This classic construction makes TITE-FIT™ a great allaround string that works for a range of styles and genres, including Rock, Blues, Metal and Jazz. Several brands now have sets catering for drop tunings, extended-range guitars, and even baritone guitars, but Dunlop says these Heavy Core nickel-wrapped steel strings have the core-to-wrap ratio to rule them all.

Guide to Coated Strings - Strings Direct Guide to Coated Strings - Strings Direct

This may sound counter intuitive - after all, why would you want to spend more money on strings for a guitar that isn’t regularly used? You only have to take a quick look at most of the marketing around coated sets to see a strong theme where manufacturers are striving to produce a string that feels and sounds like an uncoated string. So, plenty of guitarists can be taken aback when they find their new set from a different brand sporting colored ends. As a company at the forefront of the longer-life coated strings market when it was developed in the '90s, Elixir has continued to refine the technology. In the early 1900s, an earthquake that destroyed their town made them move to New York where the family decided to continue their business of string making and they began to produce steel and nylon strings.

Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars and guitar culture since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitar World. TITE-FIT™ Electric Guitar Strings utilize a nickel plated steel wrap wire wound on a round core wire to produce a fatter sound. MusicRadar's got your back Our team of expert musicians and producers spends hours testing products to help you choose the best music-making gear for you.

Strings HI-DEF NEON™ - MULTI-COLOUR Coloured Electric DR Strings HI-DEF NEON™ - MULTI-COLOUR Coloured Electric

You’d certainly be forgiven for thinking that by slapping a coating on the outer surface of a string, they’d all pretty much be the same as one another, right!It’s quite unfortunate that the colored coating doesn’t last long and it will noticeably wear off because of the friction created by your fingers, or pick.

Best electric guitar strings 2023: Give your electric new Best electric guitar strings 2023: Give your electric new

These guys are no longer the new kid on the block and have been on the string scene for quite some time now. To put it simply, I’m a firm believer that if something can make your life easier as a guitarist, in this case, the colored ends of a string set, then you need to at least give it a try!

Coated strings such as Elixir’s promise to extend the life of your string, repelling the gunk and sweat that builds up when playing. Whereas some others like Elixir, coat the string after it has been made (a bit like a protective sock for your strings). After substantial playing, and towards the end of their stated life you may start to see some fraying of the coating around the high-impact areas (picking position) but that’s pretty much cosmetic and the strings will keep going, and going, and going… !