Strings lasting longer?

[llew]

I have D'Addario XT's on the majority of my guitars right now and they're holding up just fine. I haven't tried the XS yet but will at some point. I bought up a couple dozen set's of now discontinued EXP's just because I seem to have good luck with those as well. And there's always a glut of EJ-16's and EJ-17's around here.

[Aimelie]

Originally Posted by AndrewG

Elixir Nanoweb user here; my last set on my Mercury only began to degrade significantly after six months daily play. Great strings although initially expensive, and very cost-effective over the long term.

Wow…

Did your strings get fuzzy looking a long while before the six month mark?

After three months, my Elixir Nano’s were positively fluffy over the soundhole and up at the fretboard (second and third fret positions, mostly). I was convinced that that couldn’t have been good for the tone, even though I wasn’t as sure when relying on my ears and not just my eyes.

<<shrugs>>

I’m a thrifty person, so 6 months’ use sure would be nice.

[dnf777]

Originally Posted by Colinguitar

It may seem a bit nerdy but if you note down when you change strings and what they are, then you will have concrete data on time length. This is really useful if you have several guitars and can’t remember when each one was restrung. I have found this useful when I thought a set of strings were sounding a bit dull but didn’t think they should be until I checked the date they were put on and was surprised to see how long ago it was.

Haha...not at all. I keep a “string log” for that exact reason. Still have trouble objectifying string qualities over time.

Now building an XL spreadsheet to track string use would be nerdy!

[Silly Moustache]

I enjoy changing strings!
but - I hve dry, non acid hands.

I used to change strings on my flat top sixes every 2 months, and 12 strings, Dobro, mandolin every three months.

Thensome time ago, foreign (US) made strings went up in price a shocking amount, so I reduced the changes to every three/four months - no discernable difference.

Then came my cancer treatment, and strings that had been on, but hardly used lasted even longer.
Then ... Covid. Last week I changed six month old strings on my three dreads and my jumbo, although they were still nice and shiny.

My Dobro, mando and archtops have 12 month old strings which look good ..... however .....

I've found that a perfectly good looking , if aged set will go off pretty quickly once you tart working them again.

We are having remarkably high RH here currently - up to mid 50s - that will unduobtedly have an effect.