Do I fail or do DDT's Fail?

[KawabeAP]

I recently bought DR DDTs(65-125) and a 145 low B. As i was putting the low B on the Round wire around the core split apart, so the string elongated like.. an inch or so before i could even get an actual tone out of it. Then i proceeded to put the other 4 on and played on them for a while. Then they detuned(stretch out) a little so i retuned them and i broke the G string.

So i gave up, put my old strings back on and sent an email to the online store i bought them from. 10 days pass and i didnt hear anything. Sooo i pull my 3 remaining strings out and decided to put them on my ****** laguna and just leave my old G string on. the E and A work fine but as i try to get the D in tune.. it breaks. fml.

I want thicker, more solid strings so DDTs sound perfect, but if i cant even play in standard if i need to.. whats the point?

[okiethunder]

Did you crimp the strings before you cut them? I'm not sure about the DDTs, but the Highbeams have instructions saying that you need to bend the string at least 90 degrees and then make the cut past the bend.

[knucklehead G]

Try Circle K if you want solid heavy strings and aren't in a hurry to get them.

http://circlekstrings.com/store/index.html

[mmbongo]

Did you have any of the outermost wrap going around the post? Also make sure to crimp before cutting.

And send an email to DR. They replaced my .125 Black Beauty lickety split, said it had a bad core wire.

Circle K would be worth a shot, just remember they will not work with 'string through body' basses.

[ixlramp]

Did you tune 65 85 102 125 145 to BEADG?!!!

If so, the EADG were at dangerously high tensions, no wonder the G string broke, it would have 91.6 pounds of tension, you shouldn't go over 60 pounds.

To keep the tensions of those gauges under 60 pounds you should tune no higher than BEADG detuned by 4 semitones: GCFBbEb. Also, those gauges will result in very uneven tension across the strings, so the low G will be very floppy while the high Eb will be very tight.

For tight BEADG in traditional (unbalanced) tension, try 145 110 90 70 50.

For tight and tension-balanced BEADG go see the big strings at circlekstrings-standard-balanced-5-strings.html, I recommend anything up to the .150 set.

[KawabeAP]

well when i saw this on their website i just kinda figured you could put it in standard...

"Whether you drop tune or not, DDT strings will provide you with a new playing experience. Detune, change tunings, go up, go down, …your music will have a greater clarity, your notes will be more accurate, your intonation will be spot on.

DDTs are stable and accurate…at, or below standard pitch."

[JimmyM]

that's what you call "marketing." unfortunately, marketing tends to ignore the laws of physics. those heavy gauges are meant for drop tuning only, and i'm sure they expected that nobody would want to tune such a heavy set of strings up to standard pitch. if it were me, i'd go no heavier than 50 for a G string if you want to play both standard and dropped.

[ixlramp]

Yes, the DR website is potentially misleading because on this page it lists 65 85 102 125 in the columns G D A E. In fact that set is for 4 strings tuned BEAD or 1 semitone higher at CFBbEb. This may be because it is common for musicians to still call their strings B E A D or G even when they are detuned.

"DDTs are stable and accurate…at, or below standard pitch."

They are assuming that the customer knows that the 115 and 125 sets have to be detuned below standard, the "at ... standard" refers to the 105 set.

[DougD]

Originally Posted by okiethunder

Did you crimp the strings before you cut them? I'm not sure about the DDTs, but the Highbeams have instructions saying that you need to bend the string at least 90 degrees and then make the cut past the bend.

+1 to this. DR strings are notorious for unraveling if you fail to crimp them the way it say in the package. I've used DR's so long that i'm in the habit of doing this even when not using DR strings. As long as I crimp and tune up slowly ive never had a problem with DR's. But Id bet if you wrote or called DR, they'd send you out a new set free of charge.

[ixlramp]

I should add that 145 is a good choice for a really tight B string. It wasn't the tension that broke it.