Elixir strings anyone? Here's what my brother told me...

[Thir13teen]

I never tried the Elixirs, but I must say I love my DR Black Beauties.

I just replaced my DR Black Beauties with Cobalts. I broke away from Cobalts to try BB's and Jesus, I can bed the hell out of them. To get Cobalts to bend like that I've got to be detuned.

 

[Aidil]

Anyone else experience this? You would think that this would be an obvious issue from a company that makes only one thing - guitar strings.

I strung 2 basses already (3 with my AEB, but this doesn't count, cause the undersaddle piezo pickup doesn't require grounding from strings) with Elixir Nanoweb... No such issue of noise/hum from non-conductive strings.

 

[Flippy]

Y'all got me wanting to try Elixirs again. I put on a set several years ago, they lasted a bit longer but apart from that there was nothing too fancy about them.

 

[madbass6]

My brother's been playing six string guitar since 1991. He's pro level. He's tried pretty much everything but has been a D'Adarrio guy forever. The guy that does his setups informed my bro that he uses Elixir's now. My bro gave some push back and was like "Nah....can you just put D'Addario's on?" The guy was like sure - but I'll have to order them special unless you want to get them yourself and bring them to me. But then the guy hands my brother his Dave Mustaine signature guitar with Elixir's on it and says "Here, try this." My brother said he started noodling around and was like "Wow. Pretty impressive." And the guy said "Right? And those strings your playing right now are a little over a year old." That freaked my bro out (in a good way) so he had the guy string his guitar with Elixir's.

Anyway, I trust my brother's opinion and was now wanting to try them on my P/J bass. Anybody else run Elixir's? What are your thoughts? Nickel or steel do you play?

Thanks!

I say like the good old saying says
"if ant broken why fix it!"
They have some special coating on them that makes them last for ever! but the feel on them is not every one, I tried them out and it wasn't for me! But it Doesn't mean it won't be for you.

 

[Pier_]

So, apparently they changed the coating in 2012?

that's not "apparently", they advertised it a lot

being a long time user I've been happy with the change, because they started to sound brighter and "alive" like uncoated rounds, and the unfrayable coating is better.

Anyone else experience this? You would think that this would be an obvious issue from a company that makes only one thing - guitar strings.

that's true, and that's one of the reasons I don't use them on the bass. on guitar the plain strings are uncoated, so problem solved.
it's the same problem that tapewound strings have, like Black Nylons or other.

however, if you have a modern bass like an Ibanez or one with EMG or MEC, the problem does not exist, because they don't "ground" at the bridge.

 

[Aidil]

that's true, and that's one of the reasons I don't use them on the bass. on guitar the plain strings are uncoated, so problem solved.
it's the same problem that tapewound strings have, like Black Nylons or other.

however, if you have a modern bass like an Ibanez or one with EMG or MEC, the problem does not exist, because they don't "ground" at the bridge.

I don't know what's implied by "they don't 'ground' at the bridge", but I've learned when I took off the individual Mono Rail IV bridges of my BTB7 to change them from cosmo black MR-IV bridges to gold MR-IV bridges, there was a ground lead under the 7 individual bridges. Due to the tight string spacing (15.5 mm), Ibanez could run a single lead across the bottom of 7 individual bridges without visually exposing it.

 

[BAG]

I've used them on all guitars for around 15 years now. Wouldn't use anything else except for recording where I'll use a new set of uncoated strings for their brightness. Elixirs aren't as bright as uncoated strings on the first day but they stay that way until they are so bumpy from fret wear you have to change them. They are particularly great on instruments you don't play often. Ive got a set on my 12 string acoustic guitar that are over 6 years old and sound the same as the day they went on.

On bass though i just use flats which will last longer than any round wound string.

 

[Pier_]

don't know what's implied by "they don't 'ground' at the bridge"

EMG and MEC pickups don't have any ground at the bridge. Ibanez probably grounds depending on the pickup that the bass mounts.

 

[Yahboy]

I Have a Cort Arona with single coil neck / Humbucker bridge and active preamp.
Been try GHS Pressure wound, D'addario EXL 165, TiJF344 and Elixir 45-105 on it.
The elixir make the HB bridge pup tone big and thick than the rest .The solo neck pup sound woody warmth like my previous Squier CV50p bass. But..... sound with both pup engage is less impressive.
I still prefer elixir nano on Ibanez Sr bass.

 

[Mister Boh]

I like the sound of old bass strings so I never saw much point in using Elixirs on bass.

On guitar they sound kind of bad to me compared with a plain old set of Ernie Ball 10s or something, or 80/20s on an acoustic.

 

[MotorCityMinion]

"Ugh, I went through an elixir phase. To me they sound dull and plasticky and don't last much longer than regular strings since the coating just peels off and looks like dead skin hanging off of them."

Those are the old days of Exlixirs. I've also read somewhere that D da dariooo make the strings, Elixir just coats and packages them.

