Yesterday, I noticed that 2 stings on my PRS Soap Bar II have rather severe nicks in them. After reading all about strings this evening, in this forum and elsewhere, (and after my husband informed me that it had flat wounds, who knew? not me, lol) I am pretty much still in the dark as to what type to buy, I do not have a local luthier, and I don’t want to accidentally purchase fakes from Amazon.
Tomorrow I am hoping the hubby can find his micrometer to figure out what size I’ve got (I assume that is by measuring the Low E strings?) to at least narrow things down.
I have no idea what is on my guitar which I bought used 14 months ago, (I know, I’m bad not having changed strings before, but I was busy learning chords and songs, songs, songs!) I do really like these strings though.
I know I do not care for the strings on my Squier Bullet which only listed them as “alloy steel” on Amazon, they feel fat and stiff.
So, assuming I figure out the gauge, I figure some decent brand of flat wound strings would be okay? Am I missing anything?
Eventually I’d like to change my Squier’s strings to see if I like playing it better.
I know you bought it second hand but have you checked the PRS website anyway? A manufacturer website will usually tell you what was on it from the factory. I’ve been unadventurous with my guitars and stuck with what they came with because at least the guitar is set up for them.
You may get away with small deviations from what is on but there’s a chance that a change will affect setup. It can alter the tension on the neck and be the wrong size for the grooves in the nut. I’m sure people will tell you they changed gauge without issue, I’m saying it’s a risk, not a certainty.
People will argue about coated vs non coated etc. My thinking is if you don’t change your strings really frequently to go with coated as they should last longer. I’ve tried a few of the big brands and all were fine in my opinion
PRSs come factory fitted with 9s (9-42) or 10s (10-46) depending on the model.
Either gauge will work on any guitar. It’s a matter of preference and you may find that the previous owner has changed the gauge from the ones it came from the factory with.
You may want to start with 9s as they tend to be easier on the fingers, especially when bending, but it’s also suggested you get a pack of each gauge and try them both.
Examples of brands for 10s are Rotosound Yellows and Ernie Ball (EB) Regularly Slinky. For 9s Rotosound Pinks and EB Super Slinky.
But other manufacturers like D’Addario, Fender, and even PRS themselves make strings too.
Personally, I like Rotosound: they are inexpensive, good, and come with a spare high-e string.
String choice is a personal preference thing. I have logged each string change since I began with notes on what I liked and didn’t, any trouble I had, and some related upgrades (like tuners).
I also recommend that you try options. I had flat-wounds once. They were flat sounding and didn’t last 24 hours before I decided they were a bad choice for me and got changed. I do not think flat is standard for any PRS, but the web site should tell you what they originally put on the guitar.
I have preferred Ernie Ball Cobalt 9-46 on my PRS Tremonti so far, but again, this is a personal preference. Mine is based on trying several string sizes and brands.
I’d be happy to summarize my string notes, or even give you the spreadsheet if you are interested. It is fairly geeky stuff.
I have bought mostly from Amazon. I have never felt I had a bad set of strings. I do not shop minimum price. I usually look at seller and make sure they have a positive reputation and lots of sales.
I have mostly bought Ernie Ball. I have had to buy directly from GHS for some strings I like because they are not offered on Amazon.
Rebecca @LunaRocket
I buy D’Addario strings from Amazon Uk and they have an alphanumeric code which you can verify on their web site.
The system works as I once mistook an 8 for a B which didn’t match and while I was thinking about what to do I got an email from them asking for more information, we sorted out and they were genuine.
Michael
I’m pretty sure I’ve never had fakes from Amazon. I am careful to buy only items that are marked as sold by Amazon themselves rather than any third party. I don’t know if this is a guarantee of anything though.
That said the whole fake thing does bother me. I’ve seen tales from trusted sources of motorcycle gear with fake safety certifications coming out of Amazon warehouses (admittedly from third party sellers) so I have stopped buying from Amazon and cancelled my Prime subscription after a lot of years. My strings now come from music stores and motorcycle gear comes from motorcycle shops (that always did actually) and if it costs me a little more then at least I’m helping specialists in business. To be clear I’m not judging anyone who does buy from Amazon, I get the value and convenience, just saying about the choice I made
Yes, always good to support local shops if possible, but Rebecca says in her OP that she doesn’t have a local store.
I buy from a local shop and also from Amazon and have never had any issues with strings from either source.
I use D’Addario EXL 110 nickel 10’s on my electric and jump about between Ernie Ball Earthwood phosphor bronze, Martin Authentic Acoustic SP MA540 phosphor bronze and D’Addario EJ16 phosphor bronze (all12s) on my acoustics.
I don’t know if anyone above said “local” but I said a music store because lots of us don’t have a local guitar store. Maybe it’s an independent somewhere else in the country, or perhaps a chain of music stores, but at least it’s helping keep music stores open
Thanks, I did see this list, though nothing on their website mentions what was on the Soapbar, I figure 9’s or 10’s probably would be okay.
I did do a check on my serial number and it was produced in 2004. I figure I’ll get a set of each and whatever I don’t use on the PRS I’ll try on my Squier.
Thanks to everyone for your input, I’ll let you know how things go.
Sorry, I’m a bit late to the party, but the “gauge” of a set of strings is the thickness in thou of the high e string. For example, a set of “9s” would have a 9 thou diameter high e string. The thickness (diameter) of the other strings will be selected by the manufacturer to give whatever sound they want from that set.
Regarding strings from Amazon, I’ve purchased dozens of sets of Ernie Ball, D’Addario, and La Bella strings and I’ve never encountered anything that made me think I had received a set of fake strings.
The easiest way to ensure you don’t have this problem is to stick to the sold-by-Amazon listings.
Was your guitar shipped with flatwound strings? I’ve never seen anything like that so far. Is there a reason you want to have flatwound strings on your guitar? They are used most often by jazz players to get that “token” jazz guitar tone (having a hollow-body instrument also helps with that). The most common reason I’ve come across is that there’s very little finger noise compared to roundwound strings.
No, I bought my guitar used and that’s what it had, and they sounded great. I didn’t buy new flat rounds, and I still haven’t changed out the strings I did buy as I went on vacation. Maybe this week. In the meantime, I’m still puttering about with my acoustic.
I do really like these strings though.