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Has anyone here ever put on a fresh set of strings on their guitar only to decide, immediately, that they didn't like em? In my case, I put on the wrong gauge of flatwounds on my ES-125. I can't stand it! It's probably because I'm cheap and the thought of wasting $17 on an, otherwise, perfectly good set of strings drives me nuts.
For the sake of clarity... I didn't know what size flatwounds were on my 125 when I bought it. I knew I loved the way it felt. So I just guessed and bought a pack of 12's. It turns out that it was 11's that were on there before. The 12's I mistakenly put on there are okay I guess but I LOVED the way it felt with 11's. So I suppose I'll have to suck it up and swap em back to 11's.
That being said, I've also tried different brands on my Strats, Teles, etc. and found myself in the same conundrum.
Anyone else felt felt this way?
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04-29-2018 12:30 PM
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Oh yeah.
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Just put a set of D'Addario Pure Nickels (EPN 21) on my ES-175 because so many people on the forum seem to like them and they are touted as being warmer. I usually use D'Addario nickel wrap EJ 21s. Now that the EPNs are on, I'm not sure what to make of them. I'm not sure if they're warmer or just more dead. Maybe I like livelier strings. That's the reason I slowly started ditching flatwounds on my guitars.
I guess I'm too cheap to rip $11 strings right off and replace them with a $6 set. I'll have to play them a bit to see if I really dislike them that much or if I just got used to the brighter sound of the EJs.
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Put a set of DR flatwounds on a new Tele build awhile back and took them off after 10 minutes - absolutely horrible - dead and 'greasy' feeling - yuck!! I've used Chromes and Fender flats with OK results in the past (refuse to pay the price for TI's) but these were off the charts uncomfortable. Ended going back to the GHS burnished nickel rockers (10s) that I've used for 30 years.
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I've done that. Sometimes after a couple of days, once or twice immediately. I don't even remember the strings I removed, because I've been through so many over the years.
Chazmo, I really like the EPN21 strings, but your taste may be different from mine. Personally, I cannot stand the TI flats, but many people swear by them. There are good reasons for so many different strings being on the market.
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i've felt that way a ton of times....i've changed a few within a day or two...left some on and went to something else the next string change (eagerly!)...but i have also grown to like some!....sometimes you are objecting more to the change in tone, than the actual tone itself...stick with 'em a bit..you might be pleasantly surprised...
if not, now you know
cheersLast edited by neatomic; 04-29-2018 at 09:08 PM. Reason: sp-
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I always leave sufficient slack on my strings when I try them on the first time, in case I dislike them. Chances are that if I hate them on one guitar, I may still love them on another.
One thing I liked about the D'Addario Pure Nickels, for example, was that they have a lot of tension and therefore a lot of acoustic volume. So I pulled them off the guitar I was trying them out on, put them in storage, and eventually they wound up on another guitar that had a floating pickup.
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Yeah, par for the course! We have so many choices - we are spoiled.
As a teen, and learning to play on my first electric, (with little spending money) choices were so limited.
And then, we had little to compare to, so, we just went on and made ourselves happy with what we had.
Now.... I worry about what I'm putting on, since there are great strings. But the GHS Nickel Rockers got ripped off so quickly
because they were so crude feeling and crappy sounding! To each his own.
Nice to have choices eh?
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Yes I've done this heaps of times.
I tried Elixir 12-54 'electric' strings - they were awful. Extremely bright and scratchy sounding. I left them for about three days hoping they'd warm up, but they didn't.
Tried DR Pure Blues pure nickel strings, the 0.012 set. I thought they'd have a wound "G" but instead they had a plain "G" of a massive diameter. It was impossible to get the volume of that "G" to balance with the other strings. They were on the guitar for about 15 minutes. I really disliked these.
My favourite strings are
- TI Jazz Swings. Expensive by very good.
- John Pearse Pure Nickel "archtop'' roundwounds. Very cheap and very good! Round core too.
Trying Pyramid Flats on one guitar at the moment, they seem okay too. Not sure I like them as much as the TIs though.
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Yadda yadda yadda . Guys, if you've put new strings on, and you're not a household name guitarist, for pete sakes, just leave em on. 11s -12s, round/flat, whatever..Too much thinkin'. You're sabotaging your own happiness and wallet !! You paid good $ for them. Just have fun with whatever they are at present. Wear them down while your still practicing.. If you do get a gig, then replace them for your ideal..It's all in your mind, ya know. Fuggeddaboudit ! You're driving yourself crazy. It's not such a big deal, this side of the gig. Dig ?..M, L.A.
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My new Comins GCS-1 arrived with 11s, but they were too stiff for my arthritic hands and I switched immediately to 10s.
