Which are THE best strings on acoustic?

My theory is that each guitar has strings it prefers and you won't know which brand works best on yours until you try a few out. Elixirs are a bit bright, but only for the first hour of play. Then they settle in. I use them and like them.
I play with lights -- .012 gauge.

Hiya,

You'll get as many different recommendations as you get replies on this one.

I use Rotosound Country Gold 11's on my six-string, and Martin lights on my 12-string. The Martins are an experiment, having just got my 12-string back from the repair shop with them already in place; I'll probably go back to Rotosounds for that guitar.

Rotosound Yellows (10's) on the electrics, BTW.

Best,

A :-)

I will second muesnfreund, Elixirs on my acoustic using light gage .12's. I use Elixars on my Cavin electric, .09's and DiAddario on my Ibanaz. I will use Elixars on all when I use up all the DiAddaro's for my Ibanez. For the record, my acoustic came with Elixirs and I like the way they sound. Like Alan said they are bright for just a short period. I have had this set on 2 weeks and they sound fine.

The best ones are the ones that sound best. :D
Which ones sound best is highly personal.

Elixirs are okay in my book. Not great tone but they last.
Dean Markley Blue steel are good on guitars that have good bass, but on guitars with less low range they can be twangy.
Rotosound are good.
Martin SP are good.

Since strings are fairly cheap why not just try them all until you find the ones you like best? Just buy 5 or six diffrent types and then play each type for a week or two.
I used just about everything then settled on the feel and sound of martin SP 10's on my acoustic.

For my acoustic, I'm still experimental. I pretty much pick randomly for each new string set. So far, my current favorites were some D'Addarios.

For my Les Paul however, there is a a clear winner: Dean Markley Blue Steel 10's. Really a great sound and feel, and they respond to top wrapping very well. Good times.

For me.
On my dreadnought- Dean Markley Alchemy .012
On my cutaway electro-acoustic- Martin SP .012
On my electric - GH's Boomers .010

So much depends on the instrument and the player.

But having said that, I'm partial to John Pearse. They just seem to hold their sound longer and perfectly suit my instrument. Dean Markley make decent strings as well: Blue Steel have decent lasting power.

BUT, I don't care if your strings are braided from the hair of saintly virgins - if you don't wipe them down after you play, anything will let you down.

If you decide on Elixir's you have to decide between nanoweb and polyweb. I prefer nanoweb as the polyweb start to shed their coating after awhile.

Both the nanoweb and polyweb shed. The nanoweb particles are just smaller - I use nanoweb on my Martin right now, and after I play it for a couple hours my fingerprints have white in the grooves.

The best strings depend on your technique, the guitar, and the style of music you're playing. I've used dozens of different brands over the years, and I currently have four different kinds of strings on my guitars.

Experiment. Keep notes! Write down your impressions of the sound when you string it, and again a couple days later... and again maybe a week after that. Some brands take a while to settle.

Certain playing styles will affect strings differently than others. I use fairly heavy gauge, brassy tone strings (DR handmade) on a guitar I've got set up in open E for slide use... they'd be totally inappropriate for doing a lot of bending. On the other hand, strings like Elixir light gauge sound thin with a slide.

Your perception of strings will change over time, either due to changes in the way you play or changes in the way the strings are made. I used to use Martin SP+ on the Martin, but I grew unhappy with the sound... so right now, that one gets Elixirs.

I'd never heard of D'Addarios till about 12 months ago when someone posted a similar question....tried them, haven't used anything else since..

I use 9's for the singular reason that I like to bend strings a lot, especially playing blues....

Vic

I use nothing but elixirs because they seem to keep there tone alot longer than martins and d'addario's. They sounds awesome too, but the only downside is the cost about 20$ canadian.

Mikey

I use whatever 13"s I can find the cheapest. To me, it's less about the brand name than it is about the guage. I have never really been able to hear the difference between a $20 set and a $3.00 set. And besides, I have 3 accoustice, and I between the three, I am changing a set at least once a week. I simply can't justify spending the $15-$20 for a set of strings.

So I'm thinking to myself that maybe one of the experts on the site here can educate a new player, since Christmas on my son's cheapo guitar and 3 weeks on my Aria AW20ce. What I don't understand is all the talk of strings like 10's or 9's, I'm smart enough (at least I think so) to figure out it's the thinkness of the string. However what size would be best and why?

Thanks