EXP's and Elixirs

[Lane Pryce]

Question for folks playing these strings. What kind of longevity are you getting? I know mileage varies per user. I do like the feel of the coated strings under finger. My thoughts are the coating may lengthen the useful life of the strings. Tell me if I'm wrong. Thanks in advance. Lp

[Tobin]

When I'm playing mandolin full-time, I can get about 3 weeks, maybe 4 weeks out of a set of coated strings. Past that, the indentations on the wrappings from the frets causes too many intonation issues. So for me, the coating doesn't necessarily extend string life. What it does, though, is keep the tone fairly consistent during the period between break-in and wear-out.

Unfortunately, the plain strings (A and E courses) don't have any coating, so they rust out pretty quickly.

[Denny Gies]

I kinda noodle around every day with some more heavy pickin' about once a week. The Elixir's nano webs seem to last a couple of months for me. Good luck. You are not wrong.

[pops1]

I get a couple of months out of the GHS pure nickel, no coating, and I play several hours a few times a week plus the daily noodling around.

[OlDanTucker]

I've been switching back and forth between the Elixir's and the EXP CM74's on my Pava because they don't make a coated GHS A270 and I dissolve them in about 2-3 weeks. I agree with Tobin that they really just keep them consistent over a longer period but I do get about 4-6 weeks good sound with daily playing out of both brands until I just can't stand it any more and finally break down and change them at about 8 weeks. So the economics are about the same.

Main difference is the G string on the Elixir seems to sound better a little longer, but the A and E strings on the EXP CM74 seem to sound better longer. Elixirs are definitely slicker and the coating is thicker but wears off in a psoriasis like dust. They also begin to become difficult to keep in tune sooner.

Oddly it doesn't work the same way on my Eastman 515. The EXP's sound brash and jangly, but the Elixirs tame the strident sound a bit at the expense of volume. Life is, however, about the same. So, I have both on hand. Different animals need different diets.

[Tobin]

Elixirs are definitely slicker and the coating is thicker but wears off in a psoriasis like dust. They also begin to become difficult to keep in tune sooner.

Yeah, the Elixirs are the slickest strings I have ever put on my mandolins. I did like them for that, but I had to be careful not to slide too far sometimes! And sometimes my pinky would slip right off the side of my bass G string during chop chords, due to the slickness.

There are two main reasons I don't use Elixir Nanowebs any more. First, like you said, the coating flakes off. I would always start to see it where my pick hits the strings, and it looks fuzzy at first. Then it turns into scales flaking off like a peeling sunburn. Not cool, especially when it gets all over the top of my mandolin and falls into the f-holes.

Secondly, the tone of Nanowebs was way too bright for me, compared to others like the EXP series. I think this is because the Nanowebs use a smaller diameter winding. Not 100% sure on that, since I haven't measured them with calipers, but it seemed to be my impression based on the feel of the windings under my fingers. But I think the windings are different material too, compared to EXPs. Elixirs are labeled as bronze, where D'Addario EXPs are phosphor bronze. They may also use different cores.

[Lane Pryce]

I like the J75 16, and 11.5 A and E with the J74 G and D, EXP 74 CM. Damn the cost is almost prohibitive. Especially when J75s are $5.50 a set. Lp

[PVia]

EXP74CMs for me all the way, best I've heard and played.

The bright "new string" sound is really quite lovely, and in the next day or two settles into the beautiful sweet spot.

I get two to four weeks, playing 2-5 hours every day, but two weeks is ideal. If I were banging it out every night, like Thile, I'd change every 3-4 shows...my playing is mostly Bach and whatever I get asked to play on sessions or live work.

[Billy Packard]

Y'all should give Mapes a shot. I'm new to them but so far the strings I bought, the Phosphor Bronze 11-40, are working out fine. I'm not a "coated string" guy but these are coated very lightly and have a very nice sound. I ordered the 80-20 Brass set to try out and see if they are brighter sounding. I'm waiting for their arrival. They have a wide selection plus you can make up your own custom set.

https://www.mapesstrings.com/product/mandolin-strings/

Billy

billypackardmandolin.com

[Lane Pryce]

Thanks a Billy. I just ordered 4 sets 11.5,16,26,40 phosphor bronze. Lp