Last one, I promise...

The quest for my acoustic strings is over. Bluesy, I know you will be happy, no more starting string threads for me...

Duh! I never even thought to try 80/20 Bronze, only Phosphor Bronze! Why? I don't know...

Was at my local shop, and bought a pack of Ernie Ball Earthwood 80/20 Lights. Totally opened my D64 up - loud! Very bright and chimey - not for everyone, but what I like. And the 80/20's seem a little easier to bend, etc, which I also wanted. Don't ask me why I never tried 80/20's, I have no idea.

D'Addario makes 80/20's too, of course, and I've been a D'Addario guy for a long time, but I am not even trying them - these fit what I wanted too well to keep searching.

Supposed to not last as long as Phosphor Bronze, but I love putting new strings on, so that's OK with me. I've been playing these 3 weeks now, maybe 10 hours total, still bright and sweet.

After playing them, I researched a bit more and discovered these are the strings Jimmy Page used - and like a teenager (which I'm not) - I was impressed by that... :excitement:

walrus

walrus said:

The quest for my acoustic strings is over. Bluesy, I know you will be happy, no more starting string threads for me...

Duh! I never even thought to try 80/20 Bronze, only Phosphor Bronze! Why? I don't know...

Was at my local shop, and bought a pack of Ernie Ball Earthwood 80/20 Lights. Totally opened my D64 up - loud! Very bright and chimey - not for everyone, but what I like. And the 80/20's seem a little easier to bend, etc, which I also wanted. Don't ask me why I never tried 80/20's, I have no idea.

Click to expand...

"HUH".
The only time I ever tried a set of 80/20 (on my D25)was a set of Martin Marquis several years back and I thought they were harder to bend.
Also sounded a bit harsh to me. Figured it was the alloy and never tried again.
Why did you have to complicate my life at this late stage?

Ah - Earthwood lights are 11 - 52, more like the D'Addario "Custom Light" gauge. I'm guessing that is why.

And maybe your "harsh" is my "bright" - but I would say, based on the number of strings I tried, no two vendors make them exactly the same. So comparing Martin Marquis, D'Addario's, Ernie Balls, etc., is tough.

walrus

adorshki said:

"HUH".
The only time I ever tried a set of 80/20 (on my D25)was a set of Martin Marquis several years back and I thought they were harder to bend.
Also sounded a bit harsh to me. Figured it was the alloy and never tried again.
Why did you have to complicate my life at this late stage?

Click to expand...

I ran Martin Marquis 80/20 Mediums on my old Stage guitar (1977 Takamine F362S Gallagher Copy) for years and they are as tough as nails to try and bend. But Man oh Man when they get to singing on that guitar it is just magical. I finally had to quit playing them as they were tearing up my hand through 5 shows a week with two 2 hour sets per show. I also dug the $4 price tag for a pack of strings as well.

TX

walrus said:

The quest for my acoustic strings is over. Bluesy, I know you will be happy, no more starting string threads for me...

Duh! I never even thought to try 80/20 Bronze, only Phosphor Bronze! Why? I don't know...

Was at my local shop, and bought a pack of Ernie Ball Earthwood 80/20 Lights. Totally opened my D64 up - loud! Very bright and chimey - not for everyone, but what I like. And the 80/20's seem a little easier to bend, etc, which I also wanted. Don't ask me why I never tried 80/20's, I have no idea.

D'Addario makes 80/20's too, of course, and I've been a D'Addario guy for a long time, but I am not even trying them - these fit what I wanted too well to keep searching.

Supposed to not last as long as Phosphor Bronze, but I love putting new strings on, so that's OK with me. I've been playing these 3 weeks now, maybe 10 hours total, still bright and sweet.

After playing them, I researched a bit more and discovered these are the strings Jimmy Page used - and like a teenager (which I'm not) - I was impressed by that... :excitement:

walrus

Click to expand...

I am venturing through the string process right now Walrus. I love the Daddario EJ's both 16's and 17's on different guitars but it seems they are wearing out faster than normal. I like the Coated EXP's on certain guitars but on others they don't cut through enough. I have some of the Monel's left and I may try them out but I went and picked up some Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor bronze lights today to see what I think of them. I haven't tried John Pearse strings yet but those are on the list as well as an experiment if I don't find something else I like first. I love the tone of the EJ's so it is going to take something pretty special to ultimately change my go to strings.

TX

I found the John Pearse's went dull pretty quickly, but of course your mileage may vary. I'm as surprised as anyone I'm loving the Earthwood 80/20's after years of EJ's.

Gotta say I learned a lot trying all these strings...

walrus

Aw, who doesn't love another string discussion?

I've been singing the praises of Dunlop 80/20's here and there, but I've got a new favorite after finding they were too brash on both my old 000 Martin and my new love, the F20. A fellow UMGF nerd suggested La Bella Silk and Steel as a substitute for the pricey (20+ dollars) Thom-Infelds I've been using. They were cutting into my Tito's budget so I tried 'em and love 'em. 9 bucks at Sweetwater. What a pleasant surprise! They took the edge off both guitars without blunting the highs. The Dunlops stay on my little Gibsons, however.

