D'Addario Guitar Strings - NYXL Electric Guitar Strings, NYXL1046, Unrivaled Strength, Tuning Stability, Enhanced Mid-Range For 6 String Guitars, zwart, 10-46 Regular Light

Product Information

Flat wound sets like Chromesor Tapewounds, afford a warmer, more mellow tone to blend into the mix.

For us, testing electric guitar strings is a rather enjoyable process, as it involves, well, playing our guitars! Therefore, we put them through several everyday situations to make sure we are thoroughly testing the strings. D’Addario bass guitar strings are made in the USA to the highest standards of engineering, ensuring the best sound, feel, and strength, no matter how you play. Sets of D’Addario bass guitar strings include four wound strings, unless you specifically buy a 5- or 6-string set. The term winding comes from the way the strings are constructed—using a hexagonally-shaped steel wire at the core, with another type of metal wire wound around it. Classical strings come in different tensions with “Normal” and “Hard” being the most common options and, sometimes, “Extra Hard.” I noticed a difference in the studio and hopefully that difference comes through to you. String gauge is the same as the standard set of 10's. In a straight-up comparison, to my ears the NYs sound brighter, with better tonal consistency across the range, whilst also delivering more bite and punch. I also noticed a difference in output, this is probably due to the fact these new strings have 6% more magnetic permeability for higher output, essentially making them a little louder but still maintaining dynamic control. Once electric guitar strings have been constructed, they may also undergo an additional process called “coating.” Coating adds a chemical substance to the outside of the strings to prevent corrosion. D’Addario has two main lines of coated strings: XS and XT. XT provides extended life with a natural feel, while XS—our premium coated string—provides maximum life, plus a smooth feel. Both will give you more time between string changes.Coated strings increase the lifespan of acoustic strings, so you don’t have to change them as often.

We love the Elixir Optiwebs too - these have to be some of the best electric guitar strings on offer because of their unique coating which helps them sound fresher for much longer. Recently, the D’addario XT range have made some pretty great strides as well, offering a protective coating on all six strings, as opposed to just the three or four wound strings. What are electric guitar strings made of? D’Addario’s strong suit has always been consistency, and that now goes without saying. However, what they’ve done with NYXL is to refine and perfect the materials used in building the strings. NY Steel core is the star of this show. They’ve manage to combine ultimate strength, stability, and longevity with just the right amount of flexibility which I find gives all the confidence needed to really express ourself and play. Ever listened to a record and wondered how they got their sound to be so bright and snappy? That would be a mixture of fresh high quality strings and a small EQ bump between 1khz and 3khz. With these strings however that bump is no longer required as they already have a peak built in at these frequencies. This means better and brighter tone night after night. Here's what D'Addario say about their NYXL guitars strings. You can trust Guitar World Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing guitar products so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

The best electric guitar strings at a glance:

Coated strings, like XT Classical, increase the lifespan of the strings, so you don’t have to change them as often.

With classical strings, the material of the top three treble strings may differ from the material used on the bottom three bass strings. Now, how good a set of strings sounds is very important to every guitar player. To test the tone of the strings, we make sure to play a wide variety of styles to see how the strings handle the different musical genres, paying close attention to how the overall tone of our guitar has changed with the addition of the new strings.

The reason you should change strings so often in certain situations is that strings have a short period of time when they're performing at their optimum level. I'm going to lay my cards on the table here and tell you that I have been a long time user of D'Addario strings for all my guitars. They are my manufacturer of choice. However, I have no endorsement deal with them and no prejudices either way. I'm happy with the XLs I've been using so I was very interested to see/hear how these new NYXL strings compare to the regular XL. Tuning stability was fantastic right from the off, a couple of initial stretches when putting them on and it was plain sailing form there, even my best attempts at Gilmour style tone and a half bends didn’t shift their stability! They got a good amount of abuse in those two weeks, including sweaty gigs, and I purposely didn’t wipe them down after to see how they would last, and whether the tone would be affected. There was hardly any tarnishing at the end of those two weeks and the tone stayed consistently bright. I'm normally a bit pedantic about changing my strings, on average around once a week, but I would have been more than happy to leave them for another week or so. The only reason I did change them was to do the A-B test for the video review. The wrap wire, or winding, used to make D’Addario bass guitar strings varies from set to set. The alloy used gives the set its unique tonal characteristics, as well as its name. An additional caveat to the above explanation is that some windings have a different texture, not merely a different alloy. So, while standard bass strings are round wound, we have a few sets which have been ground down or polished in some way to change the tone and feel. These include flat wound sets, like Tapewounds and Chromes, and half round sets, like Half Rounds.

D'Addario’s exclusive New York manufactured, high carbon steel alloy for unprecedented strength - play fearlessly Combining high carbon steel cores with an advanced corrosion resistance treatment, D'Addario XT strings are designed to give you enhanced break resistance, pitch stability, and long-lasting performance––all while preserving the tone and feel of your favourite uncoated strings. So, just how good are they? Here's Tom Quayle with the verdict. Lighter strings mean there is physically less string to move, so bending is easier. For some, light strings are too easy to bend, and find themselves going too far with it – it really is about matching your left and right hand touch with the right gauge, which might take a little trial and error.In the last issue of GI, I reviewed a new range of strings designed for acoustic guitar. I also posed the question, how often do you change your strings? And are you loyal to a particular brand? So the question for this review is: are you as particular when it comes to electric guitar strings? It's possibly easier to hear a difference with an acoustic guitar as its tone isn’t going to be masked by various other factors such as amps and effects. However, we all know how different your electric sounds with a nice fresh new set of strings on! And it gets particularly intriguing when you hear the claims being made for a new design of strings made by one of the very biggest in the business, D'Addario. Time to try a set of the new NYXLs! The amount you'll need to change your strings will also vary. Regular performers will want to change strings for every show to ensure their guitar sounds the best it can. Ditto if you're spending time in the studio. On the other hand, if you're only playing at home you'll probably look to change them once a month or so. It’s great to see that guitarists can finally get many of the benefits of a coated string without the compromised tone and feel. It’s still recommended that you try any set of strings out to see how your hands react with the materials at hand, but I think it’s safe to say that many guitarists will love the benefits that D’Addarios XT range can bring to avoiding the dreaded string change! They cost a bit more than the average set, but are certainly worth the asking price. Highly recommended.