Acoustic guitar string shopping

October 6, 2009 1:31 PM

Where should I buy high-quality acoustic guitar strings online? Also, suggestions for brands of strings?

I'm an experienced guitarist with a really nice acoustic guitar (a custom cedar-top/mahogany John Allison six-string, if you must know). The guitar is built for very light gauge strings; I usually use D'Addario extra light (10-47). I'm tired of buying strings one package at a time from Guitar Center. Anyone know a good (i.e., cheap) place to buy them online, ideally without having to buy a whole crate of them?

Also, any acoustic guitarists have recommendations for awesome, lesser-known strings that I should try out?

posted by crookedgrin to sports, hobbies, & recreation (7 comments total)

John Pearse strings sound amazing. But something about the my fingers kills guitar strings extra fast (and does nothing to the wood, interestingly enough), so I usually stick to Martin Phosphor Bronze, which I like just about as much. I don't have any secret online source though, unless 10-packs from Musician's Friend is a secret.
posted by The World Famous at 1:39 PM on October 6 [1 favorite]

I buy mine from Strings and Beyond, which sometimes has decent sales for brand name strings (I use Elixers), and their service is pretty good. Shipping takes a while, though.

For your second question: it's really a matter of preference. I can't speak highly enough about Elixers, but that's probably because I prefer heavy strings, and they probably work better with my guitar and playing style.
posted by spiderskull at 2:04 PM on October 6 [1 favorite]

I also use strings and beyond and elixirs.

I really like the elixir nanowebs but hate the polywebs, so I'd suggest giving the nanos a try if you've maybe only tried the polys before. The coating is much thinner than the Polys, but the strings still stay fresh sounding for way longer between changes than regular uncoated strings and are more comfortable to play for long periods of time.
posted by I like to eat meat at 2:13 PM on October 6

I've been buying from JustStrings for about eight years for a bunch of different instruments. Nothing but good results from them.

If you want to do bulk, you should price out single strings to see if the savings are worth it. It works for some set-ups but not others. The savings comes on the plain steel (unwound) strings where you'll find less difference between brands IMHO.
posted by quarterframer at 3:44 PM on October 6 [1 favorite]

I love Elixirs.
posted by danb at 6:01 PM on October 6

I don't play a lot of acoustic, I'm more of a bass player, but I string my girlfriends acoustic.

I'd really recommend trying out some Thomastik-Infeld flat wounds. I second JustStrings as well.

Didn't see your specific size on first look but you might try these and never look back. I'm thinking about changing a few of my basses to flat wounds.
Thomastik-Infeld Acoustic Guitar Plectrum Bronze Flat Wound/Bronze Round Wound Light, .011 - .050

They have a smaller size as well there.
posted by zephyr_words at 12:21 AM on October 7 [1 favorite]

I really like buying stuff from Sweetwater - I find their salesfolk are really helpful. I just use Martin strings, myself, but I'm just a hobbyist.
posted by kristi at 10:26 AM on October 7