String Ball ends

[lonnie james barber]

  First I would like to say hi, I havent posted on here in a while.Been following the freebie cheepie tools. Actually used on of the suggestions the other day though. I purchased a nice old Kay Swingmaster of the bay. Someone had ripped out all the frets and absconded with the electronics. Well I completly re-fretted the beautifull old Ebony fretboard inlayed with MOP. Leveled,and recrowned,got a set of fret erasers from Stewmac they did a great job.Personally I think the neck looks great now. They had drilled out the holes for the tuners to almost 1/2 inch. Nothing gonna fit in there very well. So I got a 1/2 inch hardwood dowell Now this is where it starts I used one of my wifes emory boards and while rubbing the dowel I slowly turned it untill it just fitted and a little titebond and in an hour I was drilling new holes for new tuners to fit. Perfecto so whoever gave that little tips thanks... I posted this on another forum because a friend from even another forum requested I do so. It ended up with people yelling at me and I really didn't do anything. completely blameless I swear :0). It has to do with daddrio strings. Seems my friend has had four sets of them where the balls came unraveled? Unwound? Whatever they came off rendering the string worthles. Seems he has been emailing the company for four months with no results. So he asked if I would post it on other forums. My question is has this ever happened to any of you? I woke up to an email from the vp for marketing for dadario talking really nice. Seems he joined that other forum just to put out the blaze. Boy he sure is a sweet talker. All of a sudden I became an "ass clown" amongst other things. My friend did make the statement and I repeated it on that forum that he was going to try and trash that company unless he got satisfaction. That's when the big boy stepped in.I'm not a vengefull guy but do belong to four guitar forums both here and in Europe. I personally have no gripe with dadario strings I bought one set once but never repeated. I don't remember why but it wasn't that problem. I did have tbe ball come off once but it was a different brand all I did was say Hmmm how bout that, On to other things. Not trying to stir things up just asking. Seems as though a lot of people have3 run into this problem with this company,,,,Just asking not wanting to offend anyone.

[Murray MacLeod]

sorry, but your post is really difficult to read ... try using paragraphs ...

[lonnie james barber]

I'm sorry I dont know how to do that on a computer.Please forgive me but I'm kinda like a monkey trying to make love to a football

[Mike Kolb]

Can't help you with the ball ends, but I surely do like that phrase...."kinda like a monkey trying to make love to a football".  :)   

[Thomas James]

Maybe you are buying fake Chinese knock-offs?  Paragraphs are created with the 'Enter' key. 

[Paul Verticchio]

Hi Lonnie.

Sorry about your experience on the other forum.

I've had the opportunity to become very familiar with most of the varieties of strings offered by most makers.

I've experienced the same "ball end failures" as your friend.  BTW: All D'Addario {pronounced: Da-Dairy'-Oh...from an old 1983 add telling folks how to pronounce their name] strings I use are customer supplied as THEIR choice of string.

It sounds as if your friend may have gotten hold of some counterfeit strings from the Asia rim.  This (product counterfeiting) is a major problem for all of us as the black market stuff seems to be making it into well regarded retail outlets. Those strings are truly awful.

That being said, I think D'Addario, both as a manufacturer & a distributor is suffering from over diversification.  This fact is negatively affecting several companies & disciplines within the musical instrument business.  I personally feel, especially since they acquired Planet Waves, that they are less focused on their legacy products (strings) and QUALITY, and are content to hedge their business model on customer loyalty in those categories.

I have contacted them several times over the years to replace defective strings (they arrived with NO ball ends....not even a loop) and have never received replacements despite their repeated promises.  Those reasons are why I personally stopped using their strings.  Another complaint I have with them are the drawing die scars on the plain strings which affects feel & intonation.  Their QC is not what it used to be.  I'm not "beating them up" but just giving you my personal experiences.  "Effective Customer Service" beyond the point of sale is rare nowadays in many traditionally 'customer friendly' corporations.  It's sad.

Each year, I perform over 800 string changes in the course of my vocation. My criteria is very simple: a fine fit & finish, attention to detail, superior tone, true intonation and durability.  Here's a list of my favorite strings (remember, this is ONLY my opinion as strings are like a person's spiritual beliefs...what works for YOU works the best) by brand & instrument:

Electric guitar: DR Tite Fit strings wound on a round core wire.  Super quality and consistency at an affordable everyday street price. BTW: The sons of the founder of Guild Guitars own that company and are GREAT folks.

Acoustic guitar:  Elixir Nanoweb, John Pearse Phosphor Bronze or Martin Phosphor SP (uncoated) in that order.

Bass Guitar: Thomastik flat wounds.  No others will do.

For customer's electric guitars, I recommend the DR with current Ernie Ball strings coming in a very close second.  They've updated their factory & the strings are really great, consistent and very inexpensive. And believe it or not, for electric, Fender & Gibson still offer quality strings as does GHS.

I recommend John Pearse strings for uncoated and Elixir Nano's to my customers for coated strings on acoustics.

For bass, I put on whatever the customer supplies.

I do my best to dissuade customers from using SIT as their QC & consistency has left the building.  I've auditioned exotic strings like ClearTones and I've not [again, personally] been impressed with their sound. Quality is great as is feel but.....it comes down to the sound. Plus they're mega expensive even at street pricing.

AND... whoever called you an 'ass clown' doesn't know you like we do.  You are a true gentleman my friend(:

Hope you found this helpful OR a cure for insomnia (:

The VERY BEST of luck Lonnie (-:

Paul

[lonnie james barber]

Hi guys Thomas for the paragraph thingy and you Paul you've always been a good friend. Let me say that having never been called an Ass-Clown before I'm not sure whether it's an insult or not. So I'm gonna have to ask around hell I might be pissed off and don't Know it. Don't you just hate it when that happens. Lol...

      Hey it works dam I'm getting good.:0)... Yes my bud had exactly the same problem as you,with the same response from the customer service dept. Promises but no enchilada. I have the email address of the vice president for marketing development if you would like it. But what the hey he might show up on this forum like he did that one.Lol I thunk were all bright enough here to realize a possible snow job when we hear one. They were pretty much starstruck over there I'll save my praise till after my friend receives satisfaction.

     Now how about that I did it again. Now if someone could teach me how to send photo's on this sucker I would be in it. My problem probably is I have an Iphone and can jump on there and take care of most stuff before this thing gets wound up. Im coming up on my one year anniversary on this computer(nov.) In case you guys were wondering my old dumpster find Gretsch is holding up fine. Paul you were right about the sound my old Yamaha classical sounds tons better but it does have kind of a ricky ticky sound I kinda like it. Regards Lonnie

[Hesh Breakstone]

Hi Lonnie - after reading your line about the monkey maybe it's not all that bad that you don't know how to post a pic..... :)  Kidding of course!  To post a pic simply, once you have written some text and want the pic to follow, (paragraphs remain optional....) click the second button above in the window that you are posting in.  A new window, a smaller window will open up and you will see the "browse" button."  For ease of use I like to have any pic that I wanna post on my desk top so that when I click on the browse button I can simply select the "desk top", find my pic and click on that, and then click "OK" on the bottom of the small window that opened up.  When you add your reply your pic(s) will be uploaded.  You may also post pics that are already on line and that is what the URL option in that window that we opened up is for.  Simply copy the URL into the window, hit "OK" again and you will be good to go.

PS:  My experience with DA strings has been with likely thousands of sets and only very rarely have I encountered a bad string with perhaps inconsistent winds but never a loose ball end.  I have also purchased them by the gross in bulk packaging and never noticed any difference in quality over the pre-packaged sets.  As such I have to say that I am a happy DA customer.

[LARRY KLOSE]

I'm mostly just a poor music consumer but in 50 years of playing I've never personally had more than one bad set of D'Addario strings.  Maybe I'm just lucky.

I was using DR's several years ago and had several consecutive bad sets--all with bad intonation.  One was so bad that I took my guitar to a luthier to find out if something had moved or broken.  He tested it with his Peterson Strobe and pronounced the problem as the strings.  I switched to D'Addario's's and the problem was solved.  Some time later I heard through the grapevine that DR had some trouble during that period with their processes and had corrected it, but I never saw any mainstream music press or info that acknowledged the problem.  Whatever, DR always replaced the problem strings when I complained.  

Since then I've been using D'A EXP's with great and consistent success.  I had one bad set a couple of years ago, sent an email and got a replacement in a few days.  I can't remember now exactly what the problem was.  

I've considered trying the DR Dragon Skins but haven't got around to it as EXP's last a long time and I have several sets on hand.  I've always liked the sound of DR's so if they're good it might be worth a try.  Any comments welcome, particularly re acoustic guitar and mandolin.

Thanks,

Larry

[lonnie james barber]

Thanks Larry and Hesh; Maybe i;ll catch onto this computer someday. I've got a golf buddy who is pretty proficient on a computer. Gonna trade guitar lessons for computer lessons. Haha I do hope I catch on. I've been pretty busy restoring old ebay guitars if I can find something that interests me. Got another email from the vp at dadairyoh. Were getting close he calls me L, Guess he's a busy guy. You know reporting from Three forums it runs about the same. Some people love the strings and others have nightmares like Pauls' Like I said before I really don't have a gripe with them. Still haven't found out what an ass-clown is..Help me out here if you can.Lol'

 

[Paul Verticchio]

Lonnie, "Ass Clown" is not a compliment.  It's relevantly defined by the Urban Dictionary as: "A person who by ignorance or stupidity takes up unnecessary amounts of your time."   Again, I wholeheartedly disagree.

As for everyone's experience with strings, our mileages do vary. (-:  It's ALL good.

In fairness to all string manufacturers: millions of strings are made everyday.  There WILL be some duds.  They're, however, in the fraction of the one percent range. With the exception of a couple of "house brands", strings are at their highest quality & consistency level in history.  I'm very happy about that (:

Best regards,

Paul

[Alexander López]

Hi. Last year I read a statement written by Jim D'Addario about fake strings coming from China. The packaging is identical to the originals, but as soon as you stretch them the difference arises.

The way to tell them apart is to look for the fine print. All D'Addario strings are made in the USA. So, if a package says "designed in USA" it's certainly a fake.

Also, from a legal standpoint you can sell tiny variations of the name, as well as a slightly different logo, since they are not exact copies. Be aware of things like D'adario-DAddario-d'Addario-D"Adhario, etc.

The problem with DR strings was inherent to their design. Most companies use hexagonal cores because they anchor the winding as it is being fed in the machine. Round cores allow some slippage, so they have to be wound with higher tension. A slightly variation could yield a string that would start to unravel when stretched.

By the way, most custom strings being made in the US are born in the GHS factory. Just as Warmoth builds bodies for Fender, Sadowsky, Suhr, and others; GHS builds strings for Ken Smith, Alembic, Carvin, et al. They just ship the materials (packaging, core wire & windings) and use GHS equipment & labor.

[lonnie james barber]

Thanks for your replies Alexander and Paul; I really don't know where my friend stands with the string company. So far he hasn't had any response. The vp keeps emailing me saying he hasn't heard from my friend.... Who to believe??? Well I tell you I believe my friend he's just a regular guy in a guitar forum just like the rest of us. He told me that he had four sets of the strings come apart on him. He said he told the vp he would settle for one set of 10's and let it go at that. I don;t know how much a set of 10's costs,but it can't be too much. Not enough for my friend to raise such a stink. What are they 10 bucks more or less? Hell I give 23.00 dollars for Diamantes from Italy for my classical. I for sure would be pissed if they came apart on me. I could buy 4 sets of cheapo's for that price and take my chances with them. But I'm not the one having trouble with strings. Paul has had trouble with that brand and he tells me he installs upwards of 600 sets of strings per year. I could imagine if every other set f strings or so came apart. he would go nuts. Thank God for string winders that fit our electric screwdrivers. I would like to thank everybody for their input. Paul thanks for that definition of ass-clown. Seems like someone who would take the time to read my postings is the ass-clown. If he did it more then once that would qualify him for Moron as well. To look at my postings and expect different results would elevate him to the legal status of insane. You all have a wonderfull Labor day weekend. Best Regards Lonnie