Strings only lasting a couple days at most

[Neon_Knight_]

D'addario NYXL

My current strings of choice - although I suspect D'Addario XS may change that once I try them.

 

[owlexifry]

recently, on my RG550, i had a set of prosteels on for 7 days before one broke. it had probably seen 5-10 hours use.

i was pretty pissed about this.
(use prosteels cos sensitive/allergic to nickel/chrome)

it is the warm season at the moment and it’s been unusually humid, so maybe that’s the issue..

sometimes i also wonder if excess palm muting (particularly trem/alternate pick palm muting) could cause premature string death, due to the excess skin sweat/string contact right at the death zone (saddle)
🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[HoneyNut]

recently, on my RG550, i had a set of prosteels on for 7 days before one broke. it had probably seen 5-10 hours use.

i was pretty pissed about this.
(use prosteels cos sensitive/allergic to nickel/chrome)

it is the warm season at the moment and it’s been unusually humid, so maybe that’s the issue..

sometimes i also wonder if excess palm muting (particularly trem/alternate pick palm muting) could cause premature string death, due to the excess skin sweat/string contact right at the death zone (saddle)
🤷🏻‍♂️

If palm muting does cause string breakage at the saddle, it does not have to be 'excess'. Honestly, as long as we are playing the instrument, there will be some level of corrosion somewhere along the strings cause of biology or chemistry.

I do wipe my strings after every use, and I also keep mine in a case to prevent the issues with humidity. This helps to prolong life to about 2 weeks. But even in dry climates, the most I get out of strings, would be 3 - 4 weeks at max.

IMO strings should be changed as regularly as underwear. And they need to be more inexpensive so that regular changes dont hurt the wallet that way. Ideally Id like to change my strings every week.

 

[Neon_Knight_]

If palm muting does cause string breakage at the saddle, it does not have to be 'excess'. Honestly, as long as we are playing the instrument, there will be some level of corrosion somewhere along the strings cause of biology or chemistry.

I do wipe my strings after every use, and I also keep mine in a case to prevent the issues with humidity. This helps to prolong life to about 2 weeks. But even in dry climates, the most I get out of strings, would be 3 - 4 weeks at max.

IMO strings should be changed as regularly as underwear. And they need to be more inexpensive so that regular changes dont hurt the wallet that way. Ideally Id like to change my strings every week.

What I think you're telling us is that you would ideally like to change your underwear every week, but wiping allows you to wait about two weeks. If you manage to keep your underwear dry, you sometimes wait 3-4 weeks. 🤢

😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

 

[Neon_Knight_]

recently, on my RG550, i had a set of prosteels on for 7 days before one broke. it had probably seen 5-10 hours use.

i was pretty pissed about this.
(use prosteels cos sensitive/allergic to nickel/chrome)

it is the warm season at the moment and it’s been unusually humid, so maybe that’s the issue..

sometimes i also wonder if excess palm muting (particularly trem/alternate pick palm muting) could cause premature string death, due to the excess skin sweat/string contact right at the death zone (saddle)
🤷🏻‍♂️

Can you use coated nickel strings? Presumably the synthetic coating would prevent the nickel from contacting your skin.

If you're finding that the same string keeps breaking at the saddle, it would be worth checking whether there is a sharp / rough bit on the bridge saddle.

 

[Chris Bowsman]

My dad killed strings like that, the gene skipped me, but my oldest son got it even worse. I put new strings on my Les Paul a couple weeks ago, he played it for maybe 30 minutes the same day, and they were dead as can be when I picked it up later.

Even though I don't kill strings quickly, certain brands definitely last longer (SIT, D'Addario) than others (EB). Tried a few packs of Webstrings recently. They feel, sound, and last suspiciously like SIT, and are under $4 a set.

 

[Flappydoodle]

Elixir are just better, IMO.

They sound amazing. They're super smooth. And they last a really long time.

Ernie Ball are the absolute worst IMO. I almost think the reason they have so many famous endorsers is because those guys are constantly having new strings. Kirk Hammett isn't using two week old strings.

 

[onefingersweep]

If you wash your hands before you play you don't need to do anything with them. Of course companies who sell garbage like that is benefitting from broken strings, especially if they also sell strings like GHS does. It only makes sense that these products are harmful for the strings.

Don't be naive. It's the way capitalism works.

I use stainless steel strings. They last for months and I play at least five hours every day and I play a lot of notes. A lot of picking and bending. I haven't changed strings in two months now and they still sound excellent.

