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2013 1:51 pm
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Location: Raleigh, NC, USA
I didn't want to start yet another string cleaning thread - didn't want to be that guy.

I just wiped down my strings with a guitar polishing (untreated) cloth. This one is a Planet Waves cloth. It left tiny bits of lint very tightly wrapped around the first string that was really difficult to remove and clearly was dampening the sustain. Obviously these cloths are not a good idea for wiping down strings.


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Post subject: Re: Guitar Strings
Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2013 8:19 am
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Just an update. After breaking 2 more new strings after the first one,
I haven't had a string breakage since my first post.
I used some Big Bends Nut Sauce on the string grooves, and I also wipe the strings down with Fender Slick String Cleaner.

http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/gifts_other.htm

Now I can play more w/o the past problem.

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Post subject: Re: Guitar Strings
Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2013 11:35 am
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Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2012 10:16 pm
Posts: 209
Quote:
i had never seen a guitar string break while watching a band concert or video of bands playing.



This reminds me of an incident that happened when I first started playing guitar. A friend had just bought Jimi Hendrix' newly released live "Band of Gypsys" album. While we were sitting around his little stereo, ahem, "listening to some music" 8) , I noticed that Jimi had stopped playing in the middle of the first track, "Who Knows", and that Buddy Miles had begun scatting over the drum and bass lines. I asked my buddy to stop the record and go back a ways...well, Hendrix had broken a string, and the band took over while he restrung his guitar. You can hear him plug in his guitar again (or switch on his CryBaby, I can't decide which), and start tuning the string to pitch while he plays--some tasty phrases, at that--and when he gets it in tune he just starts wailing away on his wah until the end of the song. I have never seen the video footage of this concert. Wonder if he handed his guitar to a tech/roadie or restrung it himself?

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"If today was Christmas Eve, if today was Christmas Eve,
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