Buying Strings - with a mini review of strings I've tried so far.

ET-Phone-Home · 2011-09-27T13:36:25+00:00

Hey guys, does anyone know which store sells the most variety of acoustic strings in JHB? I've been looking for GHS Signature Bronze LJ lights (amongst others) but no one seems to stock them. Tried Marshall Music, Music Connection, Lovemore Music, Music World and Music Mate, the last 3 were their Boksburg branches, and none of them carry stock of those strings.

Bob-Dubery

ET Phone Home wrote Just a quick question, if my nut has been cut to take 12 gauge strings, would it affect anything if I go back to 11's? Apart from the lower tension.

There will be less tension on the neck from the lighter strings, so the neck may straighten out a little. Check the neck relief after a couple of days.

GaryMac

Hi All,

So the box with 3 x triple pack of Elixer electrics and 1 x triple pack of Elixer acoustics that I have upstairs must have been an optical illusion then!!

Maybe Strings and Beyond have a different set of rules.

I know that some of the guitar stores say that they cannot sell new Taylors, PRS etc etc to outside the US but anytime I have conacted these dealers they seem to be quite happy to take my dosh.

I orderd them online from Strings and Beyond, paid by credit card and a week later I got a little piece of paper in my Post Box.
I went to the Post Office, gave them R 55.00 if I remember correctly and recieved the brown box.

There was also a Planet Waves Humidipak and an extra set of "packs" for the Humidipak in the same box as well. The purchase of the Humidipak and the length of time that they stayed active as opposed to the "3-6 months" as advertised by Planet Waves frightened me sufficiently to make me buy a Humidity measuring gadget, which frightened me even more when I saw what the humidity was in Pretoria, which led to me buying a room humidifier!!!!

GaryMac

StephenG

plenty of online stores on ebay selling elixir nanowebs that ship to south africa... postage varies fror $7,00 to $20,00 ,, but plenty there.

IceCreamMan

Tokai SA wrote
GaryMac wrote
The Rand lost about 30% in a week so that just about says it all!!!!!!

Must be a nightmare for importers trying to balance the books with such a volatile currency.

GaryMac
Not really, we leave our prices the same, we just lose 30%, we take the knock for our customers. ?

new stock will of course be adjusted for whatever the rate was at that point , yes?

ET-Phone-Home

So I couldn't decide which to buy so I bought 3 sets of strings : D'Addario EJ16 (12-53), Ernie Ball Super Slinky acoustic strings (11-52) and Martin Clapton's Choice (12-54)
from Music Mate in Boksburg.

Been using the EJ for a few days now and must say I really like them. Not as bright as I would have liked but they have a very natural tone. They seem to let the tone of the guitar
come through nicely without adding to many overtones. That being said I still prefer the 80/20 EXP's I tried a while back. Due to their composition they brighter but still retain a natural
tone.

Will wait for these to die out and will try the Ernie Balls next ? I love Ernies electric strings so I hope the acoustic strings will be just as good.

The Clapton's will come last as I heard they last quiet a while longer than the other 2 strings.

Squonk

Just checked out Strings and Beyond

http://www.stringsandbeyond.com/d10paejphbra.html

The strings that I prefer D'Addario Phosphor Bronze EJ16 12-53 are going for $100 for a pack of 25 sets. That's hectically cheap

ET-Phone-Home

Squonk wrote Just checked out Strings and Beyond

http://www.stringsandbeyond.com/d10paejphbra.html

The strings that I prefer D'Addario Phosphor Bronze EJ16 12-53 are going for $100 for a pack of 25 sets. That's hectically cheap

Dam that's like R32.00 a set, probably work out to about R40.00 with shipping and VAT, hell of a bargain if you tell me.

I just saw some 80/20 D'Addario's (EJ11) and would love to try those. Been impressed with the quality of D'Addario strings,
but would just like a brighter tone than the Phosphor Bronze so these 80/20 should do the trick. Will try a set next month
when my other strings i bought are finished. Would also be interesting to try the Dunlop acoustic strings ?

He he I love experimenting with strings and different picks, both can make a huge difference in your tone, especially with acoustics.

ET-Phone-Home

@ Norman: Hey dude, I tried those Martin Eric Clapton Light's and your right, they awesome strings. Nice shimmery highs and punchy lows. They have good volume, very balanced and seem to last quiet a while. The only thing I don't like is they don't have that woody tone in the lows that the D'Addario EJ16 has. Although that's more a matter of of taste than anything else. Some might prefer the "stiffer" for lack of a better word lows of the Martins ? In any case they awesome and will probably go back to these if I don't find anything else. Still want to try different brands and compositions. ? So thanks for bringing the EC's to my attention ?

@everyone else: I used the D'Addario EJ 16's for about a week and a half until they started dying on me. So next up I tried the Ernie Ball Super Slinky Acoustic strings and to be honest I played them for about half an hour before ripping them straight off. Although their highs were very nice, the lows were absolutely horrid, very muddy with little definition. I was surprised because the electric Regular Slinky's had great lows. Very disappointing.

After this disappointment I put on the Martin Eric Clatpton Lights and wow, there is the tone I like. Good punchy low's (as stated above not as woody sounding as the EJ's though), excellent balance and great high's. They seem to be very well put together. One thing that has surprised me about these strings is they haven't lost any of their brilliance in the highs or lows and it's been a week already of hard playing. In fact, they actual seem to get sweeter the older they get, and I've never experienced that with other strings. So all in all awesome sounding strings, I highly recommend these. Thanks to Norman for pointing these out to me.

Thanks all, cheers for now ?

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