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D'addario strings identification

Stelio Kontos

Stelio Kontos

Feb 4, 2016
84
64
Thessaloniki, Greece
#1
Hello,

I've purchased a bunch of bulk D'addario XL nickel singles that were advertised as being without packaging. They cost only a fracture of the usual price.
They arrived all clean and fresh looking and the first set I've put on does sound fresh and nice as well. I don't want to complain at all, yet:
How can I verify that these really are D'addarios? Should they have something unique about them that makes them identifiable?

The strings I ordered all have brass ball ends and are tapered off towards the tuning pegs. They have a silvery shiny look and definitely behave and sound like nickel wounds.
So far so good.

Customer support could not help me, they just said that when I buy them in packs the ball ends are colored! Hark ye!

Any ideas how to identify the real thing? I do not care actually, they were so cheap I would continue to buy them as backup strings any given time but I am curious to learn if D'addario XL strings should have a distinctive feature about them. Maybe I am very bored, too.
 
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#4
450?cb=20120304220158.jpg
 
#5
michael_t said:
Where exactly did you order them from?
Click to expand...

Aargh, shall I really tell my secret source?

Aidil said:
There are some sellers who offer bulk sets of D'Addario XL Nickel bass strings thru only marketplaces in my country. I've never bought them, but the pictures they've shown are strings with colored ball ends, just like the packed sets.
Click to expand...

I found out that those D'addarios which are produced exclusively to be retailed as singles (product code includes "XLB") do in fact have only one and the same ball end colour. So the ones you mentioned were probably taken out of sets or the retailers are using stock pics showing the standard D'addario ball end design.

Still, how can I know that I really got real D'addarios? Would somebody be so kind and take photos of their D'addario XL Nickels showing the ball end and bridge area (the way the strings are wrapped just before the ball end) as well as the tapering towards the tuning pegs?
 
#9
https://zoundhouse.de/zoundhouse_shop/Saiteninstrumente/Saiten/SaitenfuerBaesse/BassEinzelsaiten.html?manufacturer=&maxprice=&minprice=&topic=BassEinzelsaiten&subtopics=&suche[fields][globalsearch]=&suche[order][shop_article_options.price]=&suche[order][t2.text]=&suche[order][t1.text]=&sort=price_asc

Mine look exactly like those in @BassDaddy77 's pics, except for all four strings having a brass ball end. I can send pics later. EDIT: Mine are higher gauge though, as the link shows.


I haven't had D'addarios in a long while, that's why I can't recall what they're overall looks and make quality used to be like.
 
#14
nilorius said:
i don't think the seller would cheat.
Click to expand...
Me neither, but they could have got cheated themselves. Then again, they can't risk to stock up on questionable goods and they know their suppliers.
Man, that price though! 82 Cents each for .050, .070, .090 and 1€ for the .110.
They are flawless as far as I can tell so far.
I put them all together in sets and vacuum-packed them for later.

IMG_20201030_223612[1].jpg

Edit: I purchased 7 sets of D'addario XL Nickel (composed of bulk singles) just for trial and error to get over 20€ and have free shipping. And they seem to be genuine. Haha, ***...
 
Last edited:
#15
Stelio Kontos said:
Me neither, but they could have got cheated themselves. Then again, they can't risk to stock up on questionable goods and they know their suppliers.
Man, that price though! 82 Cents each for .050, .070, .090 and 1€ for the .110.
They are flawless as far as I can tell so far.
I put them all together in sets and vacuum-packed them for later.

View attachment 4036465
Click to expand...
The only thing You can't know - are they perfectly all new !
 
#16
nilorius said:
The only thing You can't know - are they perfectly all new !
Click to expand...
True. They all look brand new and the first randomly selected set plays and sounds alright. The seller put them into a large cardboard box to only coil them minimally. They showed no signs of bends and kinks whatsoever. It is definitely possible nonetheless that the one or other of the remaining bunch may show up dead from the beginning once I use them. Yet I've had so many factory sealed packs of various string brands in the past that contained one or two dead strings that I'm cool with taking the risk.
 
#17
Stelio Kontos said:
I found out that those D'addarios which are produced exclusively to be retailed as singles (product code includes "XLB") do in fact have only one and the same ball end colour. So the ones you mentioned were probably taken out of sets or the retailers are using stock pics showing the standard D'addario ball end design.
Click to expand...
Stelio Kontos said:
Customer support just replied once again via mail stating that the brass ball ends rather show they are genuine since D'addario don't use coloured ball ends on their singles.
Click to expand...
I don't know why D'Addario customer support said that to you. I've bought D'Addario single strings quite a few times (.130T XL Nickel, .135T FlexSteels, .130T NYXL, .032 & .055 Chromes, .035 Nylon Tapewound, and probably some others). Some did come with plain (brass) ball ends, but some do have D'Addario color coded ball ends. So, they definitely didn't come only in one same ball end colors when purchased as singles.

And the bulk strings I mentioned earlier weren't those either. The pictures shown on the ads do show these strings have different color coded ball ends, just like the packed sets.

20201031_050922.jpg

20201031_050523.jpg
 
#18
@Aidil : Good point! D'addario stated that strings sold as XLB always get brass colour ball ends. Like these: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
They are supposed to come in a blue paper bag.

So the ones you mentioned aren't produced to go under the product code XLB. But they are bulk singles, too. Confusing.

So I got bulk stock of retail singles and you got bulk stock that was meant to be put together to sets?
(Or did I get the stuff D'addario is making for Fender because Fender didn't fulfill order expectations?)
 
#20
Stelio Kontos said:
True. They all look brand new and the first randomly selected set plays and sounds alright. The seller put them into a large cardboard box to only coil them minimally. They showed no signs of bends and kinks whatsoever. It is definitely possible nonetheless that the one or other of the remaining bunch may show up dead from the beginning once I use them. Yet I've had so many factory sealed packs of various string brands in the past that contained one or two dead strings that I'm cool with taking the risk.
Click to expand...
When You buy them - look at the other end and check if they are allready bended by someone else.
 

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