D'addario and Taylor Guitars
 

Received an email from D'addario this morning that they have partnered with Taylor. Elixir had held that spot for as long as I can remember. The XS strings are what will be installed on factory guitars going forward.



Just found it interesting.

Maybe Taylor got a better deal with D'Addario on the XS than Elixir would offer? That's usually the way it works?

Could also be that, that department is "under new management".

That seems to be the way things change around a lot of companies.

I've seen major changes happen at different places of employment because of new management.

Regardless, I'll still use Elixirs on my Taylor 514CE, T5 and T5z.

I wonder who messed up that business relationship (Taylor/Elixir). I'm sure there was a lot of finger pointing going on at Elixir's HQ when that went down.

Video update

Great viddie! I have a K21 and an 814! Switched them to Da’addario XS two years ago.

Honestly I bought my first set of XS phosphor bronze lights and sold them here on the forum thinking they were just run of the mill coated strings. Out of a bad case of FOMO, I bought another set and put them on my CF guitar. They have been on that guitar for 10 months and still sound really good.



I'm pretty much sold on them.

i never thought i would see this, particularly after HD light development with elixir.
are taylors no longer coming with elixir at all? (can't watch video out loud, at work) :)

Cool video, Bob Taylor talking about industrializing the guitar building process (says it at least 3 times).

I hadn't realized elixir are manufactured by WL Gore, I'm not at all surprised Taylor would find D'A would be a better partner for development. Gore has a history of predatory use of their patent inventory, so for example the best made all weather gear I owned was made with material from an ous Gore competitor.

D'A has to be much larger than elixir, and probably offers lower costs, and I think they have innovated more than elixir.

I’m a fan of the XS strings and they last me a long, long time with daily playing and no shedding!

Certainly there were managerial decisions made with the bottom line foremost, but, they may have also considered that the strings won’t go dead/corroded sitting on a rack in some establishment.

I tend to believe there is a portion of players who prefer to change the strings on a new guitar regardless of brand!

Play on!!

i am intrigued by XS. I like elixir but not sure I want to put them on my incoming 00018. i like martin strings (monel included) and d'addario so perhaps i'll give XS a try. This is probably (1) a financial decision and (2) a sustainability one.

I've never used XS, but now I want to try them out, so I guess whatever co-marketing deal went through here is working.

They are nice but I’ve not tried them to see if they hold up after a plate of ribs ;)

Ironically I started the changeover to XS on my Taylors last year. I got a couple of sets for free and they worked well on my Martin so I decided to try them on my Taylor.

Can anyone please confirm that Jim D'Addario is NOT Paul Sorvino's younger brother? TIA. :D