Anyone used D'Addario Balanced Tension Strings?

[Brucebubs]

Originally Posted by Crackedtop

I tried these strings by accident on my Stratocaster (meant to buy regular D'ADDARIO XL's as the package looks almost identical) and my guitar just did not like them!

Ummm ... almost identical?

[RodB]

Originally Posted by rpnfan

I was just checking the offers from D'Addario for "balanced" acoustic sets.

Their data seems to be plain (pun intended) wrong.

They state that the balanced set 12-52 would have a 18 B-string with a tension exactly the same like the 16 B-string in the 12-53………

Yes, it should read 0.016 not 0.018. Amazingly it has been wrong on their site for months without correction....

[Crackedtop]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

Ummm ... almost identical?

My ' almost 'identical comment' was in reference to ELECTRIC regular XL110's vs. ' balanced tension XL - and the packages are very similar

no reference to the Nickel Bronze Acoustic strings ( which are nice, but $$!)

[rpnfan]

Originally Posted by RodB

Yes, it should read 0.016 not 0.018. Amazingly it has been wrong on their site for months without correction....

Thanks for the correction. Then the "balance" makes sense.

[Bubba360]

LivesForever,

Did you ever get any worthwhile responses to your question? More importantly, did you try out the balanced tension strings and if so, what did you think?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by LivesForever

Have any of you tried D'Addario's Balanced Tension strings? I'm especially interested in the Nickel Bronze sets, because I really loved the NB Bluegrass gauge strings. It looks like the Balanced Tension Mediums have slightly less total tension, and an even feel seems like a good idea.

Also, I really prefer the sound of Mediums, but I've had wrist problems when I use them. How does the BT sound compare with regular mediums?

[zoopeda]

Old thread, but I just discovered these strings. I was looking for a good medium-light set for my 00-17 and discovered the 13.5s. Put on the nickel bronze set but swapped a light 16 b string and medium 13 high e. Tension is not much higher than a set of lights, and the tone is full and rich. Great strings!

[Forest Dweller]

I find it bizarre that D'Addario could come out with such an esoteric set of strings as this and yet apparently are reluctant to create Dadgad sets in their XS and XT ranges because they think the demand isn't there!

Robbie

[gmel555]

(Yes old thread, but maybe still relevant)…. tried a few different “balanced” sets but they left me wanting something more on the tone front. A good example is D’Addario NB’s. I VERY much like the “regular” NB’s but found the tone of the balanced sets “boring”. I’ve not seen any data that says tone benefits from having all 6 strings at the same tension, so can only guess the design is more about feel than tone,,,?

[zoopeda]

Originally Posted by gmel555

(Yes old thread, but maybe still relevant)…. tried a few different “balanced” sets but they left me wanting something more on the tone front. A good example is D’Addario NB’s. I VERY much like the “regular” NB’s but found the tone of the balanced sets “boring”. I’ve not seen any data that says tone benefits from having all 6 strings at the same tension, so can only guess the design is more about feel than tone,,,?

I’ve not noticed the tone is any different vs the “regular” NBs. Maybe you got a bad set? What I like about the 13.5 balanced set is that the A, D, & G strings are light gauge, but the low e is medium, and the b and high e are thicker too. I change my D18 and 00-17 strings at the same time and put the 13.5 on my dread and take the 13 from the medium set on the D18 for the 00. Gives a little more richness and volume in just the right places on that guitar.

Kind of like the Lawrence Juber Martin retro strings. Light middles and medium low e and high two.

I think you’re right though. The marketing angle is the FEEL of balanced tension strings. Not sure that matters to me a whole lot.