For us, testing electric guitar strings is a rather enjoyable process, as it involves, well, playing our guitars! Therefore, we put them through several everyday situations to make sure we are thoroughly testing the strings. Wound strings with enhanced mid-range frequency response in the 1 - 3.5 kHz range - more presence and crunch to cut through the mix Tuning stability was fantastic right from the off, a couple of initial stretches when putting them on and it was plain sailing form there, even my best attempts at Gilmour style tone and a half bends didn’t shift their stability! They got a good amount of abuse in those two weeks, including sweaty gigs, and I purposely didn’t wipe them down after to see how they would last, and whether the tone would be affected. There was hardly any tarnishing at the end of those two weeks and the tone stayed consistently bright. I'm normally a bit pedantic about changing my strings, on average around once a week, but I would have been more than happy to leave them for another week or so. The only reason I did change them was to do the A-B test for the video review. Classical strings come in different tensions with “Normal” and “Hard” being the most common options and, sometimes, “Extra Hard.”

Lighter strings mean there is physically less string to move, so bending is easier. For some, light strings are too easy to bend, and find themselves going too far with it – it really is about matching your left and right hand touch with the right gauge, which might take a little trial and error. Certain bass guitar string sets may also undergo a process called “coating.” Coating adds a chemical substance to the outside of the strings to prevent corrosion. D’Addario bass guitar strings are currently available with our XT coating, which offers extended life with a natural feel, to provide more time between string changes. As guitarists and bass players, we need our strings to be reliable, they need to sound great and they need to stay in tune. Three very simple requests that mean so much to us as musicians and something that the team at D’Addario think about every day when they’re crafting their NYXL strings. The D'Addario NYXL stringshave been designed to work harder, bend farther and stay in tune longer than any other regular string you’ve played, and they deliver on that promise! For years now, string manufacturers have been experimenting with coated strings, designed to add longevity to their existing products. The idea is to make them feel newer for longer and thus like a better value proposition to the army of guitarists out there who hate changing strings but love the sound and feel of a fresh set. But coated strings have historically dulled the high-end tone, and feel very different to regular strings thanks to their ‘slipperiness’ and increased tension. As such, many players have shied away from them as too much of a compromise, preferring to settle for more regular string changes than altering their precious tone and feel.D’Addario’s strong suit has always been consistency, and that now goes without saying. However, what they’ve done with NYXL is to refine and perfect the materials used in building the strings. NY Steel core is the star of this show. They’ve manage to combine ultimate strength, stability, and longevity with just the right amount of flexibility which I find gives all the confidence needed to really express ourself and play. D’Addario is a household name when it comes to strings and, as one of the few companies manufacturing and controlling their own string production from start to finish, are trusted and used by millions of guitarists all over the globe. It’s big news when D’Addario innovates with a new type of string, and their latest development, the XT Strings range, the brand has caused quite a buzz in the guitar industry.

Strings with less tension feel easier to play, while heavier strings provide a bit more volume and resonance. Phosphor Bronze is the most popular acoustic string material, ideal for all genres and playing styles. Coated strings increase the lifespan of acoustic strings, so you don’t have to change them as often.

D'Addario are one of the most popular string masters in the world. They have built up a reputation of making incredible stringsthat not only last a long time but sound and feel great as well. This new set of NYXL 10-46strings are set to be even stronger and even more stable than any other D'Addario string yet.

Now, how good a set of strings sounds is very important to every guitar player. To test the tone of the strings, we make sure to play a wide variety of styles to see how the strings handle the different musical genres, paying close attention to how the overall tone of our guitar has changed with the addition of the new strings. The reason you should change strings so often in certain situations is that strings have a short period of time when they're performing at their optimum level.D'Addario plain steel strings are most often made with high carbon steel. This high carbon steel also forms the core wire of wound strings. The wrap wire, or winding, for D’Addario electric strings varies from set to set, and often gives the set its unique tonal characteristics, as well as its name. An additional caveat to the above explanation is that some windings have a different texture, not merely a different alloy. So, while standard electric strings are round wound, D’Addario has a few which are flat round or half round, meaning they’ve been ground down in some way to change the tone and feel.