Elixir Nanoweb Light-Heavy

Being (most likely) allergic to nickel I've found myself wondering about which kind of strings I could use without ending up with itching and dried out fingers. The answer to that certainly are Elixirs. It may be due to the coating, due to a smaller amount of nickel or both of it, but for me it seems to have helped switching strings from D'Addario EXLs to Elixir.

While not regretting to have played the guitar might be an amazing feature of Elixirs, what makes them outstanding (and worth the rather high price) is the durability and longevity. While Elixirs didn't seem to stay crystal clear at all time, they almost never seem to lose their treble completely and sound dull. At least you can have them strung up for half a year with medium amount of playing (some hours a week).

That said you might want to look out for another brand (for example D'addario EXLs) in case you are the kind of guitarist, that needs full treble at all times and thus needs to put on a new set every 2-6 weeks.

Downsides to Elixirs are the price (in last mentioned case only), that the strings will look quite torn after a while and that I found pickscrapes to sound less well.

So unless you're changing strings every other week or need chrome strings because you dislike treble, Elixirs may be just right for you.

(52-10 works perfect for 24,75" scale guitars tuned to D#Standard or D Standard)

I use this set for D standard tuning on an Ibanez RG560 (25.5'' scale).

In my opinion this set is perfect for D standard, the tension is even across all strings, and they feel good for both aggressive and soft picking.

Elixir are great strings for everyday use, such as practicing and jamming, because they will feel like they were installed a few days ago even if you played them for 3 months, but this also has some down sights:

-they will not vibrate loud and bright like uncoated strings do at the beginning
-they are around two times more expensive than regular strings
-if you're a metal player who does a lot of tremolo and down picking aggressively the coating may start to peel off

I was looking forward to trying these strings given how highly rated they are, and ended up being extremely disappointed.
I tried them on a hollow body semi-acoustic, didn't plug them to an amp yet, just tried them unplugged.

EADGB strings are not bad, a bit bright but I like it well enough.

The treble e string is horrible though, way too bright and metallic, strumming sounds horrible (and this is compared to the old strings I've had for years). The e string is very prominent and loud, very ear piercing.

A nylon pick mitigates this somehow but I still don't like it and would never buy them again.

I hope the Optiweb version is better.

EDIT: the strings mellowed a bit and I got used to them so I edited my rating.
I would probably not buy them again though, and will go for pure nickel strings next time

After i got a pack of Elixirs i cant play with anything different.

Its not the sound, although there is no complaining on that part, lovely clear strings, but the cost factor.
These things are the only Strings that last for more than a week for me and thats all there is.

For reference i usually play about 2-3 hours a day, and my hands get slightly sweaty.

There is no competition for me and i tried all the big brand names, each and everyone was done after a week and for me there was nearly no sound difference between all the strings.