DR Black Beauties - coated guitar strings

Markedman

Markedman

Well-known member
First of all, these string are stiff right out of the package like nothing I've seen. They are super straight, stiff, different. They are also very bright sounding, perfect for heavy metal chugging. I like them so much that I bought more today and threw them on my other guitars after playing with them on a guitar for a couple of hours.

Has anyone else used these before, if you have, I'm sure you have an opinion, did I mention they're different? They're black too.

RR by John Bazzano, on Flickr
Black strings by John Bazzano, on Flickr
 
These have been my go to strings for years. I use the 50/11 sets for standard/ Drop D

I like them for a couple reasons:

There isn’t really a settle in period once installed and stretched. They sound “right” immediately and stay in that zone for a long time. Most strings, in my experience, take a while to get in the tone sweet spot and don’t stay there very long.

They don’t break even with my Neanderthal picking. I’ve always broken strings fast, but haven’t had that issue with these.

The color of the coating doesn’t sway me one way or the other.
 
I played them for a hot minute. Coating stops acid sweat from corroding, which is nice. It also flakes where the pick hits the strings, and where the strings hit the frets.

Ultimately, a coating technology IMHO needs to protect gunk getting in between the string windings, like Elixir, because dead wound strings, to me, is the primary reason for string change unless the plains are just gunky and corroded as all get out.
 
JackBootedThug said:
I have toxic hands so I tried them for awhile...and I liked them.
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Try Fender 150 pure nickels...smooth tone, albeit higher tension. They last much longer than nickel plated steel strings and have a much more musical high end...less cut, but you can dial that back in with EQ. Hendrix and EVH loved 'em!
 
Nigel said:
Try Fender 150 pure nickels...smooth tone, albeit higher tension. They last much longer than nickel plated steel strings and have a much more musical high end...less cut, but you can dial that back in with EQ. Hendrix and EVH loved 'em!
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I will check them out-thanx!
 
I haven’t used them in years so maybe the formulation has changed but back then I hated how the black coating would flake off all over my guitar
 
DR Red Devils are the worst sounding and feeling strings I've tried. Not sure if these Black Beauties are any different.
 
i gotta get my other guitar player to try these. he sweats like crazy, picks and frets hard, and to my ears, kills his strings of that "tingy" new tone, like instantly. I'm so glad i don't have that issue. we're both far from healthy people, it must be just genetic or something.
 
JimAnsell said:
i gotta get my other guitar player to try these. he sweats like crazy, picks and frets hard, and to my ears, kills his strings of that "tingy" new tone, like instantly. I'm so glad i don't have that issue. we're both far from healthy people, it must be just genetic or something.
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If it's that bad, he may need Elixir Nanowebs. Steel plains will last forever and condom-like coating on the wounds will do the same.
 
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