A couple of years ago I bought a new guitar (a 6 string Gibson Songwriter) and wanted to find out what strings I really liked.. So I started a log and began buying a variety of strings.. Some on sale, some recommended by others, some that looked interesting. It has been fun and I”m happy I did this!! I seem to like all phosphor bronze strings and of those I like the Gibson Masterbuilt Premium Phosphor Bronze Wound the best. I was surprised that I liked the Ernie Ball Aluminum Bronze strings, I might try them again sometime.
Mostly I did lights but had never realized that different brands may have slightly different sting sizes to make up the Light or Extra Light sets.
Some were were interesting, I liked them at first but after a week or two I thought they sucked!
The Elixir HD Light strings were pushed and “developed” with Taylor Guitars : http://www.elixirstrings.com/hdlight/ and I had to wait for a week or two until they came into stock. I heard about these at a Taylor demo at Gear Hero here in Deerfield Beach, FL. Sounded new and exciting but I did not like them that much!
I’m going to slow down my string changing now…
Here is my log for what it is worth.
- Original
- 7/2013 - 9/13/2013
- What are they?
- Nice full body
- Gibson Masterbuilt Premium 80/20 Bronze Wound
- 9/13/2013 - 10/16/2013
- Lights - SAG-BRS12 - $7.99
- Bright, harsher
- Not such a great stringing job Dave…
- Gibson Masterbuilt Premium Phosphor Bronze Wound
- 10/16/2013 - 11/24/2013
- 03/02/2014 -
- Lights - SAGMB12 - $7.99
- Fuller, less tiny than 80/20 on first play
- Clear without being tinny..
- Still missing a bit from the bass strings
- I Like these!!
- Gibson Phosphor bronze wound - J200
- 11/24/2013 - 01/01/2014
- Lights - SAG-J200L - $9.99
- Nice, balanced, a little light on the base
- Gibson - Masterbuilt Premium
- 01/01/2014 - 01/10/2014
- 80/20 bronze wound
- Ultra Light - 11
- $7.99
- Nice enough, have not played much yet.
- Very nice, probably my favorite
- Almost a little too light.. Slight buzz on occasion striking opens
- To light, they buzz, don't stay in tune after 8 days.
- They suck
- GHS - Vintage Bronze
- 01/10/2014 - 02/01/2014
- Light - 12
- 5.49
- Not bad, tinny top but new, not too much base
- Pretty good but they seem stiff
- D'Addario Coated Phosphor Bronze
- Light - Exp16 ??
- Spare set, no high E now.
- D'Addario - Phosphor Bronze
- 02/01/2014 - 06/08/2014
- EJ16
- 6.39
- Light .012
- Initial sounds nice
- After a few weeks holds tune very good, I like them!!
- Broke hi E and use the coated, probably the same
- Elixir - Phosphor Bronze (HD Light, new!)
- 06/08/2014
- HD Lite - .013 - .053
- Nanoweb coating
- Developed with Taylor
- Don't feel quite right.. B string too big I can feel it
- This set not for me
- Gibson Masterbuilt Premium Phosphor Bronze Wound
- 2014-07-08 -
- My favorites…
- Martin Claptons Choice
- 2014-09-07
- Phosphor Bronze Light
- .012, .025, .042, .016, 032, .054
- Think these are identical to the normal Martin Phosphor Bronze light
- Use Martin stringing technique
- Feels too thick … and it is thicker on the upper strings
- Martin Phosphor Bronze Lite - 2568
- 2014-10-18
- .12, .16, .25, .32, .42, .54
- Feel better somehow than Claptons
- Martin stringing but messed it all up.. Not sure how long 1st and 2nd will hold
- Not holding a tune on 1 and 2 but mostly due I'm sure to the crappy stringing job!
- Ernie Ball Aluminum Bronze Light
- 2014-10-26
- .11, .15, .22, .30, .42, .52
- Nice feel, better base and resonance perhaps, lighter upper nice.
- That’s what is says on the package too which I did not read until after.
- Lasted well, still sound ok. Still has nice base.
- Elixir Polyweb Light
- 2015-03-12
- 10, 13, 17, 26, 36, 46 (very light)
- Does not indicate metal, aluminum/silver color
- High E very thin
- Sounds kind of mashed up. Maybe distorted highs. Weak lows.
- After a day, they play ok but do not sound as good…
- Coating makes them smooth and easy to slide but overall rating is suck.
- Gibson Masterbuilt Premium Phosphor Bronze Wound Ultra Lights (11)
- 2015-03-19
- 11,15,22,32,42,52
- Well.. I like the light version, sounds good, very melodic
- Martin Phosphor Bronze SP Light
- 2015-04-11 - Installed on Camerons Yamaha F-310 (Indonesia)
- 12,16,25,32,42,54
- Sounds pretty good, much better than the dirty, rusted strings that were on there.
- Cleaned up the guitar, wax, oil the fretboard
- Tough to do a direct compare, a much different guitar and smaller
- Gibson Masterbuilt Premium Phosphor Bronze Wound Lights (12)
- 2015-04-15
- 12,16,24,32,42,53
- Ok, back to what I like, I'll stick with these for a while!