I had to adjust the bridge saddles and I tweaked the truss rod (some unnecessary detail below).
Guitar now plays fine with 10s, but it still feels stiff (it wouldn't have when I was younger) and I'm thinking about trying 9s.
The guitar played perfectly when it arrived. Set up, spot on.
Bill Comins said that most players agreed that the guitar was best with 11s. He said I might need to adjust the truss rod for 10s.
The neck, as delivered, had very little relief, if any. Most setup instructions recommend more relief than this guitar had, recalling that it played perfectly.
When I put on the 10s, I had to adjust some of the bridge saddles.
Since the neck had very little relief and I just lightened the tension, I was worried about backbow.
I seemed to be getting a little hair (faint buzz), oddly enough, in the upper frets, like 12-15. I wasn't sure if more neck relief would improve it, but I somehow convinced myself I should try.
Not being superexperienced with this adjustment, even tho I knew the theory, I ended up not being certain how much I moved the adjustment. Things didn't improve, it was late, and I let the guitar sit over night. I've hear that wood takes longer to adjust than metal, but some people talk about minutes, not hours.
Fortunately, through dumb luck and a good manufacturer, the guitar played fine the next morning.
There is a nice setup tutorial on the Fender website -- which worked perfectly on my Stratocaster. I think this made me overconfident that I knew setup for a guitar like the Comins.
I ended up not knowing what I was trying to accomplish: how much relief, if any?
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Nah, I'll play the set in a little and see what's what. Ten minutes, that might be just a passing mood for me.
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Never have done immediately, but definitely the next day.
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rpjg- by all means check out ghs big core 9.5's...they solve many problems...
great quality pure nickel wound strings besides!
BIG CORE NICKEL ROCKERS™ - GHS
big cores been around for a long time....srv, santana etc
cheers
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No, it's not in the mind.... it's in the fingers.... remember?
When uncomfortable, ya can't get the right response, and the rehearsal can be less than productive, depending on your level of virtuosity and the demands of your performance while on the gig. Dig?
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I put on some TI Jazz Swings that seemed to tarnish shortly after I got them. Having spent so much, and liking the sound, I cleaned them with rubbing alcohol and a coarse cloth. Surprisingly, that worked, and I still have them on probably a year later.
We could start another thread called "people who never, ever change their strings." I almost never change them unless they really oxidize and don't feel good. If a string loses some brightness, well that's pretty much why I roll off the tone, so no harm, no foul.
This doesn't apply to nylon strings, which do lose tone pretty quickly, but for quality metal strings...if they ain't rusted, they stay on...
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Yup. Just last week put a set of DA Chrome 11’s on my tele. Didn’t even get to the 3rd string before I ripped ‘em off and put round wounds back on. OTOH, I put a set of TI 12’s on my Guild Aristocrat, and while I’ve kept them on for the past couple of weeks, I’m pretty sure I’ll go back to DA Chrome 11’s.
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Oh yes .. many times ... no logic other than feel
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Put a set of Newtone Archtop rounds on my es-175. Instantly regretted the sound but I’m too cheap to take them off until they’re dead. They do have their moments, especially for rock, but I look forward to going back to some TI flats.
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my record is the D addario silk and steel on my Taylor. Put the 3 treble strings on, disliked them so much i never installed the rest of the set.
I think many of us pass through that phase at some point. You try guitars, you try amps, you try strings, picks, etc..
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It ain’t a phase, it’s a lifestyle.
Originally Posted by Alter
I think many of us pass through that phase at some point. You try guitars, you try amps, you try strings, picks, etc..
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Ted, you won't have to wait long. I tried the Newtone strings, and liked them, but they were very dead very quickly. They didn't last very long for me, and I went on to other brands.
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I feel safe saying that NOT leaving a new set/brand of strings on your guitar for minimum of two weeks is a mistake. Taking them off the day you put them on is terribly short sighted.
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Yup, and one of the main reasons I put Hipshot locking tuners on all my guitars. My Les Paul I sometimes swap between flats and round wounds depending on gig. If I hate the string then I can repackage them and toss them to a student who would appreciate a free set of back up strings. Sometimes I just try the same set on a different guitar.
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If those strings cost $17, are they Thomastiks? If so, and it's just the top two plains causing grief, swap them for singles in the gauges you like, eg, 11, 15 or 14. The wounds in the TI 12 set, with the exception of the 6th, are actually lighter than most 11 gauge sets, IIRC. If not, put some 11s back on there. D'Addario Chromes last forever, almost. Originally Posted by dallasblues
Regarding different string brands, and presumably types, I've learned to stick with the ones that "bother me the least"
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