| Which would you buy at the same price? |
| Three high test quality strings for more durability? |
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82% |
[ 14 ] |
| Cheaper Dozen of 3rd strings? |
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17% |
[ 3 ] |
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| Total Votes : 17 |
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| Author |
Topic: 3rd string upgrades |
Ken Metcalf
From:
San Antonio Texas USA
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Posted 1 Dec 2023 3:06 pm |
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I normally buy my .011 strings by the dozen and change the 3rd string every 3rd or 4th gig.
I just bought some GHS Pedal Steel high break tested strings.
How many think these are longer lasting?
I would be nervous testing the range of durability.
_________________
MSA 12 String E9th/B6th Universal.
Little Walter PF-89.
Bunch of stomp boxes |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 1 Dec 2023 4:18 pm
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“High-break tested”? Compared to what? Until we get numbers, some kind of qualitative analysis and comparison, this is just sales buzzwords.
“L.S.M.F.T.” was a similar ad campaign. |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 1 Dec 2023 5:03 pm
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"Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco" for those of you who don't know. Their schpiel also included, "It's Toasted".  Smoked 'em back in a day, glad I don't now!
I've used both GHS PG 11 and 17 strings and juststrings.com bulk - right now, 3.17 per pack of 12 strings, i.e., 26.4 cents a string - I buy so many at a time that the shipping cost, amortized over the entire order, comes to a few cents per string. I have had zero issues with either - they both sound fine and last a pretty long time as far as I'm concerned. I change E9 3rds, 5ths, and 6ths pretty often - they generally sound bad well before they break. |
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Lynn Kasdorf
From:
Waterford Virginia, USA
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Posted 1 Dec 2023 8:02 pm
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I have been really lucky I guess. I play a lot and change strings about once a year whether they need it or not, and I cannot recall the last time I broke a string. I use SIT Buddy Emmons sets. I think I mostly use stainless..
My Emmons just seems satisfied and stable. I will look into these pg strings next time I buy. Thx for the info.
_________________
"You call that thing a guitar?" |
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John Poston
From:
Albuquerque, NM, USA
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Posted 2 Dec 2023 7:40 am
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My main problem with even 11PG is if I'm trying to string it up quickly to pitch, it breaks often right away at the keyhead, even with a lot of wraps.
If I have time to let it sit and bring it up to pitch over the course of a couple hours and let it break in slowly, it will last on a guitar for many months.
Makes it rough to break a string on a gig, I usually can't get one on. I have some .115 I bought to try out. Hopefully those go on a little easier. |
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chuck lemasters
From:
Jacksonburg, WV
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Posted 2 Dec 2023 8:02 am
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| I don’t like the cost, but I have been using Daddario NYXL for quite a while, with a .012 third string, and so far the only string I have broken is an .015 fourth, and then only after practicing a third pedal lick over and over and over. I am not changing strings very often, maybe every two months. These strings seem to tune up quickly and last. Considering how much we have invested in our gear, string prices seem a minor issue to me. |
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John Poston
From:
Albuquerque, NM, USA
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Posted 2 Dec 2023 9:55 am
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| Lynn, I never really had 3rd string problems on my push pull. The longer keyhead has a more favorable angle on the string to the tuner I think. More an issue on newer guitars like my williams |
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Larry Allen
From:
Kapaa, Kauai,Hawaii
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Posted 2 Dec 2023 11:30 am
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Cheap strings on a $4000 guitar?? 
_________________
Excel steels & Peavey amps,Old Chevys & Motorcycles & Women on the Trashy Side |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 2 Dec 2023 12:03 pm
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| Larry Allen wrote: |
| Cheap strings on a $4000 guitar?? |
For pedal steel, my preference for some time has been Cobra Coils, but they're not available anymore. I like and have used a number of different brands, they've generally been fine. But at some point, I'm gonna run out of pre-made sets, and the bulk strings will be fine with me. I just re-use packaging and make them up so I have pre-made sets around. I use them pretty much exclusively if/when I break a string or changing out 3, 5, and 6, which I do reasonably often. I think I've broken a pedal steel string (3rd, of course) maybe once in the last 5 years.
If I thought those bulk strings were inferior, I wouldn't use them. I have noticed zero difference in breakage between them and the high-priced spread, and I like the sound. One of the big winders makes them. I've used them exclusively on nonpedal steel and slide guitar for some time, because I use non-standard gauges for a variety of tunings. Nobody makes sets in the gauges I want, and they vary from guitar to guitar anyway. I tend to like even tension across the strings.
To me, having a fresh set of good strings on is better insurance than buying expensive strings and hoping that they last a long time. |
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Roger Rettig
From:
Naples, FL
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Posted 2 Dec 2023 1:16 pm
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Going from .011" to .0115" then, finally, to .012" has solved the breakage issue. The tone's better, too.
I dislike stainless strings intensely - that stickiness under the bar and the shrill tonal quality; I use nickel Jagwires. If I do pop an unwound string, I'm not at all fussy about brand. I will go through my 'stash' rather than break up an unopened set.
My 'stash', though (from the days when I didn't have to pay for them), is getting past its shelf-life! Tiny spots of corrosion had appeared on some unwound strings.
I change C6th strings only under great duress. I like them when they're a touch dull-sounding. As for E9, breaking a 3rd isn't the end of the world. Break the 5th, and I'm dead in the water!
I tried Live Steel (a bit pricey) and heard no difference. The NYXLs? I haven't tried them but I suspect there's an element of 'The King's Magic Clothes' about them.
I like Dave Mudgett's economics: $3.17 a dozen? Time I got some fresh unwounds.
_________________
Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Paddy Long
From:
Christchurch, New Zealand
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Posted 3 Dec 2023 12:47 pm
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I changed to .012's decades ago - and practically eliminated string breakage altogether -- mind you I change the E9th set on a fairly regular basis, but I can't remember the last time I broke a 3rd!
been using NYXL's for a fair while too, and Jagwires before that.
_________________
14'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
08'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
94' Franklin Stereo D10 9+8
Telonics, Peterson, Steelers Choice, Benado, Lexicon, Red Dirt Cases. |
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Stew Crookes
From:
Paris, France
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Posted 3 Dec 2023 1:21 pm
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I used to use Jagwire nickel with an 11.5 3rd string (swapped in all my sets by Al Brisco), and very rarely broke one but then switched to GHS nickel a few years back with just the regular 11 and have not broken one ever in about three years (on my EMCI mostly, and more recently on my Excel)
The sound of stainless strings isn't for me, but I did like the feel of the Jagwire stainless sets I tried a couple times...
_________________
Music mixer, producer and pedal steel guitarist
stewcrookes.com |
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Roger Rettig
From:
Naples, FL
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Posted 3 Dec 2023 1:21 pm
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Now my pro working life is at an end, I tend to get lazy about string-changing. As long is they tune up okay, I'm good.
Back in the day, though, 3rds and 5ths got changed more often than necessary. Nobody likes to break a string while actually on stage.
Paddy:
I think I've used an .012" for twenty years now. It's so much better, yet '011"s still predominate in ready-packaged sets.
_________________
Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Larry Allen
From:
Kapaa, Kauai,Hawaii
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Posted 3 Dec 2023 1:44 pm Strings
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I order individual strings, NYXL for my Ext E9 from Just strings.. I used Cobras until they ran out.. I love the nickel over the Stainless. I ordered a dozen each when I lived in Alaska but here in Hawaii they rust stored so I just get 3 sets from them. Change them every 4 months, only giging 2-3 nights a week here.. using a .012 for 30 years
_________________
Excel steels & Peavey amps,Old Chevys & Motorcycles & Women on the Trashy Side |
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 3 Dec 2023 2:38 pm
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| Dave Mudgett wrote: |
| To me, having a fresh set of good strings on is better insurance than buying expensive strings and hoping that they last a long time. |
Agreed!
~Lee |
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Bobby D. Jones
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 3 Dec 2023 8:15 pm
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I fought broken 3rd and 5th strings for years. I was gigging a MSA S10 Classic with the 12 string key head. And George L Stainless strings.
One time years ago a local player who sold strings got a bad order of George L .011 single strings. At 1 venue 3 steel players broke 3rd strings. Gig became a race, "Which player could change a string the fastest on stage".
When I went to a S12 GFI with a short key head, And a Keyless S12 GFI, And SIT nickel strings. I only had 1 .011 break. Had a senior moment, Tuning 4th string got hold of 3rd key by accident, BANG.
Since SIT changed packaging. To sealed string pouches with a corrosion preventive gas, I have only found 1 string with a little rust, The pouch had a V cut flaw. On guitar now, So far so good. |
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Roger Rettig
From:
Naples, FL
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Posted 4 Dec 2023 3:26 am
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My Williams 12-string is keyless. While I think it's far less good looking than a conventional headstock, its tuning is the most stable I have ever had.
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 4 Dec 2023 3:59 am
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I also buy all my strings in dozen packs from juststrings. Helps incentivize frequent string changes although all the other reasons for changing strings are strong enough.
I went through a period where I was breaking too many 3rds while stringing them up. Blamed juststrings at first and they sent me a fresh dozen. Then I stumbled on my own error (and wrote back to them thanking them for great customer service and apologizing for my faulty reading of the situation).
I had started putting too much importance on overwinding the 3rd (.012 in my case but I have never found any difference in breakage between .011s and .012s). I was doing the '4 tuning posts' worth of extra for the 3rd vs 2 posts for the rest, regardless of where this walked the wraps to on the post. The result was that I was getting unwanted angle from the nut to the post, even more on the Williams which has rather short keyheads. I started paying more attention to keeping as straight a line as possible over the nut and it made the difference.
I have been open to the possibility of appreciating more expensive strings but I have never been impressed enough by my experiments -- NYXL, Jagwire.....nothing has convinced me that I was compromising tone or longevity with the juststring generics.
btw Dave Mudgett -- I don't know if you saw when I posted a few weeks ago----Ernie Ball is advertising Cobalt strings. I have no idea if they are comparable with Cobra Coils but it had me wondering if they might be of interest to people who are missing the Cobra Coils (which I have never used).
String Tree
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Ken Metcalf
From:
San Antonio Texas USA
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Posted 4 Dec 2023 6:39 am
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I normally buy SIT ST-12s in bulk and the cheap Doz. 3rd strings from Just Strings.
Just Strings Nickel Plated ST-12 Strings went up to $12.99 plus $6.95 shipping.
Strings by mail sells SIT ST-12 sets for $7.91 plus $4.44 shipping but they don't have a cheap dozen.
This is why I bought some High test .011s
I am all stocked up now but these string prices have been going up and down like gasoline prices.
I have contacted https://www.stringsbymail.com/ to see if they would start selling a Doz. bulk.
Waiting on a reply. ^_^
_________________
MSA 12 String E9th/B6th Universal.
Little Walter PF-89.
Bunch of stomp boxes |
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Ken Metcalf
From:
San Antonio Texas USA
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