D'addario EXL110W V/S EXL110

[freddie]

Hi,

Can anyone here offer any advice on which set is better???? I've been trying these more expensive Pure Nickel wraps of all different brands and pulling them off and putting them in the bin. I think the pure nickels are putting out way too many treble type overtones for my taste. I like d'addario on my Taylor 712 , so I'm going to try theirs . If I don't like them I'll put those in trash (again ) and return to the Fender 250R's that came on this Reissue 52 Tele when I bought it new. I feel I should give the D'addarios I try since their acoustic strings are so good.

Should I try the set EXL110W with wound 3rd G string or does it not make a difference? I see the acoustic set comes with a wound, so I don't know.....


Thanks,




freddie

[mcfm2n]

The EXL110 regular G string are my favorite strings. Have them on all my teles. Have never considered using a wound G set. I am interested to hear what people have to say about it.

[Doug C.]

Originally Posted by mcfm2n

The EXL110 regular G string are my favorite strings. Have them on all my teles. Have never considered using a wound G set. I am interested to hear what people have to say about it.

I have used them for years on all my guitars. Can't find anything I like better!

[ksks]

As an interesting aside, I recently purchased a 2008 Amer. Std. Tele. and was wondering what strings the factory puts on. The website says Super 250s:

http://www.fender.com/products//sear...tno=0730250003

for all US and MIM non-tremolo electrics.


An email to fender with this question received this reply:

"Fender Standard Tension ST250L, Nickel Plated Steel,
Gauges: (.009, .011, .016, .024, .032, .042),
p/n 073-0250-203"

ships on 2008 Amer. Std. Tele.

[Mark Davis]

As soon as I get a new Fender guitar I cut the stock strings off. I dislike the Fender strings more than any other brand. They have such a strange feel it can make me not like the whole guitar.

As soon as I get a set of D'Addario EXL110's on there Im a happy camper and can continue to setup and play the guitar.

[boris bubbanov]

I like the D'Addario EXL 115 very much. It is also available as a EXL 115W. (11-49s) (wound G string)

freddie, you don't say what type of bridge or saddle set you are using; I find the saddles, if the wrong kind of steel, can create the effect you describe and the only way to avoid it is to have dying dead strings on there.
Or, go to brass saddles. That's what I like and basically any new string sounds fine.

[Theusla]

I use the D'addario EXL110 regular G string.

[telechaser]

Depends on the guitar and what you use it for. First thing I do when I get a new Tele is go through string selection. Fender Super Bullets and EB Slinkys normally.

I do have DAddario with a wound G string on my black parts Tele. I play jazz on the Tele and the wound G produces a darker tone so I like it. The set of DAddario strings with a wound G is much more expensive than a normal set so what I do is buy the normal one and get the wound G string seperate.

[freddie]

Great info...Thanks!!!! I have the orginal set up the way it came from Fender with the three brass saddles... etc. I'll order a standard set of the D'addario EXL 110 and see what happens. I'm staying with 10 guage for now. I'll put Fender 250R back on if I don't like the others. I find the Fender strings hard to play and they cut the hell out of my fingertips...good tone though.


thanks,


freddie

[ChicknPickn]

Originally Posted by boris bubbanov

I like the D'Addario EXL 115 very much. It is also available as a EXL 115W. (11-49s) (wound G string)

+1

After many years of Ernie Ball loyalty - - and I still think those are good strings for the money - - I became sold on D'Addario, the 115 custom gauge being my favorite. Tone and lifespan are noticeably better.

[woodman]

D'Addario's (any set) are marvelously consistent, and i like the fact that they don't overpackage.

[DavyA]

I also use the D'Adarrio's with the plain G on most of my guitars and all of my Tele's. Many years ago, after years of playing acoustic, I got my first electric and thought the plain G felt strange. I used a wound G and it felt great.

I went back to acoustic for a while and one thing leading to another sold my electrics and eventually ended up not playing for several years. When it was time to get it going again I bought an electric again and just got used to to plain G string.

I have started using a wound G on a couple of guitars, one is an Archtop which I use roundwound 12's, another archtop with flatwound 12's or 13's. The other is a Tom Anderson Cobra which I use 10's or 11's with the wound G. I play Jazz with the Cobra.

I guess it's all wht feels right for you.

[Colt W. Knight]

I never thought twice about trying guitar strings. I used to buy a different set of strings everytime I changed them. I like to experiment, and I was always amazed how essentially the same strings sounded so different.

[Teledelphia]

I never use a wound G, even on my hollow Gretsch. My Thin Skin '52 came with Fender 250's 10-46 but I changed them out for pure nickel Fender 150's 9-42. The only reason I bought the 150's was they were the only pure nickel wound strings in the store in that guage. I'm pretty much sold on pure nickels on my Tele, but I'll be looking to try another brand for my next string change (the 150's have been decent so far). I've heard good things about GHS Burnished Pure Nickels (Callaham highly recommends them for Tele's) and Snake Oil Pure Nickels. I've also used Curt Mangan strings on my Gretsch and they are excellent, but can't find a local dealer who stocks them.

[tikicaster]

shortly after I bought my nashville tele I noticed that when playing it sounded sharp while fretting some chords. It was because of the stock lite gauge strings ,jumbo frets,and my heavy handedness,I was pressing to hard on the strings causing them to go sharp.So to cure the problem I put on some d'addario flatwound 11's, adjusted the neck and problem solved.

[bowlfreshener]

I used to use D'Addario EXL115W (11-49 with a wound 3rd), but switched to the D'Addario EXL115s (11-49 with plain 3rd) for a few reasons: I started playing leads a bit more, and while bending a wound string isn't awkward, I just prefer bending plain strings, and mostly because of finances since the 115W's never seem to be offered in the 3- or 10-pack, and since my guitar selection grew a bit, its much more cost effective.

