Strings sell, but who's buying?

A little late to this news but Dave Mustaine has teamed up with Gibson for a signature string set - 10 - 52. This is definitely something players here are desensitized to because there are not Gibson dealers here. Go ahead, buy online. 

Pics: Gibson

Jackson strings

Jackson strings, now available at Swee Lee ($8). Fender owns Jackson so... there. 

Pic: Swee Lee

Price watch (44)

I really have no idea why these items are priced as such in the after-market.

In this day & age, price reference is just a Google search away.

Maybe these sellers are new to the gear circle, they might not know stuff. We do respect these listings; people can price their items for as much as they want, it boils down to demand & supply at the end of it all. This is not a call to under-price your items as well, it's good to reflect some awareness when doing so.

Give away: inXS we trust (DONE)

Greetings, gear folks. It's that time once more, I'm giving away this set of D'Addario XS strings. I've never been a fan of coated strings but the XS is something very acceptable by my standards. I've chosen this gauge to perhaps entice the other side of the string camp who are not into 'conventional' gauges. It's a subtle way of saying I know you are out there. So here goes:

• send me a blank email with the subject: inXS!
• wait for me to reply saying you are the lucky recipient
• strictly a first come, first serve basis

A huge shoutout to Davis GMC for the sponsor - thank you, Janet & Co! 👍

EDIT: Congrats to bro Amirun - your strings are on the way. 

Darco... up

Darco strings, my preferred no frills strings, is now 50c more expensive. Then again, other string brands are also more expensive than before & that happened before Darco's prices went up. My take-home wage - no change, compounded by the fact that I'm not paid on days I go for treatment.

Essentially better

Spent time with the AZES31 today. Ever since I owned it, I find the default single coil pickups in this guitar above average but there's one thing it's unable to manifest well - twang. 

The main suspects were the default 500K pots & 22uf capacitor as evident in this entry: CLICK Took it down to Beez today to swap them out for 250Ks & a 47uf capacitor. That humongous Orange cap happened to be the most proximate when I was looking for a replacement capacitor. Verdict: It went from good to great. I still believe that single coil pickups match well with 250K pots. Some of us might enjoy the extra crispy tones of the 500K ones but they will take away some twang factor, that's what I noted.

Gave it a fresh set of EB Primo set (.0095s). I bought this pack about a month ago & intentionally kept it away for some time to see if rust spots would appear on the strings but none were seen here. However, due to the delayed use, the 'slinkiness' were not as apparent as those coming from a fresh pack. Not a bad Tuesday after all. 

Minor happiness

I've been playing my LP Standard in its as-is condition. I've finally found time to address certain matters which are not major in its undertaking but necessary for me. First up is the fretboard; a good re-conditioning goes a long way. As seen above, the guitar's fretboard was dry (left) since day one. 

Both strap buttons receive the felt treatment. Doing this because over time, metal will fuse with the gloss finish, especially under certain temperature/ humidity. It's something do-able at the user end & I encourage you to make this small investment. These are available at both Davis GMC & TY Music.

They say Gibson guitars deserve Gibson strings & I believe this is a load of 💩 I'm just doing it this time round to prove myself right. According to the Gibson camp, the strings contain the optimum amount of magnetic materials to limit the pull by the pickups. Maybe they got this right but it affects tone. I know I have my preferred strings brands & I'm getting the right feel & tone from them. Folks, address your needs first, shenanigans can take a number.

Vela Saturday

Spent the whole day with this one. Yes, it's from the less celebrated S2 range which gets the flak for not being entirely American. I was fully aware of that when buying the S2 models. In fact, I deem them as definite value-for-money instruments & the number grew. The Vela here was touted as the manufacturer's offset model & just by looking at it, it was done subtly. Whatever the case was, I sounded impressive at the store so it was worth spending money on.

I've always liked the locking tuners despite the top access being a hassle. It's something that works effectively without putting the entire neck totally out of balance. The nut slots in this one are some of the best coming from the S2 line.

The reason I brought this out was to try this set of strings. The new Signature series & whatever 'signature' there implies, these are good, definitely above average strings. They are neither too flabby nor too stiff, the tension is just right for a slightly thicker gauge set. 

The only thing about the S2 that bothered me was the default bridge pickup. Np, it wasn't useless but it couldn't get a good metal type of tone going. After a few effects pedals & amps, I concluded that it wasn't meant to serve a distortion-inclined master; a good AC/DC affair at best. I understand where the Vela is coming from, it is supposed to be a tone monster serving a dose of honky tonk in some pickup settings/ selections so without hesitation, the default humbucker made way for a Seymour Duncan C5 & that was an instant hit. The C5 gave the instrument some added bottom end to offset the inherent brightness coming from those brass saddles. It also avoided an intrusive top end (unlike a JB/ Distortion/ Dimebucker) so bringing this guitar into metaldom is a pleasant affair.