 

[Chris Bowsman]

If you wash your hands before you play you don't need to do anything with them. Of course companies who sell garbage like that is benefitting from broken strings, especially if they also sell strings like GHS does. It only makes sense that these products are harmful for the strings.

Don't be naive. It's the way capitalism works.

I don't buy that as the business model for any long standing, successful business. If my strings start breaking frequently, I'm trying a different brand, not buying more of the ones that break quickly. Much the same way, if I buy a car and it sucks, my next one is not gonna be from the same company.

I'm aware of planned obsolescence and crap like that, but seriously... if you're unhappy with a product's performance, do you run out and buy more of it?

 

[onefingersweep]

I don't buy that as the business model for any long standing, successful business. If my strings start breaking frequently, I'm trying a different brand, not buying more of the ones that break quickly. Much the same way, if I buy a car and it sucks, my next one is not gonna be from the same company.

I'm aware of planned obsolescence and crap like that, but seriously... if you're unhappy with a product's performance, do you run out and buy more of it?

There's very few manufactures of strings. There's a lot of brands but most strings comes from the same places.

Also, just because you do something doesn't mean that everyone else will do the same. If people believe strings only last for a certain amount of time they will buy into that.

 

[NoodleFace]

Recently put ernie balls on a guitar for the first time in over 10 years. Strings sounded lifeless after a week..

D'addario are just so much better in every aspect

 

[Puttness]

Sorry everyone, I might have forgot about this thread for a bit since after putting my Elixirs back on I've been happily picking away

My dad killed strings like that, the gene skipped me, but my oldest son got it even worse. I put new strings on my Les Paul a couple weeks ago, he played it for maybe 30 minutes the same day, and they were dead as can be when I picked it up later.

Even though I don't kill strings quickly, certain brands definitely last longer (SIT, D'Addario) than others (EB). Tried a few packs of Webstrings recently. They feel, sound, and last suspiciously like SIT, and are under $4 a set.

I wish it wasn't true but it looks like I have the string-killer gene haha! I had no idea there were other people who had the same problem if not worse, at least I can get maybe an hour out of mine. I wouldn't even care much if mine just sounded dead, but they get so sticky and resistant to my fingers sliding on them that I can't stand using em. SITs ended up just as sticky as the EBs when I tried them, although I think they lasted a bit longer. Maybe I'm too used to how long Elixirs last and how slick they are, but all I can think about is when I was trying to practice with sticky EBs a couple weeks ago and when my brain sent the "slide one fret down" command to my fretting hand, it didn't move because my finger was basically stuck! 😤

Elixir are just better, IMO.

They sound amazing. They're super smooth. And they last a really long time.

Ernie Ball are the absolute worst IMO. I almost think the reason they have so many famous endorsers is because those guys are constantly having new strings. Kirk Hammett isn't using two week old strings.

Agreed, their only downside is the price but they last so long and feel so slick, it's worth it. Ernie Ball are definitely only endorsed because the pros are changing their strings every show, for those guys the longevity of their strings is unimportant. I'd love to stick with SITs and just change them as often as necessary, but as a bedroom guitarist that is just totally unjustified in my opinion. Especially when I can slap on a pair of Elixirs and be good to go for months, the sound may degrade later on but I'm not playing for an audience and so far I've never had a set that started to sound meh and dull. I usually end up replacing them before then which is still months of playing. They're pretty much required for me at this point.

If you wash your hands before you play you don't need to do anything with them. Of course companies who sell garbage like that is benefitting from broken strings, especially if they also sell strings like GHS does. It only makes sense that these products are harmful for the strings.

Don't be naive. It's the way capitalism works.

I use stainless steel strings. They last for months and I play at least five hours every day and I play a lot of notes. A lot of picking and bending. I haven't changed strings in two months now and they still sound excellent.

Never tried stainless strings before, wouldn't they wear out nickel frets faster, being harder than the fretwire?

 

[SalsaWood]

I really like Elixirs, but they were so hard to find during the pandemic. I switched to NYXL. They seem to last a while longer, and definitely have good spank for a lot more than just a few days.

I prefer the feel of Elixirs in the end, though- I'll probably go back to them when I can get a solid hookup on 7 string packs.

 

[owlexifry]

If you wash your hands before you play you don't need to do anything with them. Of course companies who sell garbage like that is benefitting from broken strings, especially if they also sell strings like GHS does. It only makes sense that these products are harmful for the strings.

Don't be naive. It's the way capitalism works.

