Hello there heavy string players 
I'm pretty bumped down, let me explain : I feel like Elixir strings changed for worse. I've been using them since at least 2016 and I use them on 2 of my basses. My 70s style Precision and my 70s style Jazz basses. These two are my "roundwound basses" (and then I have a '59 style Precision and and a 60s style Jazz basses paired with flatwounds).
On my Jazz Bass, I changed the strings last summer because they were 2 years old and I liked to play my "70s Jazz Bass" with a bright/new string tone. Last summer, I even recommended to a friend with a '73 Rickenbacker to use Elixir strings after he liked them while playing my bass. Early this year (2024), he told me "man, my [Elixir] strings are very sticky on the Rickenbacker even though I wipe them and the fingerboard with a clean cloth after each gig". I told him that it never happened to me and it was weird... Well so I told him. A few weeks later, BOOM: it happened to me (late February): those Elixir strings got sticky too! And believe me I tried to wipe and clean them with non abrasive things... didn't change anything.
Thinking it was bad luck or dirty hands, I ordered a new set. Removed the old one, cleaned the fingerboard & frets from dirty and stuff. Applied a new set of (expensive, too!) Elixir strings. A few hours of use later, the joke starts again: the strings are sticky, like the previous ones. I don't have any issue with my 5 other basses and all the different strings I use (Rotosound, LaBella, GHS...)
I'm gonna make it short; I contacted Elixir strings support (W.L. Gore) and they were quick to offer me to send a replacement for the two sets that had an issue. After some issue with the first shipping (Elixir's fault), I got a second shipment with the replacement.
Approximately 15 minutes before writing this thread, I installed the replacement received from them. The feeling of the strings isn't what I remember from Elixir. It used to be smooth and even "slippery" and now I feel like I'm touching the strings without their coating that use to be what I loved about these strings. I'm not even sure I can see the coating, whereas I used to see it easily. I don't like how it doesn't slide. Seems like strings from another brand. Also the D string is a different shade of grey compared to the 3 other strings.
I'm disappointed at this point...
The thing is: on my 70s style Precision Bass, the Elixir strings I got on it are 3 years old+ and they're not sticking and they still slide smoothly. They just lost a tiny bit of brightness but they're far from dead/dull even after all this time.
Has anybody felt a change in the quality/feeling of Elixir bass strings?
I'm pretty bumped down, let me explain : I feel like Elixir strings changed for worse. I've been using them since at least 2016 and I use them on 2 of my basses. My 70s style Precision and my 70s style Jazz basses. These two are my "roundwound basses" (and then I have a '59 style Precision and and a 60s style Jazz basses paired with flatwounds).
On my Jazz Bass, I changed the strings last summer because they were 2 years old and I liked to play my "70s Jazz Bass" with a bright/new string tone. Last summer, I even recommended to a friend with a '73 Rickenbacker to use Elixir strings after he liked them while playing my bass. Early this year (2024), he told me "man, my [Elixir] strings are very sticky on the Rickenbacker even though I wipe them and the fingerboard with a clean cloth after each gig". I told him that it never happened to me and it was weird... Well so I told him. A few weeks later, BOOM: it happened to me (late February): those Elixir strings got sticky too! And believe me I tried to wipe and clean them with non abrasive things... didn't change anything.
Thinking it was bad luck or dirty hands, I ordered a new set. Removed the old one, cleaned the fingerboard & frets from dirty and stuff. Applied a new set of (expensive, too!) Elixir strings. A few hours of use later, the joke starts again: the strings are sticky, like the previous ones. I don't have any issue with my 5 other basses and all the different strings I use (Rotosound, LaBella, GHS...)
I'm gonna make it short; I contacted Elixir strings support (W.L. Gore) and they were quick to offer me to send a replacement for the two sets that had an issue. After some issue with the first shipping (Elixir's fault), I got a second shipment with the replacement.
Approximately 15 minutes before writing this thread, I installed the replacement received from them. The feeling of the strings isn't what I remember from Elixir. It used to be smooth and even "slippery" and now I feel like I'm touching the strings without their coating that use to be what I loved about these strings. I'm not even sure I can see the coating, whereas I used to see it easily. I don't like how it doesn't slide. Seems like strings from another brand. Also the D string is a different shade of grey compared to the 3 other strings.
I'm disappointed at this point...
The thing is: on my 70s style Precision Bass, the Elixir strings I got on it are 3 years old+ and they're not sticking and they still slide smoothly. They just lost a tiny bit of brightness but they're far from dead/dull even after all this time.
Has anybody felt a change in the quality/feeling of Elixir bass strings?
Last edited:
