Best Electric Guitar Strings For Blues (Jan 2023 Update)

I mostly play R&B and Blues. Essentially, I am rhythm player. With the exception of a few 8 to 24 bar solos, I am not the center of attention. When I'm front and center I still need to sound good. These strings help. These strings are awesome. The tone is amazing. Occasionally, I have to tune down one-half step. These strings are one of the few that will work well in both standard and dropped tunings. If the guitar is set up correctly, these strings aren't an issue. This means a very low action isn't going to happen. Medium strings work with medium action. If the action is too low for the string gauge, your guitar will buzz and become uncomfortable. Since more metal will drive your magnets with more oomph, using slightly heavier strings is a very cost effective way to improve your tone. I've been usinging EXL115 strings and their less eco-frinedly packaged predecessor XL115 since the late 1980s. I've tried other brands with exactly the same gauge. These typically worked as well for slightly more money, and I suspect that they where cranked out of the same factory.AZ Bluesman

I have put these on a Gibson 335 copy guitar, in place of my usual D'Addario 10's gauge, and I find the tone and feel even better than it was before, the extra beef on the shorter scale neck suits it very well. Still light enough to play comfortably, but now feels a better balance, for me it was just slightly underpowered with 10's gauge on that type of instrument, whereas 10's gauge is pretty much perfect on a Fender scale length neck.Christopher W.

Back in 2008 or so, I bought my first 'jazz box' style guitar. To be succinct here, it was my first full bodied, electric with f-holes similar to Ibanez' George Benson model or Gibson's L-4 model, but minus the hefty price tag. Mine is a Washburn J-3. When I got the guitar, it needed fresh strings and after showing it off to my local music store, they suggested a set of D'Addario Nickle Plated 11's since I don't do much string bending. In my own application, they worked since I use 12's on my acoustics and 10's on my LP and Strat. After putting them on my J-3, the sound was great! These strings are clear, bright, but also full bodied in their tone. They were a great choice for this application. Plus, the price at MF is also a plus. SInce I don't use my jazz as often as my other guitars, these strings hold up well and long. Usually, the main reason for my changing them out is build up on the strings from my fingers or it's been over 6 months since the last string change. In closing, these strings are good, reasonably priced, and a fine example of why D'Addario's are the #1 string choice out there.RockinRD76

I have been playing for over 40 years. These strings sound and feel better than others. I play Jazz, Blues, Rock, and I have these on all my guitars ES 335, Custom Strat, Tele, and a Les Paul Custom. These sound great on all. Do not know how they would sound or feel playing other genres. But for the ones I enjoy playing they hit the spot.Starbuck, T

Whats not to like about these strings vintage tone plenty of sustain, round wound round core pure nickel. Just remember to bend your strings at a right angle before trimming to length. This prevents the outer core moving thus deadening the string.Ken M.

I was looking for strings that have less tension when used with guitars that use vibrato systems. Round core strings fit the bill for that more than hex core. There are not as many string manufactures that make round core strings. I have them on my Fender Strat and PRS Custom 24. They sound great and stay in tune!ROBERT

(Guitar there were placed on is a Tom Murphy Painted and Aged Gibson Custom Shop 1959 Les Paul Standard w/ Brazilian Fretboard) Back in the day, Ernie Ball strings weren't packaged well; they weren't even sealed. If you haven't tried them since their packaging was reinvented, they're definitely worth a look now. Tried D'Addario pure nickel strings, found the wound three to be too low output. I swear the core wire looked like it belonged in acoustic strings. Maybe I got a factory defect, who knows. Gibson strings sound great initially but the 'G' starts to sound dead after a week and the wound strings sound dead and filthy in three weeks. These on the other hand sound marvelous. They sound great out of the package, stay balanced, and sound good for longer than I thought possible.MidnightRiderInTX