Signatures

Just a reminder - the new PRS Signature series range are now available at Davis GMC. Trying out these 5 gauge sets.

Congrats (EHX strings give away)

Thank you for participating & congrats! On another note, thank you to those who did not win but letting me know that:

• you are among those who are equally old-fashioned & prefer reading materials to video materials (this was the best feedback ever, it means a lot to me)
• I am giving away stuff that you wouldn't mind trying even if you know these won't click with you subsequently
• I update local availability of various items rather frequently. It seems that you chaps prefer coming here to get info rather than going over to the various stores' official web pages. OK, noted. Along the way, it seems that I am actually favouring certain guitar stores over the others but that's absolutely not true. I'm updating the latest developments regardless of the dealer/ distributor here. 

EHX strings give away

Alright, folks! Let's start the Monday right. Davis GMC has kindly sponsored these sets of EHX strings for this blog give away. I'm more than happy to share them with you through this simple quiz-cum-give away. Just tell me which gauge preference is to your liking. Kindly observe the following steps:

1. Send me a blank email with the subject EHX strings 
2. Answer the following question & state your answer in the said email: What does EHX stand for? 😂
3. Do not disclose any personal details till I reply stating you as the winner.
4. Only one pack for each winner (for this round)

As we enter the final quarter of the year, It's my way of saying thanks to you for taking time to read the stuff here. I'm still old-fashioned, you can say that. I prefer making you read stuff rather than watch videos. Onwards!

GIVE AWAY is now closed (as at 2130hrs) with confirmed winners. Announcement soon. 😎

Gibson re-string

So this Summer, Gibson decided to do something about their strings. I don't hear much praise when it comes to Gibson strings except from the manufacturer themselves who once claimed that the metal in their strings were formulated to react specifically to their pickups' magnetic pull. There's some secret sauce in there that somehow makes their strings magical & it escaped me entirely all these years. My main beef with them is that their durability factor sucks, almost as atrocious as Ernie Ball. 

This new generation of strings are supposedly more inviting when it comes to feel & tone. Whatever the case, Gibson isn't a force to be reckoned with when it comes to string chemistry. The string specialist brand names out there would probably have surpassed Gibson's current standards in string manufacture but folks, more sauce added to the mix doesn't equal an outright appeal. Maybe, just maybe, Gibson added that wee little bit of magic to really conjure some incredible outcome; we just have to try them when they are made available here. At the rate things are going under the new management, we can expect some upward shift in performance goodness as the very least. I'm gonna  try a pack. 

Classic/ Signature

New strings by PRS- the Classic & Signature series. These are supposed to be good stuff & more affordable, according to the manufacturer. Hope to see them here soon. 

EHX strings

New for 2019, EHX strings.

But if you've been there like I was, EHX did have a range of strings in their accessories line up some time back. I know I've tried & liked them but they don't last that long. Hopefully, the new generation of EHX strings are one-up in terms of longevity.

Authentic

They've been authentic all this while so the name of this series doesn't serve to underscore authenticity. Looking forward to try them because Martin makes good, affordable strings.

Sfarzo

Trying something new. I've tried cheap strings, I've tried 'boutique' strings, one thing's for sure- I've not quite embraced a particular brand name to stop trying the different ones out there. This Sfarzo set doesn't feel boutique, there's no magic coating here either. However, the strings don't feel cheap, you know that feeling of having wires under your finger tips instead of strings. That immediate deterioration once you have them in your guitar- these are all absent. It's nearly a week's worth of playing them without any obvious difference in feel so that must be a good sign. Tone-wise, these are not bright steels, no jangly slinky tones to be heard as well. If there's a close reference to better understand the performance, it will be Dean Markley's vintage set; no nonsense feel & tone but nothing extra.

In the mail

That's right, I still buy mail-order strings, namely the ones not found here. Martin's Darco strings are now offered in that packaging. Sfarzos are something I had been wanting to try but the name always slipped off my mind. Of course, complementary sticker. 

Strumming Framus

Framus does strings now. They come in standard gauge sets (you fav 009s, 010s, etc.) as well as those accommodating drop D, 7s & 8s. My beef with many 8-string sets is that their wound strings are simply too thick to be inserted into the machine head holes. Let's see if Framus does address this.

Short rectification

Thank you, GHS strings, for addressing the matter. For short scale bass players like myself, we have issues with the wound string length. Some manufacturers provide very little leeway at both ends of the string resulting in the tapered bit sitting in the bridge/nut slots instead of the actual string itself. So there we have it, another manufacturer doing their bit by listening to the issues on the ground, not insisting what they do is the right thing. 👍

Really?

Castle strings- one of the more affordable sets out there. Please note the claim: Lite top, heavy bottom. We know that 9-42 is the standard gauge for this set so the 'heavy bottom' there is inaccurate. 

Heavy bottom here would mean that the D/A/E strings will have to be thicker, an example of which is illustrated by Ernie Ball- 26/36/46. So my message to manufacturers out there: Check your claims.