"Last one, I promise"? Famous last words, my friend.

jedzep said:

"Last one, I promise"? Famous last words, my friend.

Click to expand...

Gah! I need to stop!

walrus

EJ 19s, top 3 strings mediums, G is .25, bottom 2 lights. Genius.

I use strings on all 4 of my guitars. Don't know what else to say. I'll get back to you.

I just did my string ordering from Strings & Beyond. One of the sets I got was the Ernie Ball Earthwood 80/20 lights!! Glad to hear the good report. Now I have to decide which guitar to put them on. I like the bright sound of 80/20's. Some people (like Al) think they're harsh but I like the chime!! I ordered six sets of strings, five of them I've never tried before. This should be fun!!

That's what I had been doing, Tom - fun, but now I'm exhausted! And I'm loving the Earthwoods.

walrus

walrus said:

That's what I had been doing, Tom - fun, but now I'm exhausted! And I'm loving the Earthwoods.

walrus

Click to expand...

it's a good day when you finally find your string.

I have to say I quit playing Elixir Strings 8 or 9 years ago as I was constantly getting non consistent sets. I recently decided to give them a try again in my search for a possible replacement of the EJ16's which are losing tone too fast for my taste these days. This was the first time I put Elixirs on any of my Guilds. I bought a couple of sets of Elixir Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze lights to give them a try on my F50R and my F50 Maple. I am pleasantly surprised at how great they sound on both guitars. Enough to the point where I have ordered more sets to try on some of my other Guild Acoustics. I love the feel and durability of coated strings but the Daddario EXP's were sounding too muffled when new and the Daddario EJ's sounded great when new but only lasted for a short period. These Elixirs sound like the EJ's do but with a bit more Depth to the tone and the Nanoweb coating should allow them to last for quite awhile before they give out. I also notice that the Elixir lights don't get muffled when I really dig in with a pick which was another problem I was having with the EJ lights. We shall see how they last but so far I am really digging them and looking forward to trying them on other Guitars.


TX

I did the earthwouds in my string test way back if I remember right no one here liked them . Their the best out of package strings IMHO especially if your going to record . They just don't last long but at the price and with wd40 ( boy that's gunna bug someone here lmao)
Ya can't beat them .
Right now I'm trying the Elixer Nanowebs their on the 12 string and Blueridge now .
I like them pretty good . There was a long period where I gave up Elixers for the same reasons as Tx inconsistent and many breaks but those were in my electric days these nanowebs are so far so good .

Got lucky. The 3month old T-Infelds that came off my old 00018 are broken in perfectly for the bright sounding F20. This is good.

The summer humidity has finally reached up into the Cooperstown area and the AC is cranking so every old guitar shimmers with perfect dry tone. Ahh.

Figured I would Update as well since it has been 3 months. The Elixirs are still going strong and still sound great. I have settled on the Phosphor Bronze Nanoweb Light HD 13-53 Gauge sets for my Standard string set on most all of my 6 string Guilds. I did a little experiment yesterday and replaced the Elixirs on my F50 Maple with the Daddario EXP17 mediums to see the difference. Those EXP mediums had less projection and volume than the Elixir Light HD's. They also severely lacked Note clarity, separation, and definition. It was almost like someone was choking my guitar when I was trying to play it. They stayed on for about 30 minutes and then I changed them to a set of EJ17's medium uncoated to see the difference. They sounded OK but still did not have the life to them that the Elixir Light HD's had. Those lasted for a day as my bad arm would not allow more than 2 string changes in a day. I also hope they would air out a bit and sound better in the morning. Unfortunately they did not and the next day I put a new set of the Elixir Light HD PB Nanowebs on the F50 Maple. Now my Guitar is back to her old self with wonderful Depth and tons of projection like before.

As far as the Elixir 12 string light set I tried them on my F512 and Orpheum 12 Fret 000 RW 12 String. I really didn't care for them on the 12 strings like I do the 6 strings and the light Elixir 12 string set seems to have way more tension than the Daddario Light coated or uncoated sets with the same gauge strings. I wound up putting a set of Extra Light Daddario EJ41's on the F512 and it once again sounds Glorious and plays almost as easy as an Electric. The shorter scale of the Orpheum 12 string let me put a set of the Coated EXP 38's back on it and now it sounds great and plays extremely easy as well. If Elixir ever makes a set of Extra Light 12 string PB Nanowebs I may give them a go but for now it is Elixir HD light PB Nanowebs on my 6 strings and Daddario Phosphor Bronze on my 12 strings.

TX

Whoa! You are the James Joyce of string tales, txb.

Elixir nanos

This is quite a coincidence.

Just yesterday I took delivery of a set of Ernie Ball Earthwoods 80/20 for my newly-acquired G212 (09-46) & my old 1949 Gibson J-50 (11-52).

The only reason I bought this brand is that they were being advertised very cheaply here in England on EBay UK.

Never tried them before - let's see how they go.