I have recently come back to playing the guitar, Sax is my primary instrument but I have had my Gibson RD Standard since 1978. I have since increased my heard of guitars to 10 electric guitars and 3 bass guitars. I have come to favor the Ernie Ball lights and super lights on almost all my guitars. I play the 9's on all of my Stratocaster copies and the super lights on the 3/4 size guitars. I love the feel as far as tone, intonation, flexibility ease of bends and how the strings hold up as a whole. I would definitely recommend to a friend or buy this produce again.Antonio

I have been using the Power Slinkys (11s) for a few years now. I had switched from another brand because the Slinkys made my Strat sound more Straty. After watching a few videos on YouTube about string gauge, I thought I would buy the Regular Slinkys (10s) and see what difference that would make. When I got online to buy I saw that Guitar Center had a sale on 12 packs and since there is a pandemic, I thought it prudent to hoard strings. My logic was that while I may run out of TP, I would never run out of strings for my guitars. Long story short, you cannot go wrong with the tone of 10s. I do like them better than the 11s. They are much clearer in the low end and you get more definition. I have to do less EQing when recording and they just seem to pop better in a mix. The only downside is that they are taking me time to get used to, I play very heavy handed and these are much easier to bend. But I can already see that I have less hand fatigue.Richard

After buying these strings and slapping them on my Ibanez Artcore semi-hollow, I can honestly say that the best thing I have ever did to improve my guitar's tone was put higher gauge strings on it. Maybe semi-hollows just resonate better with them, not sure. The round 3rd string is pretty clutch – the strings I used to put on would have a very noisy, tinny-sounding 3rd string and having a wound one like this has completely solved that issue. My Artcore would just sound too twangy in general with lighter strings on it, too – and having heavier gauge strings improved that issue by leaps and bounds. I'm not exactly an expert in tone so I can't argue about the finer points of the sound these strings make – but my bottom line is, they help me to better access the range of sounds that I want from my instrument, and that's what matters. Definitely 5 stars for tone. I have one complaint though: I am an abusive bender, as it were. When I bend the strings, I push their limits pretty friggin hard, and these particular strings will only take so much. Had a string break on me yesterday while I was bending really hard but I had another set hanging around so it was all good. My lighter gauge strings from before would withstand this abuse beautifully – but just keep in mind that when you move up to thicker strings, you're making a trade-off: the thicker strings will wear out and break more quickly if you push them too hard and bend them abusively like I do. On the subject of bending, also: with the wound 3rd string, if you want to bend it, you need to bend it a lot further to get the interval that you want, so just be prepared for that. All in all however, I am VERY happy with these strings. I'll have to take it easy on the bending a little bit, but for me that's more than a worthy trade-off for strings that really make my baby sing like she should. I can't necessarily speak for how these would sound on other guitars because I've never heard what they sound like on others, but I would MOST DEFINITELY recommend them for anyone playing a hollow or semi-hollow guitar. Fantastic tone, reasonable durability, and a good price.Phoebus125

These strings helped with tuning stability issues I was having with an (Indonesian, fat neck) Epiphone 335 Dot, which I love but the unwound G string was going out of tune. Swapped out the bridge (Guitar Fetish–nice choice and half the price of TonePro) and the nut (Graph Tech), which also helped. I retained the lower three strings from the 'Heavy Bottom" set I had on it already. The top 3 strings sound great, but I've only had 'em on for a few days. I also put these on another 335-style guitar, but the bottom 3 strings felt just a bit flimsy switching back and forth with the Epi, not surprisingly. They sound good, nice and acoustically rich.Doc

I see a lot of you use these for lower tuning, which is great, but not me! I use them for Eb! I play metal and need my strings to snap back and handle my heavy picking hand. These are massive, fat strings that deliver massive, fat tone!Bargain Bin Hetfield

These strings are perfect for lower tunings. The individual string gauges are well balanced for rhythm and lead playing. I use these strings for "drop C" & "C standard" tunings and they hold up exceptionally well for my style of playing. Excellent value and a quality product.Chuzz

I just got the strings and was very happy to notice that you have included a string winder inside the package! And if im not wrong, it doesn't state anything about a string winder. That really made my evening! Thank you very much! This is my second purchase from you and im sure it wont be the last. Its a pleasure doing business with you guys! Thanks again!justakshay

I was excited to try out the Blue Steel acoustic guitar strings. I got them in the mail and strung up my guitar with much anticipation. They were good at first, but after only about 20 minutes, my hands smelled like cheap metal, and the tone had already dulled. These strings made my high quality guitar sound like a tinny, cheap First Act Guitar. I would not recommend these strings to anyone. However, I would highly recommended Elixer nanowebs or polywebs. They are a far superior string. They are worth the extra price and will make any guitar sound great.Paul B.