[soma5]

Regular EXL110 for me. I prefer wound G strings on my acoustics and my archtops but not on my Tele and Strat. I also like Ernie Ball (I think they are the Slinkys or something, standard 10s). I experimented with heavy bottoms but never reallly bonded with the sound.

-soma5

[hollowman]

+1 on the exl110's. Just like em better than anything else i've tried. Use them on my teles. been thinking about trying out the exl115's.

[FirstBassman]

Originally Posted by tikicaster

shortly after I bought my nashville tele I noticed that when playing it sounded sharp while fretting some chords. It was because of the stock lite gauge strings ,jumbo frets,and my heavy handedness,I was pressing to hard on the strings causing them to go sharp.So to cure the problem I put on some d'addario flatwound 11's, adjusted the neck and problem solved.

Exact same thing happened to me.
Glad to hear I'm not alone.

Though 10's were good enough for me to help fix the problem.

[grasspicker]

The D'addario 115's for me.
EJ17's for my Martin and their custom set banjo strings for my Stelling (.11, .12, .13, .22w and .11).
The .11's just have a little more substance, little more tone, a little more volume and they hold their tuning better.

[SoulPedro]

Hi you all, it's my first post here.

This forum is a fantastic source of information about teles, it's been a pleasure to read you for months.

I prefer d'addario EXL 110 over all the other strings (including fender, dean markley and ernie ball) I've put on my tele, I hear a real difference in tone and I found they last much longer. The 10-pack is convenient, too.

[stxrus]

on my fenders i use the EXL110s BUT on my SG i need the wound 3rd because of the interaction of the G string and the hunbuckers. intonation problems were solved with the wound 3rd.

somewhere there was a great discussion about the wound 3rd and humbuchers. the article made sense and i tried them and it worked.

now bending is different with a wound 3rd but not an impossibility.

BTW, D'Addarios rule, for me at least

steve

[boris bubbanov]

I played a guitar I'd been ignoring, with 9.5 - 44 strings, plain 'G', and I found the bending was too easy, and yielded a sort of exaggerated, phony sound. I sure wish D'Addario made a readily available 10.5-48 and 11.5-53 sets. I betcha this is one of those "if you build it, they will come" type situations, but with the economy soft, I guess I can't fuss too much.

As for the wound strings, I like them for variety and have about 8-10 percent of my guitars that way. But, usually I don't swap the middle saddle around like most folks do, I just tweak the heights, avoid real big wound 'G' strings and the intonation is close enough, IMO. I guess I do look at them as 'temporary'; there's no better explanation. If I had to pick one, it'd be the 11-49 EXL with the plain G.

[Cole]

the same thing have happened to strings that has happened to pups. Too many good choices!!! A lot of players don't really know enough about string types and their character to make appropriate choices for a particular guitar.

Here's what I mean: do you have a guitar in your collection you don't play because the guitar sound sucks? Tired of the parade of buying the RIGHT pup for your sucky guitar? I found the cheapest, easiest way to dial in that hopeless guitar (before you order a another pup or sell the axe on Ebay... or part it out) and that is to experiment with string types, brand & gauges.

If you can allow your ego to consider that the guitar MAY know better than you what strings work best for what you hear in your head... you may consider letting your guitar choose the strings instead. I've been doing that for years. I found that brands don't matter as much as type & gauge do. It's not the be all & end all to solving the suck factor, but it's the best chance to give a guitar before you condemn it.

I love when players say- I used Ernie Ball strings for years now I'm a lot happier since I switched to D'Addarrio. WTF? EB's & D'A's are made in the same factory, by the same people with the same wire. The only difference is the packaging.

I say if players knew as much or more about string types as they do about the rest of the tone chain... you would at least know how to go about solving certain tonal issues with a particular guitar. We all know strings are a part of a very, very long chain of tone. What string works best for you, your guitar AND your set up and playing style ... nobody knows but you. So if you don't know to start... well you start with that expensive parade of pups, amps and etc. whatever...

Once a guy brought in a guitar to a music store (where I worked) to trade off that he was unhappy with. His complaint to me was that it was hard to play, and he couldn't get enough mids & highs out of it. I gave him a chord and told him to go plug into an amp and set the amp's tone stack similar to his rig. I sat and watched him play and complain.

I asked him what kind of stings do you use? Elixer's he said. How long have you had those strings on I asked? 4 months he said. I asked to see his pick... it was a medium thin nylon pick. I asked to look at his guitar... there was enough relief in the neck for a sunday newspaper.

We corrected the relief, put on a set of stainless steel round wounds and I had him use a heavy celluloid pick. He found himself rolling off the mids & treble off the amp. He paid for the strings, bought some picks thanked me and left. That's when I decided to write this:

http://www.colestevens.net/id22.html

the treatment is unfinished... but it will allow you to learn more about strings that I was fortunate enough to learn from working in music retail for 6 years and getting more free strings from manufacturers than a boy deserves. So if you are picking out your strings because you like the pretty orange colors on the package you need to do yourself a favor like I did.

Oh yeah... I use EXL110 also.... ha!

[DLGinSC]

I prefer a wound G string. It seems no matter how well or close I get the intonation I always seem to hear a slight dischord with a plain G string.

[FirstBassman]

EB's & D'A's are made in the same factory, by the same people with the same wire.

A while back I posted the same thing and went even a little further.

Rickenbacker CEO John Hall claims that all brand strings are made at the same two or three factories in the U.S.