Elixir Horror Story: 20 years later

[BongoSTL]

so 20 years ago I had a traumatic experience with elixer's, and I've never been able to go back :-)

it was in the days of the polyweb (when the coating was pretty thick)...

It was my senior year of high school, and I was playing "Landslide" while a woman sang (I ran into said woman today, which is what reminded me of this)

I had made sure i was perfectly in tune before I went on stage, and yet when I got up there my g-string was totally out of wack. I tuned up in front of everyone (embarrassing!) and yet it refused to stay in tune. It was quite the experience for a 17 year old looking to impress.

The next day, as I was picking up my guitar to play, I noticed that the string itself had broken, and it was only being held together by the coating! I'd never seen anything like it...and no wonder it wouldn't stay in tune.

I've basically had a bad attitude about coated strings ever since ;-)

Anyone else ever experienced this?

[DMZ]

In the early days of Elixer I broke Gs. Others complained here. They (Elixer) stood behind them and I have played dozens of sets over the years with no issue. Elixers aren’t for everyone. I still use them on my Taylor.

[Wade Hampton]

Never having been a habitual Elixir string user, I don’t have any anecdotes along those lines to share, Bongo. But I can confirm that there WAS some concern about the G strings in Elixir string sets breaking suspiciously often that got shared on newsgroups and online forums back then.

The G string is always the weakest string in any guitar string set, so if there was something about the coating process that Elixir used at the time that made the strings a bit more fragile, it makes sense that it would manifest itself most often with the G strings.

Whatever the problem was, (if indeed it was really as common as some folks thought and wasn’t just a few unhappy people creating an echo chamber effect that made it seem worse than it actually was,) then Elixir seems to have figured out how to fix the problem a LONG time ago now. I can’t remember how long it’s been since since “the G string in my Elixir strings broke” threads were a common occurrence.

A decade at least, probably longer.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Wade Hampton]

By the way, DMZ is correct that Elixir was great and stood by their customers, supplying them with replacement strings upon request. That’s something that I can confirm, even though it wasn’t something I ever needed to do.


whm

[Carmel Cedar]

Why is the G string is always the weakest string in any guitar string set?

[brianlcox]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

Never having been a habitual Elixir string user, I don’t have any anecdotes along those lines to share, Bongo. But I can confirm that there WAS some concern about the G strings in Elixir string sets breaking suspiciously often that got shared on newsgroups and online forums back then.

The G string is always the weakest string in any guitar string set, so if there was something about the coating process that Elixir used at the time that made the strings a bit more fragile, it makes sense that it would manifest itself most often with the G strings.

Whatever the problem was, (if indeed it was really as common as some folks thought and wasn’t just a few unhappy people creating an echo chamber effect that made it seem worse than it actually was,) then Elixir seems to have figured out how to fix the problem a LONG time ago now. I can’t remember how long it’s been since since “the G string in my Elixir strings broke” threads were a common occurrence.

A decade at least, probably longer.


Wade Hampton Miller

I recently had a 5 pack of Elixir nanoweb PBs and broke 3 of hte G-strings while putting them on and tuning up for the first time. Rather frustrating.... This was on two different guitars too, so it's not like the tuning peg was sharp.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by Carmel Cedar

Why is the G string is always the weakest string in any guitar string set?

Because it's the thinnest of the wound strings, I presume.

Brian, I'm sorry to hear that you're having that problem with that sort of frequency. You should definitely call Elixir's toll free customer service number during business hours this coming week and explain the problems you've been having.

Elixir Custom Service
800 367 5533
https://www.elixirstrings.com/support/contact-us

They're in Maryland, so they'll be on Eastern Standard Time.

You can email them instead if you'd rather, but I've always found that taking five minutes to pick up the phone and call gets things done a lot faster than emailing does.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

[ukejon]

Sorry you had a bad experience. I’m very much a fan of Elixers....been working great for me for 15 years. They sound terrific and last forever without losing their tonal character.

[zeeway]

Count me as another Elixir fan...80/20 phosphor bronze nanoweb. I change them about every six weeks on my main guitar.

[AndrewG]

I've used them exclusively from the first year they were available in England-including the Polyweb which was the first coating. I use Nanoweb now. Never broke an Elixir in all those years. I also heard the anecdotal stories of premature G string breakage but it never affected me.

[Mbroady]

Traumatic experience for a teen for sure. But IMO Elixir strings are the best coated strings for those of us with “acid hands”. I’m a fan, not just because they last longer but I think they sound great.

[donlyn]

First used Elixirs when I bought (new) my Taylor 355 12 string. My first Taylor. As a 1999 model, that would be almost exactly 20 years ago. Bought it in the summertime either in 1999 or 2000.

Anyway I have no horror stories of Elixir strings to share. I started trying and/or using them regularly on six string guitars too, say about 2005/06. I still use them a lot today. I have never had one break due to playing. Since I fingerpick 100% of the time (and have been since the early 70's), this may place less playing pressure on the strings. But even using a pick way back in the 60's, I very rarely had a string break, maybe one or two. (I do remember that happening one time with a treble e string. Might have been with an electric guitar. Way before Elixirs.)

Guess I just don't pluck hard enough.

Don
.

[RP]

Originally Posted by Denny B

When I read "Elixir Horror Story", I thought maybe someone had poked an eye out or somethin'...

Exactly....

Bongo, by my reckoning you're now 37 years old. If that single experience with a guitar string refusing to stay in tune remains a "traumatic experience" and a "horror story", you've led a really charmed life...

[Stevien]

Your life can't be defined by one traumatic experience. Pick up the pieces, brush off your shoes, & move on.
Steve

[GuitarLuva]

I'm yet to break an Elixir string and they've been my go to string for a long time until recently. I made the switch to D'addario XT's and really like them so far on all my guitars.