Electric Guitar Spare Parts How To Choose The Best String
Electric Guitar Strings If you play your guitar regularly then you must be aware about the importance of guitar strings. The tone and playability of guitar depends on the strings. It is one of the most vital parts of a guitar neck and if you want the guitar sound to be of optimum quality, then choosing the right strings is the key.
Qualities Of A Good Guitar Buying a good guitar is like winning half the battle. The next step is to buy the right strings. Material quality, gauge of strings, special coatings and winding methods affect the performance and sound quality of your guitar. So, there may be strings of particular brand that you may love, but you must always remind yourself that there can be something better to suit your needs.
Choose Electric Guitar Strings Here are some of the best Electric guitar strings available in the market today from the popular brands. Let’s first learn about the string gauges and materials followed by string comparison to make a perfect choice.
Gauges or Thicknesses: As we know strings are an important part of a guitar neck which comes in different gauges or thicknesses. Strings are available as heavy, medium and light sets. Some brands also offer mixed hybrid sets like super heavy sets or super light sets. Generally, the weights of the sets are somewhat similar, but there are no set rules that are followed by the manufacturers to make the strings.
Heavy & Light Gauge: A heavy set of one manufacturer may be a little different from the another. Let’s see what is the difference between heavy and light strings of electric guitar. Heavy gauge strings are powerful and require more pressure to bend and fret the notes. These are preferred for low tunings like Drop A, Drop D, etc. These strings create more tension on the guitar neck. If you play heavy rock or metal then heavy strings will work perfectly for you.
Light gauge strings are easy to bend and play. It is ideal for lead players and beginners. Light sets are great for vintage electric guitars. It projects a brighter sound. It can break so you should produce less tension on the electric guitar neck while playing.
Material of Electric Guitar Strings:
The strings of electric guitar are made using several metal alloys that impact the sound of strings. Some tonal characteristics of popular strings types are listed below. ● Nickel balance the warmth and brightness. It is a popular choice among guitarists because it offers a well balanced tone ● Pure nickel gives amazing vintage output with a warm tone. ● Stainless steel gives an edgy, bright and crisp tone. It is corrosion resistant as well. For a full rich tone with robust low end response M-Steel is used. ● For a wide dynamic range that offers increased low end and crisp highs, cobalt material is preferred.
String Comparison There is no defined best string brand. It should depend on your style and budget. When choosing guitar spare parts some popular manufacturers that you can consider are Ernie Ball, Cleartone, Jim Dunlop, GHS, Gibson, PRS, etc. We have discussed Ernie Ball electric guitar strings here which come in different materials. This brief and quick comparison of Ernie Ball guitar string types will help you make a decent choice.
Slinky Nickel Wound:
Ernie Ball Regular Slinky Electric Strings is used by the top guitarists like Eric Clapton, Metallica, etc. It is made of nickel plated steel wire that is wrapped around a hex shaped steel core wire.
Slinky Paradigm:
When compared to traditional strings Slinky Paradigm strings is more reliable as the wire drawing procedure is combined with RPS or Reinforced plain string technology. It helps to enhance the tensile strength up to 35 percent and gives more fatigue strength (up to 70 percent than traditional ones). It removes defects, demonstrate unparalleled durability, gives supreme break resistance and there are no tone killing side effects of a coated string.
Slinky MSteel
For high stress applications like defence industries and aerospace Slinky M- Steel is a superb choice as these are wound strings made of super cobalt alloy wrapped around a maraging steel hex core wire. The sound produced is therefore rich and powerful that gives a low end response. There will be no complains of slipping or breakage unlike conventional strings.
Slinky Cobalt
It offers incredible harmonic response and gives high level output and clarity. It provides extended dynamic range, increased low end and gives crisp as well as clear highs. Slinky Cobalt are silky and soft to touch, makes bending of strings simpler and offer a robust magnetic relationship between strings and pick up which is much better than any other alloy.
Conclusion You can experiment with a few of these strings to find something that can suit your electric guitar. Remember, all the parts of a guitar neck should work perfectly and when it comes to strings, you need to make an appropriate choice so your guitar sounds just the way you desire. You need to change guitar strings every three months or 100 hours of playing, so you can experiment with many string types to get the best one.