Live steel strings

[elparkirio]

Is there a UK distributor for live steel strings??

[Malcolm]

Matt, don't think anyone over here does them,(just like Jagwire). if you contact Sid Hudson direct he would probably send them over.I normally bought my year supply of Jags at the Dallas show but know Danny did post overseas.

[Zumbilly(Murdoch)]

Without trying to sound negative,I bought 4 sets of "Live" strings some time ago. I usually keep a record of playing time in order that I do not break a string during a gig. My other brands (GHS Boomers and Cobra Coils ) always lasted the course,usually 50 hours playing.
The best I got from the Live strings(third) was 15 hours.
I have a second guitar which rarely leaves the house and I have clocked many hours playing and never had a string break,I could guess over 200 hours !!
Billy

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

I still say that if S.I.T. Stay in tune strings are good enough for Buddy Emmons then they are good enough for all of us! and Becs string stock is as fresh as you can get

E9th £7...... C6th £8 ..... UNI 12 £9.........

[David Hartley]

I've used SIT all my life.
No problem and JD always has them.
I don't fancy trying others, especially the expensive ones!

[Ken Byng]

I find that SIT's don't last as long as the Cobra Coils that I use. I buy 100 sets (70 + 30) at a time and they just hold their tone really well. It's all personal choice at the end of the day. I play my Show Pro every day, and I have kept the last sets of CC's on it since 2 months ago. They still sound brand new to my ears with no absolutely corrosion of the plain strings. I buy them in large quantities from Steel Guitar Nashville to get the best discount from them.

Buddy Emmons has been named as an endorser, but I could list a great many pros that don't use SIT's.

[B.J.Weston]

Nice endorsment there David. As John knows I've been talking sit most of my life

[WineRider]

I'm not being negative, but who actually makes the strings? Most are just repackaged with marketing names on them, with all the publicity that goes with it. I saw a vid. where 5 PSG pickers quoted the dufferent strings they used and one admitted he didn't use the strings he was supplied at the Grand Old Oprey, because he had another contractr so he gave the Oprey supplied strings away. On the same vid. the late Don Helms stated he never changed the strings on his steel...so can someone please enlighten me, who is right who is wrong. I use mine until they break or just don't hold their tune, as I did on all my guitars. Doesn't the "If it ain't broke don't fix it" come into the equation? Or as usual am I missing the point.

WineRider

[Ken Byng]

I'm not being negative, but who actually makes the strings? Most are just repackaged with marketing names on them, with all the publicity that goes with it. I saw a vid. where 5 PSG pickers quoted the dufferent strings they used and one admitted he didn't use the strings he was supplied at the Grand Old Oprey, because he had another contractr so he gave the Oprey supplied strings away. On the same vid. the late Don Helms stated he never changed the strings on his steel...so can someone please enlighten me, who is right who is wrong. I use mine until they break or just don't hold their tune, as I did on all my guitars. Doesn't the "If it ain't broke don't fix it" come into the equation? Or as usual am I missing the point.

WineRider

Most steel guitar strings are made by GHS and re-badged. Many strings have a life span once on a pedal steel, and depending upon the acidity in the sweat of a player's hands, will deteriorate in terms of tonal quality, sustain and string breakage. I have found the Cobra Coil (CObalt & BRAss) to last ridiculous lengths of time before deterioration sets in. Bobbe Seymour spoke to a metallurgist once and explained the rigours that a steel guitar string has to go through. The guy told Bobbe that a steel / cobalt / brass composite would go a long way to increasing string longevity. I have never broken a Cobra Coil string ever, and when I think back some 40+ years ago to when any 3rd or 5th string on E9 would last 3 or 4 days max, I thank God for the advances in technology that has been undertaken in modern steel guitar strings. String breakage would always happen at the most inopportune time, usually when in the middle of a solo or an instrumental!! Sod's Law.

One thing I do in the warmer months is to wash my hands every time before I play my pedal steels or guitars. This helps reduce the amount of crud transferred from the hands into the string windings. I have met some players who can literally kill the tone on a set of strings in minutes, due to the sweatiness of their hands.

[WineRider]

Hello Ken,

That answer's most of my questions in one short concise para. Thank you. I tried talc. in my hands on a standard guitar, but I couldn't get on with the feeling. I am lucky I do not have too much acidity in my sweat, so son't cause much of a problem on my strings, but a friend has one mother of a sweat problem even when he has washed his hands and anything metalic gets a rusty finger print in a matter of hours. He got through string like I get through chocolate.

Thanks

WineRider