Guitar Strings

[Rudolf Wagner]

Hi Paul,

I use 10s on most of my Electric guitars (Gretsch Duo Jet, Strat, Ephiphone). For me it’s the best compromise of tone and playability. If I’m feeling a little lazy I might put 9s on whatever guitar I use for mindless noodling that I don’t use for recording.

To be honest, I don’t mind if I use nickel or steel strings or any of the popular combinations. I never found one or the other to be necessarily better or worse, and I always tweak my amp and guitar tone to fit whatever I want to play or record at the time.

We love the Pyramid brand but they are sometimes hard to get a hold of and are a little pricey. I don’t think you can go wrong with a set of D’addario or Ernie Ball.

Mona likes to use flat wounds a lot (as opposed to round-wound strings). On both her Rickenbacker and even some acoustic guitars. I have to admit, they do sound great for certain things. Especially rhythmic playing. Very old school, round and smooth.

And we definitely ALWAYS use flatwounds on bass. By now we can’t even imagine using regular round-wounds. Especially on the Hofner they sound fantastic and give you even more of that smooth, almost double bass sounding “smack”. 🙂
Hope that helps!

[Darryl Boyd]

Give the NYXLs a try.

They sound great and last a lot longer than regular D’Addarios I’m finding.

[Paul Steinmayer]

Lisa, thank you so very much for your insights.  For years, I swore by Dean Markley strings, but they are also very hard to find anymore.  Nowadays I used D’addario.  I’ve always used 9s, but I do a ton of bending and they give me lots of flexibility.  I’ve never been able to get used to flat wound strings though.  Maybe I should give ’em another try.

 

Staying Groovy!