I hate dead strings! When I played every weekend, I changed strings every Thursday night before we played on Friday. I've used D'Addario and Ernie Ball 10-46 forever. Recently, I bought a couple of sets of Ernie Ball Cobalt Slinky strings for the Les Paul and I can't seem to wear them out. These days, I change about once a month or so ... whenever they start sounding a little dead. These Cobalt strings just keep on sounding good. I'm ticky about harmonic response when I brush a thumb behind the pick. I like to be able to put a little character into my licks when it's appropriate. These do it pretty much like the standard steel Slinkies. The cobalt strings just seem to last and last.
I can buy 5 or 6 sets of strings compared to a set of bass strings. I played my Alvarez acoustic last night. It has a set of coated 11's on it. I think those strings have been on the guitar since Spring and they still have that crisp high end that usually dies quickly with standard steel strings. I must be living right.
Then again, you can polish a guitar and it sounds better. It's like washing a car. They drive better right out of the car wash ... or so we think.
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ETA: Gabbafest is going on right now in Macon. The Georgia Allman Brothers Band Association puts it on every year. People come from all over to participate, especially the concert at the Cox Capital Theater and the Allman Bothers tribute concert at the park. That's an outdoor concert put on by local musicians each year, usually the same guys, and the admission is one or more canned goods. The food is donated to local food banks.
http://www.maconga.org/includes/events/index.cfm?action=displayDetail&eventid=2028
A little extra treat ... Billy Gibbons sitting in with the Allman Brothers Band at the Beacon Theater. Toward the end, Warren Haynes and Billy Gibbons engage in a little lick swapping on a solo. In the middle, Derek Trucks blisters his way through the slide solo. Derek has a gift for slide work.
I can buy 5 or 6 sets of strings compared to a set of bass strings. I played my Alvarez acoustic last night. It has a set of coated 11's on it. I think those strings have been on the guitar since Spring and they still have that crisp high end that usually dies quickly with standard steel strings. I must be living right.
Then again, you can polish a guitar and it sounds better. It's like washing a car. They drive better right out of the car wash ... or so we think.
------------------
ETA: Gabbafest is going on right now in Macon. The Georgia Allman Brothers Band Association puts it on every year. People come from all over to participate, especially the concert at the Cox Capital Theater and the Allman Bothers tribute concert at the park. That's an outdoor concert put on by local musicians each year, usually the same guys, and the admission is one or more canned goods. The food is donated to local food banks.
http://www.maconga.org/includes/events/index.cfm?action=displayDetail&eventid=2028
A little extra treat ... Billy Gibbons sitting in with the Allman Brothers Band at the Beacon Theater. Toward the end, Warren Haynes and Billy Gibbons engage in a little lick swapping on a solo. In the middle, Derek Trucks blisters his way through the slide solo. Derek has a gift for slide work.
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