Played guitar for 9 years. Have always picked and fretted with excessive force. My hands sweat and ruin strings. I've tried many strings, Elixrs were the best but too expensive, DR, D'addario, Ernie Ball, RotoSound….nothing felt like home. Somebody told me about these strings, I bought two packs of 12s and fell in love. Unlike the coated strings (Elixr) these are super-cooled so that the molecules lock together tighter. They stay in tune better than any strings I've played. These strings can take a beating. The tone is great for 4 or 5 weeks and it still sounds decent 2-3 months later. They are cheaper than most strings so you're crazy not to try them.TheCapitols

I've been using these strings for years. I love a wound 3rd string. They last up to a month for me where other brands only lasted a week tops. I just bought a new Les Paul with a Bigsby. It came with 9s on it and the intonation was way off. I had a set of 9s by EB and put them on to see what would happen. After a couple of days I could see it wasn't going to work out so I replaced them with a set of these 11s and the guitar locked right in tune.OleJazzer

so, I have taken up Jazz Guitar(I am mainly a bass player but do play guitar). Found a great deal on a jazz box, did a little work on it, now the strings; the real "jazz guys" use flatwounds usually. Back in the day (when I first started playing guitar) I used flatwounds and I never really liked them went to round wounds and I was happy. So, as I started this project I bought several different types of strings, mostly nickel plated. They were OK but not close to the "flatwound" sound (of course not they are round wound) even tried half round (I really did no like these) so I read that the pure nickel were pretty mellow. Well, they were but not that dead sound of flatwounds. I have used DR strings on my bass for several years after trying many different brands both stainless and nickel plated and the Low Rider Nickel are my favorite, period (I haven't tried the Pure Blues for bass yet ). So, being a DR fan I tried and liked the Pure nickel electric strings. They do squeak a bit but I really like the sound and, of course, the feel. Give them a try. MF got them right out to me at a very good price. More happiness!Michael B.

I tried these on my '79 Ibanez AR50. The guitar has the great Super 70 pickups, and is of course a solid body in the LP style. As those pickups can be a bit 'hot' I was hoping to tame them down a little and yet keep the tone as clear as possible. So far I'm very happy with the results. Through a clean amp with the tone dialed back just a little, I'm really happy with the results. Now if my fingers would cooperate a bit, I think I'll be set for a while. Note that the 3rd string is a 24ga wound, but it is a very fine wind on it, so I'm getting very nice tone and hardly any 'squeak' when doing slides. YMMV!Charlie

Took a punt… I've never had heavier gauge strings before, I put them on my epiphone es 339, sounds amazing, great tone for metal.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

These replaced the set of 10's that came on my 25.5 inch scale Hanson Firenze; Jazzmaster style offset with classic-wind Firebird-like blade pickups and a Bigsby. No setup changes were required when I dropped back to this lighter 9.5 set. I can't tell the difference in tone but my 64-year-old fingers aren't feeling nearly as much stress when I play. I liked the sound of the 10's compared to the 9's I was accustomed to but my fingers never quite adapted. These in-betweeners feel great and sound good too.Dave

