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Coated Strings?

coated strings

  • love 'em

    Votes: 28 38.9%

  • hate 'em

    Votes: 11 15.3%

  • haven't tried

    Votes: 23 31.9%

  • carrots n' cabbages

    Votes: 10 13.9%
  • Total voters
    72
2

24hplayer

May 30, 2008
28
0
#1
There's a "trend" of coated strings from more and more brands.

Elixir and DR have them for quite time, and lately I stumbled upon Rotosound's, Fender's, and now there are banners of Earnie Balls' representatives all over TB.

I must say I had terrible first impression about them.
About a year ago I bought set of Elixir "nanoweb" for my fretless (epoxy coated fingerboard) custom made 6er and just hate the way they sound.
Also the 6th string came damaged (unraveled near the bullet) and when I tried to contact Elixir's "customer service" they insisted that it is a normal thing and ignored my protests.
I wind up using some other .130 string...
Their coating also has a nasty peeling off habit:

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So what do u guys say?
 
#3
I play nylon coated, double ball strings from Status Graphite on my two basses: a Status Streamline and a Steinberger XQ-25A. The coating is over a round wound string. The coating gives a nice smooth feel. The tone is between a flat wound and a round wound, being closer to the brightness of a round wound. Another benefit, as compared to round wounds, is longevity as they last a long time.

I played the original Elixirs (they came out in about 1995). The coating was much thicker than it is on the current strings: the old coating was very smooth and lasted a long time.
 
#5
stflbn said:
How long have you had that set on?

Do you play fingerstyle, slap or with a pick?


Both things contribute to the peeling effect.
Click to expand...

About a year, although I didn't played on this bass much, not more than 5 hours a week.
Today have finally switched them (to Hibeams)

I mostly played fingestyle on it, although I do had a few crazy sessions that were carried into some brutal slapping
 
#6
I use Elixirs with nanoweb and they sound terrific for my ears. The tone they produce is really bright and open and lasts pretty long. This is on fretted bass.

Also I think it's normal they to start peeling of after a year. Imagine how long you would use regular strings. I play about 7-8 hours a week finger and heavy slap too and had to change regular ones in about 2-3 weeks max with FastFret use. With Elixirs is much longer without FastFret but it keeps the fingerboard clean for a month.

I think they worth to change twice a year for normal play... plus I think they are between the most open sound strings. There is one guy on eBay that sells them for $25 or less 4 string set, 5 I think they were about $28 or something.
 
#7
The thing is that they started to peel off somewhere in their 4th month of use. I just neglected doing something w/ it because I just didn't played that bass much
They also lacked the "new strings" tone from the very start

You're not the first to say that they last long, maybe my whole set was somehow defected
I just still don't get why their customer service is so bad
 
#9
I voted hate em but there was no, I would date them not marry them. I tried some Elixirs a while back, they never sounded new. After a while, the coating kinda starts hanging off the strings and having ADD, while playing a boring song during the gig, I would start staring at these little threads hanging under my strings. I would start obessing about trying to unwind them and before you knew it the song would be done. Well ok, those strings got me through Mustang sally and Bad to the Bone without making me want to slash my wrists..... maybe I do love them.
 
#10
I have a set of Elixirs that I put on my Sterling 5 over a year ago,and even though they are starting to wear over the pickup,they still sound great.Just because the coating might be peeling,does not mean they will loose their tone.Use your ears,not your eyes.
 
#12
ELIXIR fan here. I've been using them on most of my basses for 8 or 9 years and change them once a year. Even though they're more expensive up front, they save me $$ by not having to change them as often as I would with non-coated strings. AND I like how they sound!
 
#13
I like Elixir strings a lot. The "peeling" coating doesn't affect the sound at all. I also like Cleartone, though the coating makes the strings prone to finger squeak. I like that the coated strings last a good long time. The last set of Slinky's I used barely made it two weeks before they went dead.
 
#14
Before switching back to DR Nickel-Plated Lo Riders on my 4-string, I used Elixirs and quite liked them. I love the way they feel, and the tone lasted a long time. The peeling is normal and really doesn't affect tone. When I switched back to DRs, the Elixirs on my bass were quite old, so I'd be really curious to do a side-by-side comparison between the two sets of strings.
 
#15
I'm an elixir fan, they do flake a bit but it's not a big deal.
There are two varieties of elixir,

Nanoweb which is bright and new-sounding for a long time and the
Polyweb which is dull sounding.

I actually only have elixirs on my guitar right now (Nanowebs), my bass has a set of rotos on it, which will be replaced with elixirs when the rotos die.

They feel very slippery which some people don't like but I do a good deal of sliding and it cuts down on the friction, and consequent finger wear and pain that results.
 
#16
I just put a set of D'Addario EXP's on my fretless...they're holding up fine...sound pretty much like a broken in set of D'Addario XL's...feel a bit "sticky" at first...but now they're fine...

any advantages over uncoated strings? no, I don't think they're really worth the price...(mine were, I got them on the bay new but 2nd hand for $13)
 

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