Same here - not a fan of changing strings. When I was gigging regularly, I would change them prior to each gig. Nowadays, my guitars are just basically laying around the house and I pick them up as the mood strikes. Unless a string breaks, no need to change em' - I couldn't care less. As a side note, I have a Strat with a vintage style non-locking tremolo. That guitar sat in my living room with the same strings for about 3+ years, heavily played and some whammy abuse. But never tuned with a tuner. When I finally broke down and changed the strings, I was surprised to find only 1 or 2 strings were just a few cents off - otherwise perfectly in tune! So it CAN be done!
Did they redesign the Slinky 10's packaging or are these a DIFFERENT green-yellow 10-46 slinky set???
That is quite a wait. They are worth it though IMHO. But get the green Optiwebs if you do! They are the thinnest coating and the brightest. Polywebs (blue) are the thickest and are like jazz strings. Nanowebs (orange) sit somewhere in the middle.
I don't mind changing strings all that much, it's just part of being a guitarist. My 12 strings are a bit tedious though, and I don't change strings weekly, or even monthly in some cases..But I'm not doing any playing out right now, if I were I would change them more often. When I am gigging something I never do is change them on the night of the gig, I'll change them at least the day before so they'll be stretched out a bit and stay in tune better. And I never go through the whole routine of fretboard cleaning and adjusting the neck, ect. for every string change, that's going overboard IMO. I would hate that myself! I will do a deep cleaning about every six months or so, and adjust the neck as needed, which ain't very often. If it's set up right it shouldn't need it. Again, IMO. Your mileage may vary! I once read an interview with Eric Clapton in which either him or his guitar tech stated his guitars never got a string change until one broke, that's sort of the rule of thumb I follow. There's nothing that sounds as good as a new set of strings though! What I hate is breaking the high E on my Strats, which it seems is the nature of the beast with Strats..That and the fact I try to make up for my lack of technical ability with a lot of high bends and vibrato! And when one breaks I just change them all, so my Strats get string changes more often than my Gibsons do! I no longer have any guitars with Floyd Rose trems, those things are a PITA! I had one on my '74 Strat for awhile, but I used a Kahler locking nut so didn't have those two holes drilled through the neck..I'm glad I did that as I eventually went back to a stock trem on that guitar, and got a much better tone that I ever did with the FR..The Floyd made it sound kind of dead by comparison and upon going back to stock was surprised at how much better it sounded tone-wise, and if it's been my experience that if a Strat's set up right it stays in tune as well as it would with a Floyd. I'm not into going crazy with the whammy bar anyhoo, so for me it makes a Floyd kind of redundant. Besides all that, I don't like having to keep extra tools around just to change strings, with my stock trems all I need is the standard 'ol wirecutters!
I play drums as well, and I've been meaning to change out the heads on all my drums, but I'm not in the mood to drop a hundred bucks or so on new heads and for it to take a few hours to get the sound I want.
I have 8 geetars that I rotate through. I keep them clean like new at all times. I end up changing mine all at the same time about every 6 months...Ernie Balls last a long time for me. I clean and oil the fret boards and any other parts that are tough to get to when the strings are on. All mine have locking tuners, tail pieces and bridges so it makes the process much easier.
I don't mind really, and I have 7 or 8 guitars with locking nut and Floyd type trems. I just plop in front of the tv and knock a couple out while watching something uninteresting. I used to really blow through strings before pops told me the handy thing about wiping them down when you're done playing - that definitely extends their life. Also, like MD above ^, I love EB strings, super bang for buck lasting power. Another habit I have is keeping my favorite beater electric handy for daily toilet playing, wood shedding, writing, etc, so the main guys tend to just be for recording or jams...i bet the strings on the beater are 5 years old lol.
Ernie Balls here as well..Except for my acoustics. I use Daddarios on them..EB's DO seem to last longer. And yes, wiping the strings down after playing (or even before) will extend their lifespan by quite a bit! I think it keeps the fretboard from getting gunked up as well..FWIW, I read somewhere that excessive fretboard cleaning (especially with abrasive stuff like steel wool) is not good for them, particularly rosewood boards.
I got a killer deal on an old set of Whitehalls last year, and have been trying to learn to play them..They had the original heads on them which were obviously ancient! So I've been changing the heads out one at a time, drum heads ain't cheap fer sure! The drums scare my dogs way more than my big amps do, I guess to them they sound like a thunderstorm.
I dont know they have always looked this way since lve been buyin them...these are nickel...classics. that might be why???
Classics are pure nickel. Normal Slinky are nickel plated. The only EB I cared for are Cobalt but they are rough on frets so I rarely use them.
I started using Paradigms but have now started shifting back and forth between those and just regular Slinky's.
I have only tried Cobalts and Classics plus Aluminum Bronze acoustic which I did not like at all- too tinny. One of these days I’ll try the regular Slinky’s.