I like em. The SS set has the zing I like for most playing, not over the top, although I will admit there is nothing like a fresh set of Roto sounds that can't be beat for certain tunes.

I kill a set of rotos in about 2 weeks. And the drop off in tone is fast.

 

[chadds]

If you haven’t read this elesewhere, I have this ‘57 RI that I bought new in the ‘80s. I never fell in love. It sounded Meh. I took pics was ready to sell when a little birdy said “try different strings.”

Off came my goto D’Addarios. On went a set of Nanos. Big bottom, fat mids, and sweet treble. Roars even acoustically. It sounds active. Now it’s NBD everyday.

You can’t see any coating they seem exceptionally polished.

Of course everyone’s touch is different so YMMV.

 

[Gizmot]

Based on the extraordinary comments from several of my Nashville buddies, all of whom are great musicians, I tried three or four sets on my acoustic guitar and two sets on my Warwick basses. I didn't like how they felt and I hated how they sounded. They were a strange combination of bright and tizzy and their harmonics seemed out of kilter with the fundamental frequencies. I only use TI Jazz Flats which sound fantastic, feel like a million bucks and last for years.

 

[BruceWane]

I've stayed away from Elixirs or any other coated string. Most of the coatings the manufacturers use - including Elixir - are non-conductive, so the strings are not grounded properly because they can't make electrical contact with the bridge. As a result, the coated strings defeat the function of the string ground and cause hum problems for the player.

Hmmmm..... I'd think they would not coat the ball end just for this reason. But even if they do, seems like something fixed pretty easily with a file or sandpaper.

My experience with Elixirs was a while back; definitely during the "shedding skin" era. I shredded mine so fast I wondered how the things ever made into the marketplace at all. I don't think they lasted more than 3 days.

Did not know they had changed their formula; I'll give them another try.

 

[guy n. cognito]

I disliked the texture and the tone. I don’t recall if I had a grounding issue or not.

 

[MattB88]

I disliked the texture and the tone. I don’t recall if I had a grounding issue or not.

What were you using poly or nano coating? I agree if it was poly. Nano fixed that for me as if just felt like smooth nickel in my hands.

 

[guy n. cognito]

What were you using poly or nano coating? I agree if it was poly. Nano fixed that for me as if just felt like smooth nickel in my hands.

It was within the last year, so nano I’m guessing.

 

[Aidil]

EMG and MEC pickups don't have any ground at the bridge. Ibanez probably grounds depending on the pickup that the bass mounts.

not quite... One of my "modern" basses, a 2017 buit Ibanez SRC6, came with EMG pickups and it has ground lead installed to the bridge.

But yeah, I'm aware you meant to say EMG Active pickups which don't require grounding the bridge, and I should say that the SRC6 came with passive EMG 35HZ pickups (which explains the bridge ground lead). I have swapped the HZs with active EMG 35TWX pickups and the bridge ground wire isn't used anymore.

Still... the point is, despite some said Elixir strings, with their coating thingy, have problem of being non-conductive that would introduce noise/hum in passive pickup systems, I haven't experienced any issues with Elixir Nanoweb on any of my basses which have passive pickups and electronics require string/bridge grounding.

No pun intended to those who have said the issue, but I'm wondering whether they were really experiencing the string grounding problem while using the Elixir Nanowebs or they were using the older Elixir Polywebs... Or could be they had the problem when using other brands of coated strings and made generalization on all coated strings...?

 

[craigie]

Sometimes I take off the strings and feed them into a bottle of isopropanol to soak while I clean the fretboard and polish frets. It really brightens them up. Of course you can’t do anything about the flattened spots due to frets. You can’t do this with coated strings. I’m just skeptical that the coating won’t wear off, despite all the good reviews in this thread. For guitars, sure, I’ve tried them. I should have kept the locking tuners I had on a strat. I bet you could change a whole set in minutes because you don’t need many windings on the tuning post. Quick change bridge.. wouldn’t take long to do a soak.
Think of all the gross crud collected on the elixirs after 6 months.....


Nowadays I use mostly flat wounds and so don’t do this. I want to build up “the funk”

 

[BAG]

Think of all the gross crud collected on the elixirs after 6 months.....

Most of the crud that builds up is between the windings. It is this that causes the majority of the deadening of strings. The crud (skin, dirt, snot... etc etc) gets between windings and prevents the string from vibrating as freely as when new. Elixirs and other coated strings prevent the crud getting in there.

Sometimes I take off the strings and feed them into a bottle of isopropanol to soak while I clean the fretboard and polish frets. It really brightens them up. Of course you can’t do anything about the flattened spots due to frets. You can’t do this with coated strings. I’m just skeptical that the coating won’t wear off, despite all the good reviews in this thread.

Yes, the coating does wear off a bit, particularly if you use a pick.... however you'll usually find that the bumps and flattened spots in the strings at the frets will make you need to change strings before the tone goes dead.