I use stainless steel strings. They last for months and I play at least five hours every day and I play a lot of notes. A lot of picking and bending. I haven't changed strings in two months now and they still sound excellent.

it sounds like you don’t really sweat that much when playing. i just don’t understand how that could be possible otherwise… (but then again it appears you live in like one of the coldest places in the world, so that'd help)

i do all that shit, wash hands before playing etc.
but after 10 days (including a full day/arvo band practice session) i’ve got d’addario prosteels (stainless) snapping at the bridge.

Can you use coated nickel strings? Presumably the synthetic coating would prevent the nickel from contacting your skin.

If you're finding that the same string keeps breaking at the saddle, it would be worth checking whether there is a sharp / rough bit on the bridge saddle.

nope. nickel bad. but i should really give a set of elixir 10-52 a go.

i was convinced it was, but it’s not the guitar setups fault.
just snapped one (wound - it's always the wound strings) 2 nights ago, had a closer look last night, and there’s so much shit all over the bridge area, like the typical sweat-skin-oxidation mess etc. and i legit fully cleaned the hell out of it last time i restrung, so i was like wtaf how can there be this much shit built up around the bridge area in just 10 days.
like even the pickup pole screws were showing obvious oxidation/rust.

guess im just really sweaty 🤷🏻‍♂️
paid closer attention to this last night - even after 30 mins of playing. sweaty mess. ffs.
i figured this was normal, but when we've got Months Long McGee boasting about how long his strings last and how we're all suckers for marketing, I don't think so.

I guess it’s hard to compare anecdotes when you’ve got blokes having a pleasant noodle in an air-conditioned ikea-fitted studio room, or chugging in humid man-caves, or having band prac in sweaty jam rooms etc., it's not really comparing apples with apples.

also, after inspecting the RG550 bridge last night, im convinced that the floyd/trem style bridges by design (well, at least this one) seem to trap a lot more crap around the string/saddle than tune-o-matics do.
strings on my ToM bridges seem to last way longer.


I mean look at this shit - right at the fulcrum point - it's like a cute little parts cleaning tray that sits around the string - only instead of cleaning it, it just soaks it in palm sweat, grease, and skin.
awesome.

 

[Neon_Knight_]

nope. nickel bad. but i should really give a set of elixir 10-52 a go.

Elixirs is what I meant. The wound Elixir strings are a steel core with wrapped nickel and then a synthetic coating. The plain strings are steel (just like in all "nickel" sets) with a synthetic coating.

also, after inspecting the RG550 bridge last night, im convinced that the floyd/trem style bridges by design (well, at least this one) seem to trap a lot more crap around the string/saddle than tune-o-matics do.
strings on my ToM bridges seem to last way longer.

View attachment 122434
I mean look at this shit - right at the fulcrum point - it's like a cute little parts cleaning tray that sits around the string - only instead of cleaning it, it just soaks it in palm sweat, grease, and skin.
awesome.

I play Edge-equipped Ibbys almost exclusively (Ibanez ZR & a couple of Ibanez fixed bridges being the exceptions). I really don't have this problem, but as you've said, not everyone has the same conditions as you (humidity etc.).

 

[tedtan]

also, after inspecting the RG550 bridge last night, im convinced that the floyd/trem style bridges by design (well, at least this one) seem to trap a lot more crap around the string/saddle than tune-o-matics do.
strings on my ToM bridges seem to last way longer.

View attachment 122434
I mean look at this shit - right at the fulcrum point - it's like a cute little parts cleaning tray that sits around the string - only instead of cleaning it, it just soaks it in palm sweat, grease, and skin.
awesome.

Maybe wipe down the saddles after playing then grab an old toothbrush and clean any residual gunk out of the “tray” area. That should, in theory, get the sings lasting as long as they do with your TOM bridges.

 

[mpexus]

ELIXIR Last FOREVER... sometimes I only change them because its about "time", like 6-8-10 months and then I notice zero diference to the new set

 

[owlexifry]

Maybe wipe down the saddles after playing then grab an old toothbrush and clean any residual gunk out of the “tray” area. That should, in theory, get the sings lasting as long as they do with your TOM bridges.

good point, cleaning after playing is something i need to get on top of.

 

[Spicypickles]

Most strings die pretty quickly in my experience, but as posted before by someone (sorry), they mostly come from the same place. The only ones I’ve had a consistently better experience from are elixirs and nyxl’s.

 

[tedtan]

Being made in the same place doesn’t mean that h=the strings are the same, though, especially the wound strings. You still have differences in the core wire (round vs. hexagonal), wrap material, wrap diameter, etc.

That may or may not translate into strings lasting longer for a given player, but two brands’ strings made in the same factory can still be different from one another.