Christopher wrote: Fri Aug 13, 2021 3:52 pm Used these for years and years, but apparently they stopped making them. Always sounded great- bright without being tinny, somehow never sounding dull over time- and practically never broke (important, as I am a ham-fisted player with poor "technique").

Tell me what's good.

Actually knew someone once who was looking for about what you described there.

That person wound up sold on DR Strings "HI-BEAM..." nickel plated strings.

No actual "First Person..." time with said strings.

If you've been into Alloy 52 strings for years everything is going to sound a little different. I think there are some string makers still doing Alloy 52 though. Didn't Rotosound and Labella both have sets? You might look there. Pretty Sure GHS stopped making the Boomers B-52s, which is what I was going to suggest. GHS Progressives are Alloy 52. Try those.

Whoever mentioned the Gibson Humbucker strings might also be onto something since they have more iron in them too.

D’Addario for the guitar I play the most, Elixir for the others coz the coating keeps them new-ish for a long time.

thecr4ne wrote: Sun Aug 15, 2021 12:21 am Gibson "Humbucker special alloy" have been a favorite for a while. Someone recently gave me a bunch of sets of the standard D'addario's and i was surprised at how much i like them.

"Gibson" strings are just rebranded D'Addarios.

Anyway, I have been using D'Addario EXL115s since I bought my first Gibson-scale guitar. Cheap, durable, reliable.

Those of you who use D'Addario guitar strings, have you noticed a dip in quality/durability recently?

I switched to their 11-49's relatively recently, and in the last couple of months I've had several brand new wound strings fail on their first run-out at band practice.

"Fail" as in break somewhere they're not being hit by me or pressed into a nut/fret/saddle.

Yeah, my technique is shit, but I don't normally break strings. If I do, they tend to be unwound.

Bad batch?

Has anyone tried Stringjoy stuff? They're slightly more expensive but offer some options I haven't seen before, and even better, single strings.

penningtron wrote: Wed May 24, 2023 9:43 am Has anyone tried Stringjoy stuff? They're slightly more expensive but offer some options I haven't seen before, and even better, single strings.

I restringed my Bass VI as a Bari w/ Stringjoy strings. They seem fine? IDK I'm not good enough of a player that I think I notice any real differences between strings beyond obvious things like thickness or flat/roundwound.

penningtron wrote: Wed May 24, 2023 9:43 am Has anyone tried Stringjoy stuff? They're slightly more expensive but offer some options I haven't seen before, and even better, single strings.

I ordered a bunch of custom sets from stringjoy cause you can get a really tiny .018 wound G but have the rest of the strings line up with a standard set of "10's". They are ok. Fast shipping and you get what you want. There is something a little grabby about them though that makes them not feel great in my hands. My go to set has always been Regular Slinkys and I kinda keep going back to those for some reason. They seem to last a long time and when they do dull, they don't seem to over dull. I hate the way new strings sound so they kinda work for me for a long time.

I will add that Tomastik Infeld are far superior to any other flats (guitar and bass) I've ever played. With rounds, I kinda don't really care but the TI flats feel and sound fucking great compared to other brands. They cost a bunch more, but flats last forever.

Dudley wrote: Wed May 24, 2023 9:29 am Those of you who use D'Addario guitar strings, have you noticed a dip in quality/durability recently?

I switched to their 11-49's relatively recently, and in the last couple of months I've had several brand new wound strings fail on their first run-out at band practice.

"Fail" as in break somewhere they're not being hit by me or pressed into a nut/fret/saddle.

Yeah, my technique is shit, but I don't normally break strings. If I do, they tend to be unwound.

Bad batch?

I haven't noticed this and I use a lot of D'Addario strings at work. I've probably put on 25 sets in the last week.

Haven't noticed any probs with D'addarios either, and I roll though a lot of them. I prefer 10s generally, but a few of my shredders have 9s, cause it's fun.

Question: Is there anyone who uses D'addarios who likes their practice of packaging the strings in pairs? I absolutely cannot stand this, have hated it forever. Yes I know this is a dumb thing to be mad about but just let me be a grumpy old man.