TI Jazz Swing 13 vs TI George Benson 14

[jads57]

Just curious if the Thomastik strings are as expensive in Europe as they are in the USA?

[JazzNote]

I fear that they are more expensive over here than in the US.

Switzerland:
a swing set costs CHF 22.- which is about $23.- (roughly double price than for a average d'addario set)
a GB set costs CHF 41.- which is about $42.-

Germany is much cheaper:
there you get a swing set for 15 Euros - which is about $17
and a GB set for 26 Euros - which is about $29.50

I was wondering a few times if i'd better ask a friend from NY to bring me some sets when she comes over. But since she's a singer she might run into trouble finding the right strings for me ;-).

[Jabberwocky]

Much cheaper from Thomann.de . Note that non-EU orders do not pay VAT/MwSt. Thomann charges a flat shipping fee of EUR30 per order ( up to a max 31Kgs!). So, you gotta order about 10 sets to a dozen sets or more to make it worth your while.

I did a rough calculation a while ago and came up with a figure of EUR14.40 (EUR11.40 + EUR3) each for 10 sets of Bebops or Swings sent by DHL PostPaket to the USA.

[JazzNote]

Much cheaper from Thomann.de . Note that non-EU orders do not pay VAT/MwSt. Thomann charges a flat shipping fee of EUR30 per order ( up to a max 31Kgs!). So, you gotta order about 10 sets to a dozen sets or more to make it worth your while.

I did a rough calculation a while ago and came up with a figure of EUR14.40 (EUR11.40 + EUR3) each for 10 sets of Bebops or Swings sent by DHL PostPaket to the USA.

I order regularly from Thomann, but never bought strings there so far which makes me feel stupid when i see the price. I will have to find out if they sell individual strings, as i would need a good number of additional high E's and B's.

[neatomic]

honestly any unwound e or b is pretty much the same..carbon steel...i like d'addarios..i wouldn't specifically order ti unwounds..their wound strings are their magic...save your euros for those

here's d'addarios great options-

D'Addario Strings : Electric Singles : Plain Steel Singles



d'addario plant was local to me for years..i sold 'em retail..my aunt worked there...great strings..pioneers in the industry..(they worked with john d'angelico!...got sold out /double crossed when he died)...i just wish they'd make a pure nickel flats!!!

maybe we should start a petition! hah


cheers

[iim7V7IM7]

While what you said makes sense to me, the published numbers speak otherwise:

TI JazzSwings 013s
E - .013" - 26.0 lb.
A - .017" - 25.1" lb.


D'Addario Chromes 013s
E - .013" - 27.4 lb.
A - .017" - 26.3" lb.

honestly any unwound e or b is pretty much the same..carbon steel...i like d'addarios..i wouldn't specifically order ti unwounds..their wound strings are their magic...save your euros for those

here's d'addarios great options-

D'Addario Strings : Electric Singles : Plain Steel Singles



d'addario plant was local to me for years..i sold 'em retail..my aunt worked there...great strings..pioneers in the industry..(they worked with john d'angelico!...got sold out /double crossed when he died)...i just wish they'd make a pure nickel flats!!!

maybe we should start a petition! hah


cheers

[Jabberwocky]

I don't know what T-I and D'Addario use as their reference scale lengths to obtain their numbers. On an old pack of classical guitar nylon strings that I got, D'Addario used 655mm as the reference scale length to determine the tension numbers. Edit: I see that D'Addario uses 25.5" scale length today.

http://www.daddario.com/upload/tension_chart_13934.pdf

Perhaps T-I uses 647mm or 25.5" or 630mm or 24.75"?

[iim7V7IM7]

You could indeed be correct. They don't say and for a given diameter and length steel is steel.

I don't know what T-I and D'Addario use as their reference scale lengths to obtain their numbers. On an old pack of classical guitar nylon strings that I got, D'Addario used 655mm as the reference scale length to determine the tension numbers. Edit: I see that D'Addario uses 25.5" scale length today.

http://www.daddario.com/upload/tension_chart_13934.pdf

Perhaps T-I uses 647mm or 25.5" or 630mm or 24.75"?

[neatomic]

i wasn't so much talking about string tension of the unwound strings, just basic quality...its the wound strings that separate these companies...the plains are all basically the same...with obvious slight variations in tension...and that dependent on scale etc (as mentioned)

gist is while i love ti flats..if i wanted backup e &b strings, i'd buy a 5 pack of d'addarios for each string, and be ok with that..i would not however replace a ti wound A string with a chrome!!!..hah


cheers

[JazzNote]

i wasn't so much talking about string tension of the unwound strings, just basic quality...its the wound strings that separate these companies...the plains are all basically the same...with obvious slight variations in tension...and that dependent on scale etc (as mentioned)

gist is while i love ti flats..if i wanted backup e &b strings, i'd buy a 5 pack of d'addarios for each string, and be ok with that..i would not however replace a ti wound A string with a chrome!!!..hah


cheers

Thanks for the observation. I remember a time when i checked lots of other string brands and came back to the TI's because (also the unwound) TI strings felt better to me than any other brands. Of course this is a subjective matter and i do not want to start experimenting again just to save a few bucks.

[neatomic]

so now you have to decide if you want the ti tin or brass coated plains!!

it never ends!! haha

cheers

[JazzNote]

used to the brass coated and the tin coated difficult to get ...... no troubles to take a easy decision on the brass ;-))

[stringbender74]

The TI GB flatwounds are in my opinion not worth the extra money: I had to realize with every new string set that the low e- and d-string have a very different sound compared to the a- and wound g-string. They sound more metallic, dull, somehow dead. The a- and g-string instead have a wonderful warm, lively, well defined bassy character.
So the consequence is that I won't use the flatwounds anymore. The round wounds are great.
By the way: I'm still waiting for an answer from TI regarding the flatwounds.