When buying products according to a manufacturer's claims we hope for sincerity. Truthfully no one sells anything by rubbishing their own product but we don't want people just "stringing us along" to get a sale.
The "premium" ELIXIRS strings claim to last up to 5 times longer than regular. Double the cost of regular strings is still good value if it were true.
I bought a boxfull for my acoustic gig guitar since I use lots of strings for many guitars. I spent a serious $450 on strings the year I wrote this article.
I work live weekly and teach guitar. Bulk buying is a necessity. I also bought electric sets for various other guitars I use. I tested the Elixir claims.
They sound pretty good but broke easily, unravelled and stripped out especially where the ball end joins the wrapped part. A set lasted little more than one gig, about 4 hours playing. These strings are coated with a poly layer, designed to stop the perspiration and dirt affecting the strings tonal quality. Either the poly bonding process (probably involving some heat) weakens the metal, or the metal is thinner as poly coat makes up some of the described diameter. Thinner strings are typically weaker. Anyway whatever the cause, bugs in the process or quality control make these claims overstated. Perhaps they were just a bad batch but it is a bit hard to get any feedback out of this company. (let alone an apology) I know, I'm just too small-time.
Save your money. I'll leave my anti-ad here on my web-site until eternity as a memorial to the death of these ELIXERRS.
I don't recommend you use them in live play situations. I use some (studio) electric guitars with Elixirs and found they stay bright for longer. As they are not used so frequently it is good to be able to pick a guitar up and know they still sound bright. The humid salty air climate is harsh here near the beach at Surfers Paradise.
D'Addario EXP (for extended play) possibly come from the same factory and gave me similar results. I played through a box of 10 with consistent failures. Actually, D'Addario admitted they had problems which they claim to have addressed. I found the tone died quickly on the Extended Play strings so either way for the extra money, they need to be better. I love the concept. Who wouldn't want to pick up their guitars and know that rust and sweat hasn't killed their sound !
If you play less frequently and perhaps gently, Elixirs last well. I have seen many guitars with year old Elixirs strings which sound brand new. Maton Australia put them on their new guitars these days. It's fairly well known in the biz if you have a dull toneless guitar try a set of Elixirs.
Let me know when you get it right Elixir and I'll update my review.
VERDICT : ELIXIRS NOT THE MAGIC ELIXIR OF GUITARISTS.
Good concept, keep trying. Make them stronger, particularly the attachment point near the ball end.
Chapter 2 . I bought more Elixir sets, both electrics and acoustics to trial and use live. Same problem. Not just on one guitar but different guitars gave me breakages after quite low hours of playing time.(6 hours) I had more luck with electric sets and an electric set on my home acoustic guitar lasted forever, (well, the best part of a year) and still sounded quite reasonable until I finally changed them. I prefer the tone of the electric sets than that of the acoustics. Some difference in materials used seems more my taste.
To D'Addario's credit, they allowed my article to be published on their web forum. Well done D'Addario for not censoring feedback you don't want to hear so I will definitely use your product again at a later date. Actually I am often using your products but haven't bothered with the coated strings.
I worked my way through a mixed box of strings including Kurt Mangan, Lucky Star (Galli),Yamaha, Martin Silk and Steel, Martin, Takamine and Knucklehead, all of which have outlasted the more expensive rivals, though some of these cheapies sound cheap to me. Sometimes cheap products work so it's worth trying them.
I discovered Galli strings(from Italy). I used Galli Pro-Coated 11-47 for my electric-acoustic Maton gig guitar which reliably lasted 4 gigs without much loss of tone and virtually no breakage problems. I used them for about 12 months. Not so expensive, though I had to import through web-shopping. Recommended !
Chapter 3 I change my strings regularly & the price of strings has come down in recent times in Australia. I've been buying boxes of standard light D'Addario acoustic/electric and I get a couple of gigs out of a set before I get failures. They are moderately priced and very available. As I said, D'Addario are a company who show interest in what their customers think so I will keep using products from such a company. Recommended !
