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Elixir strings
Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2020 7:06 am
by Big Bottom End
Hi everyone. Can I please get some opinions about Elixir strings on a fretless rosewood board? (1) Do they offer any protection from wear, and (2) do they have the brightness of conventional roundwounds (like D’Addario’s)? I’d like to stick with roundwounds. Any recommendations or insights would be great. Thanks.
Re: Elixir strings
Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2020 4:08 am
by FretLessSince68
Welcome to Fretless Bass Board
I waited a while hoping that other users would add their experience with Elixers.
First, in my opinion coated strings do help to slow down fingerboard wear (rutting). However they do not stop it entirely.
My set of Elixer's were pretty good at first, the sound was about the same as other round wound strings although I prefer DeAddario for overall tone and feel.
The NanoWeb Elixer's did seem to slow the fingerboard wear but after a few gigs I noticed a problem, the coating was starting to wear off. At first is was just a change in the appearance of the winding, a slight white-ish surface instead of metallic. Then I noticed the coating getting rougher in appearance although I could not feel any difference. Later nearly the entire string(s) took on a fuzzy or furry look as the coating degraded especially in wear areas and I could tell the coating had failed.
So I changed to DeAddario coated EXP170SL (Super Long Scale) and have had no problems since. For 34" scale EXP160 or EXP220.
In my opinion, The DeAddario EXP is a better string and costs less.