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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → What are the best strings?
I just bought an Ibanex Acoustic Electric. I've always played semi hollow with flat wound strings. What are the closest strings to that for an acoustic. I have arthritis in my hand and need something easy on the fingers. Any help is appreciated.
Well if that is the problem, I suggest acoustic bronze light. I honestly have not felt a difference in "flat/round etc.. " type strings. I know some ppl are very temperamental about them, I just must not have developed that kind of touch in 20 + yrs 
I have D'Addario flat wounds on my dread. I'm relatively new to this git thing but really like the feel on my 63 year old fingers.
I am also looking to change the string size on both my acoustic and my electric. I would like to go thinner. Any preferences out there? I use 12's on both now.
On my acoustic, I use Ernie Ball Earthwood lights (11s) or Martin silk and steels. I shy away from the Martins because of the new way they bag the strings. For my electrics I use "Whatever is cheapest, as long as they start with a 10". People will disagree, I really cant find any difference on electric strings. The only one`s I really didn`t like were GHS boomers or this brand called Rounds. I bought the Rounds at a flea market for 2.00 a set. 3 sets. I used them for a week, took them off and threw the rest away. If you ever see a brand called Rounds, stay away. Unless they pay you to take them. Then take them, throw them out and use the money to buy some real strings.
Bun, J3 may not like the GHS, but the boomers have been my Go to string for ever. I have used 9s and 10s. Acoustic,,, Diadairo is usually the winner and the 11s. I have used EB also for both types. I also hated a set from Musicians friend, sorta like the Rounds J3 mentioned. they were a musicians special or something similar. total crap.
I have been using Kurt Mangan strings on my acoustics for a long time now. They are cheaper and better in my opinion. Every once in Awhile I buy Elixers, but always go back to mangans.
I prefer Elixir PB custom lights on all mine except my short scales which get mediums and are often tuned in taropatch... Also my cedar topped Yairi prefers custom light bronzes over the PB's...
On my acoustic, I use Ernie Ball Earthwood lights (11s)...
I also use these and really like them. They were recommended to me by the local guitar store.
kpshea, hello and welcome to Chordie. As you can see everyone has their favorites when it comes to string choices. Experiment with different brands and gauges to find what sounds and feels best for you. My choices for strings - Elixers on my guitars and martins on my banjo.
You guys buying Elixers got some money to burn LOLOLOL
I did try a set on my 12 string. too much money for me and did not notice a differance worth the extra money.
John Pearse strings - the best bang for my buck.
I have D'Addario flat wounds on my dread. I'm relatively new to this git thing but really like the feel on my 63 year old fingers.
I have been using the D'adderios on all my guitars and have always enjoyed thier sound and quality for the price.
I always hear about ELIXERS. What`s up with them? Are they as great as I hear about? I tend to look in the discount bins when I buy strings. Every now and then I will live life in the fast lane and buy name brand strings. Elixers make me think of formula 44.
D'Addario EXP coated for me. Sound nice and mellow and they last for ever.
Bun, J3 may not like the GHS, but the boomers have been my Go to string for ever. I have used 9s and 10s. Acoustic,,, Diadairo is usually the winner and the 11s. I have used EB also for both types. I also hated a set from Musicians friend, sorta like the Rounds J3 mentioned. they were a musicians special or something similar. total crap.
It`s funny Scott, I always say I can`t tell the difference between electric strings. I cant. But I think everyone can agree with this one. All good or decent strings may be the same to me. But anyone that gets stuck with crappy strings( and I am sure we all have at one time or another), can tell the difference right away
Ok. I did it today and bought 9's for my electric and 11's for my acoustic. I have not touched the acoustic but I re-strung my electric and did a bit of a set up in the saddles (?) I have a traditional style trem so I adjusted the little set screws to lower the action a bit. I also tuned it half a step down.
My findings:
Oh my freakin' g+++! Just the small adjustments I made has made playing so mush easier!. My fingers don't get bit so much, I can fret chords easier and I don't have to bend so much. Just barring up and down the fretboard and changing chords is like night and day! I spent some time a Guitar center today when I bought the strings. I played a Fender HSS Strat and, after the change my cheapo Behringer plays just as easy as the Strat! Two other benefits that I found: I don't need as much pressure on the strings and the sustain is much greater.
Shoulda changed strings and done the set up much earlier.