I'm very surprised these strings aren't far more popular. I think it's because most guitarists don't think about in-between gauges. You get the easy playability of 9 gauge and the tuning stability of 10 gauge. They're not so stiff that ye lil finger tip gets all sore doing them bends and not so light that when ya get all into the groove and apply a tad too much pressure them notes start to sound a touch sharp. As for tone, these sound great! Not too bright. Not too dark. Just right. I play a lot in drop D using a Floyd and these are the perfect string. Not too stiff, not too light. Perfect for noodling around the fretboard. I mean, these are 5 bucks a set. Buy a set and check em' out. I'm sure as hell glad I did. As far as stuff getting on your hand as one reviewer stated, well uh, I think that's a dirty bridge and fretboard. Definitely not the strings. How would that even be possible??DanGoodShot

The pure blues strings are great, they have a decent lifespan and good tone. The black beauties however, feel and sound heavier than they should, likely attributed to the coating. I use the blues on my nicer guitars that I use for playing in practices and jamming with friends, and have been using the black beauties on the guitars that I play every day, the life span means less changing of strings on the heavy use guitars, while the blues are used more for the guitars that I want the proper tone and feel on. Both sets of strings have their virtues, and like many things, it really comes down to personal preference.Josh

I have used DR strings for many years, and haven't wanted to switch ever since. This bundle of three pairs of (10-46 gauge) strings is a great buy. Two are the 'Pure Blues' string sets, and one is of the 'Black Beauties' style. Both types hold their tone and brightness for months, as a casual player of guitar, and they stretch many times without going out of tune. They last well on the road too, compared to other brands. (BTW: This is a promotional bundle, so it may be a limited time offer. Buy them while you can at a modest price.)ganymede3000

OMG I though nothing could make my 1970 Gibson Black beauty LP sound bad, but after putting these strings on my guitar had the muddies dead tone I have ever heard,pinch harmonics were so flat sounding.I only had them on for three hours of jamming, but I can't get these things off fast enough.. I have the Red devils on my Voodoo LP that sound nice and bright like they should very happy with. I will be replacing these with the nickle pure Beauties and hoping for a better result. So disappointed cause they looked cool with the gold hardware and black body..I would like to give this no stars but it wouldn't let me.;(Second Saturday

I really like these strings. They are warm, and give what I believe to be the best tone on my Stratocaster's and Telecaster. I don't really remember when I first started using Pure Nickel strings (of any brand), but I DO know I have never used anything but Pure Nickel since. The strings got a 4 star rating. I purposely omitted 1 star because, I feel they don't last as long as say a Nickel wound D'Addario would…but then again, I have not found a Pure Nickel D'Addario set of strings. So I forfeit the longevity for the tone. I DID just today order some Fender 150M (medium gauge 11's)…which are also Pure Nickel. I would never order 10 sets of strings if I didn't like them. Once I get to play the 11's, I will give a review on that product page. As far as Fender Pure Nickel strings go…you can't go wrong on the tonal quality. Rock on!!!White Dog

For years I've played flatwound strings, but when I bought my new Fender American Professional Jaguar I was taken by how lively and expressive the strings were! I left them on. There was a learning curve, with me having to learn a lighter touch, but the more I played them the more I liked them, I went on the Fender website, clicked on the "Chat with us" button, and asked what set came on the Jaguar. It was this set – the Fender 250L Super 250 Nickel-Plated Steel Electric Guitar Strings. VERY musical, VERY expressive! I play jazz-inflected folk, fingerstyle or various flatpicks, including Fender 351 Thins and Dunlop 204s. There's a reason Fender puts these on their guitars!RubyTuba

BUY THESE ! I hadn't used Fender strings for 30 years . A friend of mine bought out a music store so to liquidate he sold me all the strings and drum sticks in stock .. there were mostly Fender strings so I started using them . 20 packs of 9's lasted me well over a year . I work at least 3 night a week as a lead guitarists / vocalist . so I use my main Strat a lot . after I ran out of Fender's I used GHS and noticed I was breaking strings .. so I tried the Ernie Ball's .. breaking strings again ! I went to a local music store and bought a pack of Fender's . as an experiment I wasted to see how long before one would break . SIX WEEKS ! .. THEY LASTED 6 WEEKS ! .. That's 18 gigs , 3 hours pr night for a month and a half every Thursday Friday and Saturday . and they still sounded good ! FENDER RULES !horsesass123

