string coating

[Orkun Hiçyılmaz]

hello,
I have tryed dadario exp and elixir nanoweb strings, but the coating on A and E strings lasts only for an 1 hour. The coating removes fastly on the C and A notes. is this normal and is there any other strings that the coating lasts more?
thanks

[Tobin]

I have the same issue. I'm not even sure there is a coating on the A and E strings. I think they only coat the wound strings, leaving the plain strings uncoated. At any rate, even if there is a coating on the plain strings, it doesn't work very well or last very long. I have not found any maker with A or E strings that don't rust or turn black under my fingers within 20 minutes.

[Polecat]

D'Addario and Elixir only coat the wound strings, the plain courses are untreated. There is a fully coated set made by Cleartone, which I tried but was not happy with. I, too, have problems with rusting strings, and after several years griping about the price strung my Eastman 604 with Thomastiks, which I loved, didn't corrode (they're stainless steel) but killed in a month (how do people manage to keep their strings on for six months or more? after a month of playing an hour or so a day and a couple of gigs, the TI's intonation was shot and when I removed them, found indentations made by the frets which I presume caused the intonation problems). At the moment, I've got D'Addario EJS74s on, which are also stainless steel, but when they're dead I think I'll revert to Elixirs, although I did love the tone and playability of the Thomastiks.

[terzinator]

I tried the Cleartones on guitar years ago, and I don't remember that they were good or bad.

But, if you have an issue with your hands that require a coating on the unwound strings, you might as well try them. Better that than rusted strings!

http://www.amazon.com/Cleartone-Mandolin-Phosphor-Bronze-Strings/dp/B0022D39AG