Elixers suck. Just get D'addarios or Ernie Balls, make sure your intonation is reasonable and change them when they start to sound dull. 
Nylon classical guitar strings are very different to strings used on steel-strung acoustic or electric guitars and with dozens of brands and types available it can be difficult choosing the best nylon strings for your classical guitar.
I use Elixer Polyweb on my Martin J40 and 00-16 (.12-.53's), not because their sound is any better than most other strings, but because I have such heavy calouses on my fretting fingertips--they make a lot of noise sliding up/down uncoated strings, and the polyweb coating cuts down on that noise a lot. Getting rid of the noise is worth the extra cost to me.
I have tried just about every brand and settled on Martin Silk n Steel for my acoustic and Ernie Ball .09>.42 (super slinky) for my Strat the Silk n Steel dont last as long but its worth the extra bucks to get the sound I like I change every 2 weeks or less
I used silk and steels for years, until they changed the way they packaged them. 2 strings per bag. Now on my acoustics I use whatever is cheapest, as long as they start with an 11. I used to use ernie ball earthwoods until I found a bunch of cheap acoustic strings in a discount bin. DARCO. Electrics, whatever is cheapest as long as they start with a 10. Except for a brand called ROUNDS. I simply stay away from them
I like Elixir Nanoweb .12s for my acoustics, but I try a lot of different strings. D'Addario, the company that makes Elixir (I forget their name), and GHS make their own strings. Pretty much all other strings are made by three manufacturers. Given that, there are some differences. Just because the same company makes lots of different brands doesn't mean that they don't retool or use different materials for their manufacturing runs. It does mean that quality control is going to be pretty consistent across brands, and the QC is pretty good.
The reason I like the Elixir Nanoweb .12s is that they last and hold their tone. If I put on Silk and Steel, I get maybe two weeks. With Elixir Nanowebs I can easily get two months. I also like D'Addario Phosphor Bronze for my acoustics, but again don't get much life out of them. As an experiment I've hot D'Addario EXP's on Boomer (my bigger guitar), and they've lasted as well as the Elixir Nanowebs. Tiny, my smaller guitar, has got Peavey Phosphor Bronze on it. They came out of the cheap bin. They're perfectly good strings. They're worn out now, but they've lasted a decent while, sounded pretty good when fresh, and only cost $3. I've got several sets of them in my guitar case as back-up strings.
I've bought some Ernie Ball acoustics, and also I think some sort of rare earth thing that's been frozen or some kitschy thing. They were also from the cheap bin. I like messing around with different strings.
As far as flat-wound, I have not tried any flat-wounds on my guitars, but I know they are available. The difference is likely to be in feel rather than in sound, but they are likely to be expensive. As quickly as I go through guitar strings, I'm not going to pay for that luxury. If it is a medical thing and the price you have to pay, fine. I'm not sure what arthritis has to do with finger tip sensitivity, but if you've noticed a difference for you then it doesn't matter what I think. I do use flat-wound strings on my fretless solid-body bass. Holy Toledo! I love them. I use regular old strings on my other solid body. But when you get up the neck on the fretless - it sounds fantastic with the flatwounds.
- Zurf
I hve been usin Curt mangan strings for a long time now. They e relatively cheap and they last long and sound great to me. I just changed strings on both guitars and decided to go back to Elixer Nano on one gutar and they sound great also, but for the price of the Mangan strings, I will probably go back to theMangans when these wear ot.
Gonna also endorse the Elixir NanoWeb LIGHT as does Zurf. They sell locally for $15 / set ($2.99 for singles) so it's much less than a daily "double double" at Tim Horton's :-)
The NanoWeb coating keeps them lively longer than an uncoated string, and I've also found Elixir's stay brighter in tone much longer than the D'Addario EXPs. One little twist I like is to replace the .012 (E) and .016 (B) with a .013 and .017 respectively. These are the top string gauges usually found in MEDIUMs, while the other 4 wound strings are the typical LIGHTs. This takes a bit out of the "spikey-ness" out of the top strings, while still maintaining the nice ring of the wound strings ... just a personal preference. I have this config on my older Norman ST40 and newer Larrivee D-03, and for what it's worth they just sound "right" somehow.
BTW: I'm new to the Chordie Forum, and have loved using the site's other resources for the past year or so ............. many thanks!
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → What are the best strings?
