What Are Your Favorite Electric Guitar Strings?

[uOpt]

Dean Markley Nickel Steel Custom Lite (009-046).

They are out of business, so I'll place a large order of different strings to pick a new primary. Last time I did that was in the early 1980s.

I might bulk buy the remaining stock of the above strings that I can find on the Interwebs.

 

[groove pump]

I’ve used all the major(and plenty of the obscure)brands throughout the years, there was a time during a retail work situation where I could get GHS at cost, but I presently default to Ernie Ball, the skinny top/heavy bottom my favorite, fluctuating between 9’s and 10’s, but now I split the difference with their 9.5 set.

I was fascinated with those custom sets of light top/heavy bottom strings back when I started noodling with guitar maybe 40 years ago. I was probably partial to Dean Markley's just because of that cool drawing of a backyard woodshed setting on the package. Those strings always seemed to hold up really well.

Stuck with 10's for a long time, but also had to have fun here and there with a set of 9's just because they were different - a little more bendy and less pressure needed to fret my notes and chords. I think that I like any of them as long as they don't feel really flimsy like a set of 8's that I sampled a while ago.

Then I also came across these Ernie Ball sets of 9.5's a couple months ago and I'm currently trying the ones with the bottoms that run up to 44's. I also have a set of 9.5's that run up to 46 - not sure whether I'll put them on the same guitar or a different one, but since both guitars are 25.5" scale with similar action, I'll probably get a decent impression of how they compare in terms of feel. So far I'm having fun with the 9.5-44 set and I'll probably use them again.

 

[singlemalt]

I did some internet searching on famous players using super light strings. And lots of my favorite players came up came up.

Problem is, some think .09 is light, some think .10 is light.

Billy Gibbons on .07 This was a worthwhile interview.

I took the plunge and put these on:

Going from 10's, there is definitely an adjustment , but man, these are so nice. After a solid four days, I picked up the other guitar with 10's, and there's no going back.

Not being one to leave well enough alone, I pulled the 10's off the second guitar and installed these bad boys:

This is going to be a fun ride.

The 10's that came off, DR Pure Blues, just weren't my thing. Too stiff, too rough. I liked the D'Addario XL 110's better.

The super slinky and rev willy's are so nice for the snappy, funk and clean Strat sounds. Bends and vibrato are effortless. Cleaner chords are a must, its easy to push things out of tune. Each day gets better, as I adjust to the new feel.

Almost no set up adjustments. Seems like guitars aren't nearly as fussy and basses about strings.

 

[zontar]

I did some internet searching on famous players using super light strings. And lots of my favorite players came up came up.

Problem is, some think .09 is light, some think .10 is light.

Billy Gibbons on .07 This was a worthwhile interview.

I took the plunge and put these on:View attachment 7469041
Going from 10's, there is definitely an adjustment , but man, these are so nice. After a solid four days, I picked up the other guitar with 10's, and there's no going back.

Not being one to leave well enough alone, I pulled the 10's off the second guitar and installed these bad boys:
View attachment 7469042

This is going to be a fun ride.

The 10's that came off, DR Pure Blues, just weren't my thing. Too stiff, too rough. I liked the D'Addario XL 110's better.

The super slinky and rev willy's are so nice for the snappy, funk and clean Strat sounds. Bends and vibrato are effortless. Cleaner chords are a must, its easy to push things out of tune. Each day gets better, as I adjust to the new feel.

Almost no set up adjustments. Seems like guitars aren't nearly as fussy and basses about strings.

Hey it you like it, cool.
People look at me weird when I say I use 9s on some guitars, I also use 10s, and 11s on a guitar I use for slide.
I am considering going to 9s, except for my archtop (10-52) and the slide one.
I tried 8s, and they felt too flimsy, so no desire to try 7s.
But use what you like.
I know people who use 11s for everything.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

Stringjoy and Pyramid.

 

[Nedmundo]

Dean Markley Nickel Steel Custom Lite (009-046).

They are out of business, so I'll place a large order of different strings to pick a new primary. Last time I did that was in the early 1980s.

I might bulk buy the remaining stock of the above strings that I can find on the Interwebs.

I didn't realize they were out of business, but that explains why I've had such a difficult time finding their bass strings! I love the SR2000s.

For guitar, always 10s for me, either D'Addario XL or DR Pure Blues. I'll probably experiment with other DR types, as I have on bass.

