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I'm pretty sure I've said all of this before, but....
I am firmly of the belief that strings are one of the areas where a larger company is a better choice. Most of the smaller brands of strings are just buying their strings from one of the big guys (D'Addario, GHS, La Bella or Ernie Ball - Fender and Martin as well, but to my knowledge they don't do rebranded strings for anyone), and those smaller companies who actually DO make their own strings are without exception (in my experience, at least) very inconsistent. I can't even begin to tell you how often people using one brand of string come in frantic about a buzz they had developed - or a weird intonation problem - only to find that the problem was a string with a bad winding. Two of the most popular "boutique" brand strings are, in my opinion, the worst strings on the market. I'm not saying which ones, though.
Among the big brands, I can't say there is a big difference in quality between them, but they do have some slight differences in their formulas. One company might use a slightly heavier core with a lighter winding, and another may use a little more nickle in the alloy for their electric strings. I tend to prefer D'Addario's strings, though I do like Ernie Ball's electric strings too.
If you must have coated strings (pretty pointless if you ask me - they cost twice as much, don't last twice as long, and they feel weird; also, they sound like shit to begin with, so why would I want them to last?), the ones which sound most like real guitar strings are the D'Addario EXP's. They coat them before they wind them, so the coating is a LOT lighter, and they sound almost like normal guitar strings. They still don't make sense to me financially, and I don't mind changing strings (I can do it fast enough I don't feel the need to do it less often). In general, I say to just use normal guitar strings, and change them as often as you must to keep them sounding good.
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"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
I am firmly of the belief that strings are one of the areas where a larger company is a better choice. Most of the smaller brands of strings are just buying their strings from one of the big guys (D'Addario, GHS, La Bella or Ernie Ball - Fender and Martin as well, but to my knowledge they don't do rebranded strings for anyone), and those smaller companies who actually DO make their own strings are without exception (in my experience, at least) very inconsistent. I can't even begin to tell you how often people using one brand of string come in frantic about a buzz they had developed - or a weird intonation problem - only to find that the problem was a string with a bad winding. Two of the most popular "boutique" brand strings are, in my opinion, the worst strings on the market. I'm not saying which ones, though.
Among the big brands, I can't say there is a big difference in quality between them, but they do have some slight differences in their formulas. One company might use a slightly heavier core with a lighter winding, and another may use a little more nickle in the alloy for their electric strings. I tend to prefer D'Addario's strings, though I do like Ernie Ball's electric strings too.
If you must have coated strings (pretty pointless if you ask me - they cost twice as much, don't last twice as long, and they feel weird; also, they sound like shit to begin with, so why would I want them to last?), the ones which sound most like real guitar strings are the D'Addario EXP's. They coat them before they wind them, so the coating is a LOT lighter, and they sound almost like normal guitar strings. They still don't make sense to me financially, and I don't mind changing strings (I can do it fast enough I don't feel the need to do it less often). In general, I say to just use normal guitar strings, and change them as often as you must to keep them sounding good.
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
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