The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

I have a very heavy touch also. The only times I've ever broken strings were while stretching new ones. Some of mine have been on over a year as well. Both of my basses still have the original strings on them. One is an '87 or '88 and the other is an '86.

Well, it depends mostly on the geetar:
On electric F-scales mostly 9's, and on G-scales 10's. And I have been using mostly D'Addario and will continue to do so for a little while yet 'cuz I bought a "Bulk Pack" of 25 sets some time ago.

That said, I have been slowly switching to Ernie Balls as I see many here have been using. In particular, the Pure Nickels, which are fantastic on anything smacking remotely of "vintage"...my Tele clone, my Lemon Drop clone, my Danelectro, and my Gibson ES330. Had some success with Skinny Top/Heavy Bottom on the LP Epi too since I'm mostly a rhythm player.

On Acoustics I use 12's 11's or even 10's (I know, wimp City But if you had my arthritis you would too). Depending on the guitar, I use Martins or Elixirs or even D'Addario, and usually 80/20 Phosphor/Bronze.

Have I helped?

_________________
"A little song, a little dance. A little seltzer down your pants." -Chuckles the Clown
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com

You have! Now i gotta find more info on the pure nickel strings.... The conrads a 335 copy.....LOL

For hollowbodies 'round here (JazzStrad, Starfire) if is D'Addario RoundWounds..

Almost everything else gets either Dean Markley Lights or Dean Markley LTHB's, depending on the neck size.

Have tried EB Slinky's and..... IDK.... just not our cup of tea I guess.

_________________
....right. They always crack in the end.

Interesting Ice. I restrung the store's Epi acoustic (Texan) today 'cuz the strings were getting a tad grungy. I didn't want to use a pack of Martins or EB's so the owner said "use the Dean Markley's...nobody's buying them"! It 's true. I used to use them all the time a thousand years ago, but that was the first time in ages that I've even seen the name. There was dust on the box. Strange how the trends change, eh?

_________________
"A little song, a little dance. A little seltzer down your pants." -Chuckles the Clown
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com

I'm all Dean Markley when I can get 'em, D'Addario if I can't (even when I was getting D'Addarios for free). My hands don't sweat when I play, so as long as nobody else touches my guitars the strings easily last for years. My VSH-445 still has the strings I got it with, and that's easily 4-5 years ago now. Quite a few of my guitars were last strung when I lived in NYC in 2006.

Mostly standard 10s, some light top/heavy bottom (Tele, LP Jr.), some 11s (Kalamazoo KG-2A, LP Jr., sometimes on semi-hollows). Basses also Markley or D'Addario, different gauges & styles for different basses.

The Westone Villain currently has 9s on it (Boomers), but they're going away soon & I'll see how the Kahler Spyder is with 10s.

eyebulger's VSH-455 got D'Addario 10s with a wound G when it was here, I liked that set a lot.

12-string electric uses D'Addarios. Baritone uses Danelectro strings.

Acoustics always get John Pearse strings, unless I'm given something else to try...and then I go back to Pearse again:

www.jpstrings.com/

je

_________________
...doing bad things to good Vantages since 1985...

1981 AV-320
1981 AV-320
1981 AV-325
1982 AV-320
1982 VS-695-12
1982 VSH-445
1983 AV-330
1995 VST 33 CE TBK

Sheesh! Yet another brand collecting dust on our shelves! Nobody wants them either. Dean and John...alone...unloved and dusty...crying in their beer! So sad.

_________________
"A little song, a little dance. A little seltzer down your pants." -Chuckles the Clown
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com

Wound Gs are excellent! I like the sound they have and the feel under my fingers; does no-one else in here find that playing on the D & G strings a little "chimey" with unwound G strings??

I was the biggest fan of Markley Blue Steel, but liked the wound G better, hence the EBa....

Elixir .009 - .046 on the VP820 and Elixir .010 - .046 on my others.
Elixirs are great because they last such a long time.
For some reason they are slightly harder to tune using an electronic tuner than Dadarios, but well worth it for the longevity.
I'm also still undecided on what strings to put on the VSH 455 (if I ever get it finished...). I'll probably go for 10s on that too.

Regards.

Tony C.

P.S. Good question - thanks for asking it. Interesting to find out what others are using...

_________________
----------------------------------
1983 Vantage VP820 Lefty
1983 Vantage VP825B Lefty
1984 Westone Thunder 1 Lefty
1981 Vantage VSH-455 Lefty
1973 Ibanez 2354S Lefty (made on the other side of Matsumoto)
(plus a couple of Yamaha acoustics)

John Pearse passed away a little while back, and that actually IS sad.

Try them on your acoustics, they've been great strings for me.

je

_________________
...doing bad things to good Vantages since 1985...

1981 AV-320
1981 AV-320
1981 AV-325
1982 AV-320
1982 VS-695-12
1982 VSH-445
1983 AV-330
1995 VST 33 CE TBK