As a company at the forefront of the longer-life coated strings market when it was developed in the '90s, Elixir has continued to refine the technology. Optiweb is the company's latest coating, helping to protect these strings from corrosion It’s actually for this very reason that some brands like DR’s Veritas strings insist on coating the central core of the wound strings too. At first you may think, what’s the point of doing this? The central core isn’t exposed to your fingers or the atmosphere? If you’ve ever strung your own guitar or watched your teacher do it for you then you’ve probably noticed that one end of the strings ends with a ball, the purpose of a ball end is to anchor the string to the bridge of the guitar. Above - Image Courtesy of Elixir Strings - This advertisement from Elixir clearly shows how all the sweat, dirt and grime from our hands and the atmosphere can work their way between the windings.

Strings HI-DEF NEON™ - MULTI-COLOUR Coloured Electric DR Strings HI-DEF NEON™ - MULTI-COLOUR Coloured Electric

We speak to plenty of guitar players every day and you may or may not be surprised that there're players out there that can tarnish a standard set of strings in a matter of minutes due to sweat and acidic perspiration from their hands. Whilst coated strings are great for these players, their extended life certainly appeals to many other musicians too. Supplying musicians since '97. We're guitar players and string fanatics, and we're here to help you discover your favourite set from the widest range of acoustic, electric, and bass guitar strings anywhere in the UK.Finally, we have a very affordable string company, Clearone and their color code for their strings are: I also want to mention that while D’Addario’s color-coded strings are meant to make the process of stringing a guitar more straightforward and easy, it’s also part of their sustainability campaign, to reduce waste. Fender String Colored Ball End Strings

Guitar Strings Replacement Steel String for 3 Sets of 6 Guitar Strings Replacement Steel String for

But, it’s not only the abuse through playing that gets hurled at them. Other conditions also play a part in premature damage to our strings; humidity, atmospheric nasties, smoke, beer… you name it, they can all have a detrimental effect to some extent. Even as an experienced guitarist I still find color-coded strings useful, especially when I’m short on time or if I need to string my guitar before a gig in a badly lit pub. Nanoweb, this is the special one. Elixir’s Nanoweb coating is still the leading guitar strings mid-weight coating. You can feel this coating and it’s loved by many players. Dunlop is another brand that began using a color code system and like Rotosound they also use three colors in a similar manner, rotating between them: The colors each company uses are different and even if we take a string from D’Addario with a red-colored end and swap it with a red-colored string from Rotosound, one will be a red- A note and the other one red – D note.

Nowadays, many of the plain strings in sets are also coated or anti-rust treated. There was a time when brands focused purely on coating the wound strings only, but nowadays many have seen the light and insist on coating all 6 strings to help preserve the life and balance of the entire set. Whilst these strings last 3 - 5 times longer than normal, on average they usually work out around twice the price of a standard set of strings. Therefore, if you do opt for coated strings, over the course of say a year, you’ll no doubt be spending less on strings. There is a good reason for Ernie Ball's Slinky series of electric guitar strings' ubiquitous presence in gig bags and cases worldwide. Firstly, they sound great.

DR Strings | Official Site

If you are a bass player and you’re thinking of getting a D’Addario set with colored ends then the color code, in this case, is quite similar to electric and acoustic guitars.In the early 1900s, an earthquake that destroyed their town made them move to New York where the family decided to continue their business of string making and they began to produce steel and nylon strings. If you’re a beginner, you’ll want to start off with a lighter gauge of electric guitar strings. The lighter the gauge of string, the less tension it produces - and that makes it much easier to play. We’d recommend a set of .009 to .042 gauge strings - as we feel that this is a great middle-ground to start on. You can go lighter, but the tone will be compromised - or you can go heavier, but playability will suffer. As a new guitarist, it’s not unusual to make mistakes when stringing a guitar and accidentally swapping guitar strings. Thin strings can be especially deceiving to the untrained eye or if you’re not focused enough. As always, D’Addario are never far behind and always pushing the boundaries of string technology. Over the years they’ve continued to innovate and refine their coated string offerings and most recently they’ve released their XT range (available for electric, acoustic, bass, classical, mandolin and banjo). Most recently this year they also released their XS coated string range (currently only available for acoustic guitar).