A very good friend of mine uses these strings all the time; on all of his guitars. After playing few of his instruments, i understood why. In my opinion, these strings are pretty nice. They are smooth (not sticky feeling like flat wound chomes) and they seem to hold there tone pretty well. (At least for me) I have used these strings in the past but i couldn't appreciate them because i had a bad guitar. That's all changed now. I think i really like theseTC

Nickel electric guitar strings are the bright sounding electric guitar strings. You get the manufacturing process of DR 's specific string core winding technology the way they make their High Beam bass and guitar and guitar strings. DR pure Blues strings are as bright, loud and clear and well made both material and manufacturing wise as electric guitar strings can be. I suppose you could use thesewith distortion but with the clarity of these, playing in clean channel'd be 'purest way to hear emhartke2k

I wanted to try something different. I had EB slinkys on my Gretsch Jet. I decided to give the DR handmade Pure Blues a go. Personally I think these are better than the EB. They feel and sound different. Playing seems to take less effort than the EB’s. I would suggest do a google search on stringing roundcore strings. Apparently there are pitfalls if you don’t string them right. I’m going to order a couple more packs just in case. I’m very tempted to try the acoustic strings as well.DGB

A very good friend of mine uses these strings all the time; on all of his guitars. After playing few of his instruments, i understood why. In my opinion, these strings are pretty nice. They are smooth (not sticky feeling like flat wound chomes) and they seem to hold there tone pretty well. (At least for me) I have used these strings in the past but i couldn't appreciate them because i had a bad guitar. That's all changed now. I think i really like theseTC

Nickel electric guitar strings are the bright sounding electric guitar strings. You get the manufacturing process of DR 's specific string core winding technology the way they make their High Beam bass and guitar and guitar strings. DR pure Blues strings are as bright, loud and clear and well made both material and manufacturing wise as electric guitar strings can be. I suppose you could use thesewith distortion but with the clarity of these, playing in clean channel'd be 'purest way to hear emhartke2k

I wanted to try something different. I had EB slinkys on my Gretsch Jet. I decided to give the DR handmade Pure Blues a go. Personally I think these are better than the EB. They feel and sound different. Playing seems to take less effort than the EB’s. I would suggest do a google search on stringing roundcore strings. Apparently there are pitfalls if you don’t string them right. I’m going to order a couple more packs just in case. I’m very tempted to try the acoustic strings as well.DGB

After trying a few different brands and gauges of strings over a five year period I have finally found the perfect brand/set of strings for playing in C# and drop-B tunings. I started out playing Ernie Ball sets on a 25.5 scale guitar in standard tuning but when I began experimenting with down-tuning I found the EB sets to be lacking in tone and definition the lower I tuned my guitar not to mention constantly breaking my low E string. When I switched to playing a 24 3/4 scale guitar in C# and drop-B I had to start looking for a new set of strings because the EB "not even slinky" sets I had been using just were not cutting it. I tried Dean Markley Blue Steel .13's with a wound 3rd string and found the top strings to be cumbersome and the low .56 still not heavy enough for dropping the low E to B. I went to every single music shop in town looking for a light top/extremely heavy bottom set and I finally ran across the GHS .10 – .60 set on sale, two for the price of one. Perfect! These strings last forever. If you use some GHS Fast Fret on them they keep their tone better than any other brand of string I've tried and I have yet to break a string in the year or so I've been using the GHS .10-.60 sets. The tone is fantastic and they sound great on a mahogony/maple body guitar with EMG pickups. It does take some getting used to the difference in string gauge between the low and high strings but it didn't take me long to learn to adjust my pick attack for the lighter strings on the top end. If you know how to set up your guitar for heavy gauge strings get 'em and go to town! If not I would highly recommend you take your guitar to a guitar/music shop and have it set up by a pro. Oh, for you kids out there: these strings are NOT meant for standard tuning and they will not make you sound like Zakk Wylde but they might make you a better guitarist if used as intended. I now use GHS strings on all my electric guitars.ViperDude310

