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I sometimes have been using flat wounds which normally I never did just not enough acoustic zing, but have a certain sound that is nice at times. So 2 years ago I a set of Dadarrio Chromes 12-54 on my Hollenbeck and still have not change them. Now to be fair they don't have daily hours of playing on them but 2 years and certainly playing them. They right now intonate fine and sound good. They don't look beat or worn but I am thinking these still have plenty of life. 2 years longer than I would ever go with round wounds even it I hardly played them. How long do you get?
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09-03-2020 03:26 PM
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I get about a year out of TI Flats (and I change the plain strings once or twice between full set changes). I find that the pure nickel wraps start to corrode after about 10 or 11 months.
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TI flats when new are perfect but to me they get too dull after two weeks. D'addario Chromes start out a bit bright but after a couple of weeks they reach the darkness of a brand new set of TI flats and stay that way for at least 6 months. So Chromes are more economical and convenient for me.
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+1 what Marco (SS) said.
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My Godin Kingpin has been my ongoing string testbed.
TI Jazz Swings (12-50) -- I get about 4 months, then they start sounding completely dead and giving me tuning problems.
Chromes -- (12-52) about 6 months
LaBella Rollerwounds (12-52) sorta flat, sorta round, less squeaky than rounds) -- I've had them on for about 2 months, and they've lost a lot of brightness, but are still in tune.
GHS Rollerwounds -- I forgot how much I got out of them, but I wound up taking them off before they were really beat up because they squeaked almost as much roundwounds even after they'd been on for a long while. I'm gonna guess they'd last 6 months, though.
I've got Chromes and Martin Retros in my drawer, and I think I'm going to go back the Chromes next. I think I like their sound best, and they've lasted the longest of the flats I've tried. But I do prefer the lower tension of the TI's. Once I use up all the strings I've got, I'm going to try an 11-50 set and swap in a 12 for the high E.
I have a feeling I'm harder on strings than I lot you guys. I've only got one archtop (though I do split my playing across other guitars), and it's kind of my "beater". I play it outside a lot, took on a beach vacation, and am in general not very careful about wiping the strings clean.
John
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I play pretty much the same guitar every day roughly at a minimum 2 hours a day. I use TI Flats an .11 set. I used to use .13s, then .12s, now .11s. I get about 7-8 months out of a set but change the two plain strings about 1/2 way. I don't wipe them down, nor is the guitar in a case but I also have fairly neutral sweat and in steamy FL it is always inside and in a stable environment.
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You know about how much I play. I get at least a year out of a set of .012s on my DA. When the sound gets too dark, I'll change them but I know it takes forever for them to get too dark.
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I change my TI flats about every 5 years, whether they need changing or not.
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I use JS 112 on all my good guitars. The one I use the most (Fender Custom Shop Jazzmaster 1998), gets new strings maybe three or four times a year, depending on how many gigs I play.
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D'Addario flats in various sizes. I change 'em every year, just for practice.
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About three or four months. I play a LOT.
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Just finished re-stringing my Gibson 175. Saw this thread and felt guilty. Those TIJS112s had been on close to a year. Took the opportunity to give it a good clean and buff and tighten all the little screws and nuts that always seem to loosen. Now it’ll take several hours to get it sounding good again.
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They last til I change them LOL.
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The TI Swing Series JS111 .011" last me about 4 months before I notice bumps forming on the G string over the frets, indicating that the wraps are getting worn and deformed by the frets. This causes a loss in tone and intonation, plus they get hard to tune. It is more noticeable if playing strictly acoustically, but it also affects their tone and harmonics when plugged into your amp. I was contemplating an aftermarket floating pick-up for my Epiphone Emperor Regent, but after a new set of TI Swing Series, it sounded great. They are even better on my 1989 ES-175.
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Guitar strings last me many years. I have a lot of guitars though and clean the strings after nearly every use. The last time I changed my set of flats was probably 5+ years ago. They are Monel Rotosounds. I also have a set of D'Addario half rounds on another guitar that are of similar vintage and are just fine. I tend to replace them when there is obvious corrosion damage I can feel -- or if they are unstable tuning-wise. If I was a gigging muso I would change them more regularly.
Last edited by wildschwein; 05-09-2024 at 10:17 PM.
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Thomastik flats (I use 12s) last a very long time for me. They give me a sound I much prefer over the D’Addario Chromes, which, unlike others report, seem to wear out under my touch much faster than the TIs. Last summer I typically played a couple of electric gigs a week on the same guitar and changed my Tomastiks sometime in August, as I recall. After the winter holidays, gigs slow down and I’m still using the same set of TIs I put on last year.
The summer season is coming up and I looked at the strings on my workhorse guitar and noticed the nickel windings are compressed at every fret up to 8 or 9. This precedes the strings coming unraveled, which renders them useless. I picked up a set of Pyramids I thought I’d try in place of the Thomastiks. As set of TIs is in reserve if I don’t like the Pyramids.
Out or curiosity I put a set of Rotosound strings on a new/old beater Ibanez. So far they don’t impress me much. At $17 a set I was hoping for a less costly alternative to TIs. I suspect they won’t stay on there very long.
The short answer is I usually change flat wound electric strings a couple times a year. Acoustic strings only last me a few hours of hard playing. Good thing they’re cheap!
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Same here. Four months seems typical. Perhaps a bit more in winter, a bit less in summer.
Originally Posted by jaymen
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My jazz guitar wears tapewound flats which seem to last forever. I think I must have changed them some 3 years ago.
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Yep, that nylon tape wrap is very hard wearing, as long as you don't take the strings off (and many will probably think they sound dead right out of the package).
My only experience is with the flatwound strings in TI Plectrum sets, and those are the only brass-wound strings where I've ever had the winding wear through. Though TBH I've had to "back up" Spectrum G strings too to prevent this exact same thing.
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