Balanced tension, balanced sound
This review is for the new D’Addario EXL110BT electric guitar strings. These strings were designed to give a more balance sound from one string to the next for a more even sounding tone. D’Addario was nice enough to send me a free beta sample pack to test the strings so I decided to write a review for them and tell my thoughts about the strings. Before I do, here are the new string gauges for the balanced tension string set:
1E .10,
2B .0135,
3G .017,
4D .026,
5A .034,
6E .046.
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The Good
I actually like the feel of these strings; they are smooth, soft to the touch and extremely easy to play. If you are a beginner you should have no problem learning how to play the guitar with these strings on. Bends are easy to perform and slides are a breeze.
I suppose the biggest question is- Is there really a difference between the EXL110BT strings and the standard EXL110 strings?
Yes, but only a slight difference. If you are a beginner you probably won’t notice the difference in their sound or feel in comparison to the standard EXL110 strings because if you compare the string gauges it is a very small adjustment. If you are a luthier or professional musician and you are used to intonating your guitars than you will probably notice the difference in the sound quality a bit more.
I’m not sure how to describe the sound but I will try by saying that these strings have a “cleaner” sound and feel to them with the adjusted tension. It could be wishful thinking because I am comparing these strings to my old guitar strings that had been on the guitar for who knows how long, but regardless, I really like the way these strings sound.
The Bad
You may not be able to play these strings straight out of the box. What I mean is that you may need to get your guitar setup to use them. I went from using .10 guitar strings from another brand to the D’Addario EXL110BT strings, and even though there was only a slight adjustment in the strings tension I had a bit of fret buzz on a few of my strings and had to adjust them near the bridge to fix the problem. So make sure to setup your guitar to maximize the quality of the EXL110BT strings to avoid any problems.
As for durability, my high E string randomly snapped on me while tuning it a couple of days after I put them on the guitar. I went and inspected the guitar’s nut, bridge and the frets, but I found that the problem wasn’t my guitar. I first thought my guitar had a burr or something that caused it to snap, but after I replaced the string with another type they haven’t snapped since then. Sadly when it comes to guitar strings it could have been any number of things that caused it to snap on me.
UPDATE: D’Addario actually got in contact with me and told me that if a string breaks they will replace it for you. Their customer service was great because they were nice enough to send me a pack of new strings free of charge. If you broke a string all you need to do is contact them and tell them what happened and they should be able to fix the problem for you. And to think that all this time I was going to my local music store to buy replacement guitar strings…
Where to buy them
Since D’Addario has sent the strings to me I have had them on my guitar for close to a month now and so far they have held their tuning and I haven’t noticed a loss in their tonal quality. Keep in mind that everyone is different and things like how you sweat and greasy fingers can cut guitar string life down, so this is purely my experience with the strings.
The D’Addario balanced tension EXL110BT guitar strings are now available on the market and can be found at most music stores and online retailers. The MSRP listed price is about $9.90 USD, but the actual price at most music stores and on Amazon.com is around $4.95 through $5.49, so shop around for the best deal. I would recommend you give them a try because I personally love how they sound when played clean without any effects; the tone is amazing. I just put on the new EXL115BT guitar strings so I will also tell you my thoughts about those in the future.
Make sure to check the strings out at the D’Addario official website link on the right side of this article for more information.
Reference:
- www.amazon.com/DAddario-EXL110BT-Electric-Strings-Balanced/dp/B00AQBT3GA/ref=sr_1_1?i
- www.daddario.com/DADProductDetail.Page?ActiveID=3769&productid;=383&productname;=EXL110
- www.daddario.com/balanced_tension.page
