I appreciate everyone's inputs. I looked at some other sets that I forgot I bought last year from Fret Nation which is highly regarded. I wanted to try the exact same gauges on my SR1346 that Ibanez shipped from the factory and are specified on their website: D'Addario® EXL165 + .032/.130 . I bought them but haven't tried them on yet. I took out an E-string from one of the EXL165 sets and opened one of the B-string singles (.130). Here are some pictures. In order:
1. E-String: you can see a slight bend, not too bad but still noticeable
2. B-string single sealed in package. Looks good there
3. B-string single with package opened but left coiled up. I'm seeing the kink clearly.
4. B-string with the ball-end released. Significant kink plain as day.
To me, my thought now is that the issue is not a return problem, nor counterfeit, but seemingly D'Addario's packaging process. Maybe they've cut corners to save a few bucks. Dunno. Obviously, low E and B strings are stiffer than the higher strings and the amount of bending somehow done to fit the strings in the package results in inelastic deformation leaving a kink.
I might decide to try some DR Lo-Riders again which I've used in the past but it's been awhile. I've recently used some Dunlop Super Bright Nickels 4-125 that did not have this problem. They work fine on two of my basses but the XL's have worked better on most of my others. Needless to say I'm kind of P'd off with D'Addario at the moment.
1. E-String: you can see a slight bend, not too bad but still noticeable
2. B-string single sealed in package. Looks good there
3. B-string single with package opened but left coiled up. I'm seeing the kink clearly.
4. B-string with the ball-end released. Significant kink plain as day.
To me, my thought now is that the issue is not a return problem, nor counterfeit, but seemingly D'Addario's packaging process. Maybe they've cut corners to save a few bucks. Dunno. Obviously, low E and B strings are stiffer than the higher strings and the amount of bending somehow done to fit the strings in the package results in inelastic deformation leaving a kink.
I might decide to try some DR Lo-Riders again which I've used in the past but it's been awhile. I've recently used some Dunlop Super Bright Nickels 4-125 that did not have this problem. They work fine on two of my basses but the XL's have worked better on most of my others. Needless to say I'm kind of P'd off with D'Addario at the moment.
Glad it’s not just me. Good on customer service to send you some new strings but yeah, it looks like it’s a manufacturing packaging problem that needs to be addressed. I’ll see how my existing sets do over a break-in period, but I’m probably going to try some DR’s again. As you said, you haven’t encountered this with other brands. E and especially B strings are hard enough to get to sound right without having to contend with manufacturing defects.
