Top-selling string brand features ultra-thin coating for long life and excellent tone
Elixir Strings’ Acoustic Phosphor Bronze with NANOWEB Coating strings are renowned for being the only coated string brand to protect the entire string with an ultra-thin coating, keeping gunk out of the gaps between the windings.
What that means for you, the player, is, among other things, great and consistent tone across the life of the string – and, to that end, a remarkably extended string life.
To demonstrate the excellent and long-lasting tone, Guitar World’s Paul Riario put a set of Phosphor Bronze with NANOWEB Coating strings to the test, with a freshly-strung Taylor GT 811E acoustic.
“You’ll hear me play the acoustic now with a fresh set of Elixir Phosphor Bronze with NANOWEB Coating acoustic strings, and then I’ll be back a few weeks later after playing this guitar regularly and we can hear how these strings have held up, and whether they still maintain that same crisp acoustic tone,” Paul says.
(Image credit: Elixir Strings)
As for what he loves about Phosphor Bronze with NANOWEB Coating acoustic strings? “They have far more of a warmer and richer tone, which I find to be ideal for an acoustic,” Paul observes.
“The other great benefit is they're corrosion resistance. With normal phosphor bronze strings I find they get dull and worn out pretty quickly. What’s great is this NANOWEB coating is very light, and they also treat the strings with anti-rust plating. So if you have sweaty hands these strings are great from preventing them from becoming dull quickly.
“They also stay in tune better and feel pretty much the same after weeks of playing.”
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But enough of Paul’s talking. “Let’s come back in a few weeks and hear if the tone still holds up.”
After demoing the guitar for us once again, Paul comes to his conclusion.
“Honestly, I don’t hear much of a difference,” he says. “What’s striking to me is that for as much wear and tear as I put on the strings, to my ears they still seem to sound brand new and have yet to lose their luster and tone. They even retain that upper-end crispness. And they still feel the same as if I took them right out of the package.
“I have to say, I’m thoroughly impressed with Elixir Strings’ Phosphor Bronze Strings with their NANOWEB coating for their durability and fresh-sounding tone that is long-lasting.
For more information on Acoustic Phosphor Bronze with NANOWEB Coating strings, head to Elixir Strings.
Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.