 

[iiipopes]

OK. Here you go:
Sears & Roebuck mid 70's Tele/Jaguar copy modded for T-O-M bridge and P-90 style humbuckers: XL115W 11-49
Custom Fanned Fret Strat-style guitar with two humbuckers and custom wiring: D’Addario XL115W 11-49
Washburn Idol with upgraded Seymour Duncan pickups: D’Addario XL115W 11-49 – or D’A EJ21 for down tune Eb
Blue Ibanez Talman 335 construction: Mangan 11-50 Monel
Epiphone Alley Kat with ebony fretboard: DR 11’s flats w/50 low E string
Rickenbacker 320: DR 12’s flats; Terz tuning set: D’Addario XL120
Rickenbakcer 12-string: D'A singles
9p, 11½p 18w, 24w, 32w, 42w
9p, 11½p 8p, 10½p 14p, 22w
For all others when tuned one fret down – D’Addario EJ21
Since my acoustics all have saddle pickups, so in a sense they are also "electric":
Gibson J-45: (these strings now discontinued - I bought a dozen NOS sets) Gibson Masterbuilt bright bronze 12’s w/ extra D’A 80/20 53 low E strings
Conn '70's acoustic: Martin Monel LJ 13-17-24-32-42-56 Set w/ extra D’A Bright Bronze 56 low E strings
– to tune down to Eb; at standard pitch: 12, 16, and 53 Bright Bronze
Journeyman Graphite: Elixir 12-53 Phosphor Bronze (to take to the beach)
Ibanez 12-string – Martin Retro 12-string set with a .009 octave G string

 

[iiipopes]

I didn't realize they were out of business, but that explains why I've had such a difficult time finding their bass strings! I love the SR2000s.

For guitar, always 10s for me, either D'Addario XL or DR Pure Blues. I'll probably experiment with other DR types, as I have on bass.

I also enjoyed the SR2000's when they were available. Now when I want a stainless string, I use GHS SuperSteels.

 

[HelpImaRock]

I mostly use Dunlop strings on my electrics. The exception is a set of D'Addario Chromes on my baritone.

 

[PBandJazzBass]

I use Ernie Ball Paradigms on my electric guitars (either 9’s or 10’s depending on the string length) and D’Addario XS’s on my acoustic.

 

[Iristone]

Tone-wise, La Bella Benders by a mile (Gibson Vintage Reissue and Brite Wires are not that far behind). There's a certain kind of magic, a suppleness and harmonic brilliance in it, somehow unmatched by any other brand or alloy composition. Unfortunately my local dealer does not carry the 8-38 gauge I prefer on hardtail solidbodies, so I can only use either 9-42 or Roto Greens 8-38.

 

[Froski]

DR10s

 

[DirtDog]

D’addario EXL. Was using 10s for a long time but have been shifting to 9s.

 

[Froski]

D’addario EXL. Was using 10s for a long time but have been shifting to 9s.

DirtDog as in Greyhound?

 

[TheArchitect]

Ernie Ball or D'Addario. Whichever I get a deal on

 

[Core Creek]

Cleartone 10-46

 

[DirtDog]

DirtDog as in Greyhound?

Haha. Nope!

 

[konaaayukeeenee]

Rotosounds (10-46) cause of the extra high E-string they include.

 

[sean_on_bass]

just a lover of DR strings overall, both on guitar and bass. currently have DR Pure Blues 10's which i love. They have noticeably more output compared to Daddario sets that were on the guitar before.

 

[GIBrat51]

Mine are the D'Addario NYXLs. So why these strings?

1. I tune to D Standard on guitar (and bass too, of course) and the 11-56 gauge set works very well for my tuning. It says "optimized for D Standard" on the packaging and they're not lying.
2. They last a long time. I ordered a new set for my Schecter SLS C1 Evil Twin this afternoon after 10 months. My current set is sounding dull and it's time to change them.
3. Their bass counterparts are my main roundwounds, so switching to D'Addario last year was an easy choice.
4. They're easy to get in local music stores in my preferred gauges

So what are your favorite electric guitar strings?

Well...
First? All of my guitars wear flat wounds - like 27 of my 30 basses do. The other 3 basses wear tapes. I have badly nerve-damaged/frostbitten fingers, and round wound strings of any kind are... painful. So, I use flat wound strings on pretty much everything. Here they are, guitar by guitar...
1. '24 Gretsch G5422GLH Electromatic Classic - Dogal Expressive Jazz R40D Flats (12-52).
2. '72 Matsumoku - made Epiphone EA-250 -Dogal Evolution EV105B Flats (11-52).
3. '87 Rickenbacker 330 - Dogal Evolution EV105E Flats (10-46).
5. '25 "Big Lou" Stratocaster - Dogal Evolution EV105 Flats (9-46). These things have a very wide neck...
6. '08 Eastwood Sidejack Baritone* - Dogal Expressive Jazz R40 Flats (11-46).
As you can see, I like the Italian Dogal strings - a lot. I have their flat wound bass strings on several of my basses as well....

* When I bought this guitar, the only Sidejack's were the Baritone model. I bought it new from Jerry's Lefty Guitars in Florida. I played it as it came to me for a while, but... I have trouble with the string spacing on guitars, so I put it away for several years, and played my expanding bass "Herd" instead. When I got the Sidejack out again, I decided to put new strings on it. To my shock/surprise/annoyance, I discovered that it was Not a baritone guitar at all. In fact, it was a regular Sidejack guitar; maybe one of the very first ones. They're Gibson scale guitars; 24.5". Don't quite know how they managed it, or what the Hell kind of strings it shipped with, but it sure sounded like a baritone guitar. Now, it doesn't, but... it does sound kinda nice...