touring in the 80s I used GHS boomers GBCL, I stopped playing in the 90s and somehow ended up using EB hybrid slinkys. I found an old pack of boomers in a guitar case compartment i hadnt opened since 93. Somehow they were still fresh and strung up one of my guitars from the 80s. Wow, the wound strings EAD (or C# G# C# my tuning) are definitely Louder and breakthrough more than the wound EBs… (the plain steel sounded identical). There are soooooooo many fake garbage and laughable opinions on guitar products these days on the tube that I decided to do my own experiment to confirm what I was hearing. I proceeded to purchase 26 packs of these GHS boomers GBCL (which are the wound strings from a 10s set and the plain strings from a 9s set). Using 2 identical guitars (even color), Logic X via a PreSonus FireStudio input, dunlop red acrylic 1.5mm pick and as consistent as possible pick of each strings. The only difference was that each guitar had a new set of strings, one got GHS boomers GBCL and the other ErnieBall HyBrid Slinkys. I averaged the 12 picks of each string by merging the 12 waveforms into a single track for each guitar for each string, the wound strings of the GHS boomers were clearly louder, rang longer by at least 7.2, 5.9, 4.6 seconds respectively (tuned toC#, G#, C#). the Plain Steel string waveforms were virtually Identical between the sets though. If you arent sure what this tuning is, its simply DropD half a step down (aka dropC#). Plugged into a Dual Rectifier, Laney and a Vetta, on a high gain channel you get this Extra Gain that breaks through, so needless to say ill be back to using GHS boomers GBCLs on all my guitars!!!thundercab

Definitely the best strings at the price point lately. They have a thinner or smoother wind than Ernie Ball slinkys or Daddarrio exl and this results in less finger noise and a zingier tone IMO. I'm into clean and classic rock, and I doubt you would like these over the former two names if you were into more modern and metal sounds. It depends on the guitar for me, on my strat I could use just about any strings. My guitars with humbuckers seem more picky, at least to my ears. I prefer these over the other two as far as cheap strings go, and these are often cheaper. Win win. Used to be I would never have preferred Fender strings so either my tastes are changing or these strings have changed over the years.Joelish

Overall: Don't pay any attention to the low price these are great strings. Have used Fender 7250's on all kinds of bass guitars they always sound great and feel good. Years of use have proved quality. I put them on my Jazz bass, my PJ, and my Squire, have used them on Samick, Music man, OLP, and Epiphone basses, all good.Scott

According to a Fender rep, these are what came on the Fender PJ bass I ordered from Musician's Friend. They produce the classic Fender tone I wanted. I eventually replaced them with a set of Fender 7250L (.040, .060, .080, .100) to make it easier to play on the guitar's 9.5" fingerboard radius. I stayed with Fender because of the tone that the 7250M strings produce. The Light's have slightly less oomph on the low end, yet all the tone while the lighter gauge makes for nice melodic work on the high end of things. If you have a Fender bass and want Fender tone…Vice

Used these to replace the ones that came on my 2018 Gibson Les Paul Standard HP after the factory set had lived its life. I love the sound of these strings and playability of 9s. Haven't broke broke one of these strings yet, even with a lot of bending.The Legend

I bought my first guitar back in January and I went to string up some Ernie Ball Room strings and they broke INSTANTLY. A week later bought these and had no problem with them. They work BEAUTIFULLY for my guitar. I love the feel I love the tone-They're nice and easy to bend. I've been using them on my guitar for a long while now. I'm thinking about going for 10's next time? Anyway a GREAT string pack in my book.Oya

I first got a set of these strictly to put on a guitar I was going to use for slide. AS I was stretching them out I realized they played fantastically, and the tone from my Tele was rich and full and easier to fret and bend then I ever thought they would be. I put the extra set I bought on another guitar of which I actually got the NYXL Balanced 10 set for and again it played wonderfully and was easy to play, easy to bend and the sound was enormous and full! I usually use 10's but these have sold me to move up, at least on guitars with great actions. Really fantastic strings!Kevin

