So I was perusing the latest issue of Premier Guitar last week and happened to see a full page Elixer ad. I usually don't pay attention to marketing claims but happened to read Elixers, not so hidden message superiority. After reading the product claim I was like, wow, that is some bold shit there. I mean, it's a set of guitar strings man, not anti-gravity tech. How freakin wrong was I? Because of that marketing claim, then hearing the far off voice of my Jazz player buddy who for years tried to get me on these strings, to no avail, I decided to buy a set to test Elixers bold claims. And, because of my recent issues with my staple brand.
No more Boomers!
I thought maybe the GHS strings Co started slipping in QC. I started to see that my fingertips were really getting hammered, feeling like the E & B strings were actually sharp, so I decided to try some others. I also just purchased a new trem bridge by Babicz, which by the way I cannot recommend highly enough; so when I changed out the bridge the next set of new strings up for try-out was these Elixers AND HOLY SHIT! I do NOT believe I am overstating it when I say that this brand and product are flat out the Holy Grail of guitar strings!
I play blues in the SRV tradition and I'm hard on the strings, and as I said, my last 2 hr set with the Boomers put me off the ax for 3 days, and with one finger literally cut slightly. After the bridge and Elixer string change, I played a 3 hr set and became more and more amazed the longer we played! My fingers not only didn't hurt at all the next day, but they actually felt and still feel better than they have in years. And for the life of me, I really do not know how that can be. Since then I have been purposely practicing for about 3 hrs daily between gigs as a test and nothing has changed. These strings, compared to so many others I have tried, while always going back to the Boomers, are like some kind of alien technology.
Thanks, Elixer! In a modern world of over marketed and highly acclaimed shit products that always UNDER deliver miserably, your marketing ad for these strings, in my opinion, is epically UNDERstated! Elixer strings OVERdeliver at a Quantum level!
In fact, there's your new marketing tag line - ELIXER, THE BIG-QUANTUM!
No more fingertip Blues for me baby!
If I was hugely famous I would whore your brand relentlessly. Free strings to all concert goers! With my autograph of course! :-)
Rick Rainey
BadSign
Note this does not apply to the Nanoweb strings which are but a poor imitation and not worth the money.
I never even considered 'coated' strings because I am such a tone snob, but since the search for great tone is endless I figured I'd give Elixir a try ( on the advice of Patrick Cummings from Brian Moore Guitars). Well, I'm really glad I did because these strings are warm, punchy, easy to bend and stay in tune incredibly well right from the very moment you put them on. All those things I love about them still hold true over a month later, these strings still sound and feel brand new. I now have Elixirs on almost all of my guitars (the Poly-web, NOT Nano-web). Give them a try, you won't regret it!
I used D'Addarios & Dunlops before these and the don't compare, although I never used the XLP D'Adarrios.
I would normally break an E or B string every couple of weeks, which was good because the strings were so dirty and rusty and dead sounding that I had to change them any way.
I love the sound of a new set of strings and these Elixirs keep that sound a lot longer and STAY CLEAN.
AWESOME Strings.