I change strings a lot. I am very cost conscious and conservative with my money. These strings are 2.5x more expensive than the standard string. I have been wanting to give them a shot so I bought the 11's and them10's. I am a heavy handed player and do a lot of bending. I can only do one 4 hr gig with 10's without breaking no matter what I do with standard strings. I got 3 1/2 gigs out of the 10's before I broke the high E. Very good for me! They DO stay in tune much better as well. It was very noticeable to me how much more stable they were. Excellent! I am using the 11's now and expect 4-5 gigs from them. These are the best strings period and I will continue to use them. I have played all the major brands and these are way better. No close seconds in my book.bigstrick1

I'm glad I tried the Fender ss strings. They feel great and have a consistent tone. Not sure bout the longevity yet, too soon to tell. Great price as well. Bought a few Set to give as presents.RochesterTom

These are great guitar strings and a lot better than the ernie ball. As a leading manufacturer of strings, for decades Fender has delivered a high-quality product. The sound of these stings with a Spanish Cedar Wood pick is crisp.mojogumbo

I used Fender strings a long time ago and they always performed well. I made the change to super slinkys many moons ago but decided to go back to 350L when I changed over to my Nighthawk. The slinkys seemed a little dull, maybe it has something to do with the Nighthawk having a Fender scale length. Great move! Everything is much brighter and present with no sacrifice on bottom definition. I play every day and liked the longevity of the super slinkys so we will have to see how the Fenders compare. Great strings and a great price from MF as usual.Jerzy

these strings are the best that i have ever used. i think they sound better then d'addarios, if only because they are warm as opposed to bright, which goes well with my alder guitar. mine lasted two months before breaking, and i couldn't detect a change in tone or tuning stability. and they're red! the only reason i gave a 9 on quality is that the coating wears off where it contacts the frets and where you pick after a month or so, but it doesn't affect anything but looks. too bad i didn't buy more.word.

Here you have one of the best strings you can get for the price you pay. One may think, oh since they are coated with color , the quality sucks. They were wrong, I've been using these strings for about 3 months now, not only do i get compliments on how good the strings look on my black Gibson Epiphone, but i also receive compliments on how good my tone is. There is only one problem i have with these strings. After playing with the strings all day, around the picking area of the strings they red coating comes off. If you think about it, No ones really looking at your picking hand anyway. Also DR includes a piece of paper that even tells you that the Coating comes off. Overall this product is a must buy for me anytime i need new strings.Michael

Put These on my Gibson Voodoo LP The red strings look great with it's Black and red finish. the tone is bright for coated strings. Only have had them a week so none of the coating has come off yet.Did a three hour jam session with my band Second Satuarday last weekend and they held tone very well. So far pleased and will purchase againSecond Saturday

Bought this for my sons first birthday. I loved it, just wish there’s have been a better sizing guide for it. Definitely size up for the t shirts. My son wears 12-18 months in zippies and shorties, but the tshirt was too small/snug in that size.Lindsay S.

I mean, overall, you probably already know what strings you like and don't like if you play at all, but I will say that these strings initially do have a brighter tone than many others. The one knock I have on these is, if you are a chugger, the strings will almost definitely unwind from the base after a while. That said, they definitely hold a nice one until they break. I have yet to have one take on that muted or tinny tonality, so that is a good thing. Overall, these are pretty versatile, but the more aggressive you are as a guitarist on the strings, the more likely you are to have to replace these more frequently than some of the other brands out there.Peter

These strings are perfect, sound great on my guitar and make very little noise when sliding from fret to fret. They are also low wear and tear on the fingers and would be ideal strings for new players as they work up your finger calluses. Sustain seems fine and they are now my favorite strings for electric guitar (do they make a version for acoustics?) I like playing guitars, but my practice time is always cut short by pain in my fingers – when I first played flats on my bass, it transformed my practices – I can play for an hour plus without discomfort. Same goes for the guitar. Allows me to play/practice longer, and that is worth the extra $$.Axiom71