D’Addario Guitar Strings – XT Nickel Plated Electric Guitar Strings – Coated Guitar Strings for Extended Lifespan – XTE1149 – Medium, 11-49, 1-Pack Medium, 11-49 1-Pack

13 reviews for D’Addario Guitar Strings – XT Nickel Plated Electric Guitar Strings – Coated Guitar Strings for Extended Lifespan – XTE1149 – Medium, 11-49, 1-Pack Medium, 11-49 1-Pack

1. 

   Rated 2 out of 5

   dumeril7 – January 25, 2021

   I’ve used the standard nickel-wound D’Addarrio XL’s for over 30 years. They work well, they’re not terribly expensive, and you can find them in any town you happen to be playing in. But I decided to start experimenting with strings because I hadn’t done so in many years and I figured the state of the art had to have changed a lot in that time. I really wanted to try coated strings for the increased life. Being a D’Addario guy, I thought I’d start with XTs. Here are my impressions. The XT’s had a decidedly smoother feel. More of a difference than I was expecting given how D’Addario markets these strings as having a “natural feel”. It was actually a pleasant feel, but was not as secure feeling – it seemed like the strings would slip out from under my fingers when bending and occasionally they did. It was enough to convince me that I probably wouldn’t like heavier coatings, as the XTs are supposed to be a more mild coating. On the positive side, legato technique was easier with these strings. The tone was a lot more different than I expected. Definitely less bright and zingy than standard nickel-wound steel strings. It was interesting that the sound was still pretty harmonically loaded, but it seemed like different, lower-pitched harmonics were emphasized. On the PRS Custom 22 that I installed these strings on, they caused the guitar to lose a fair bit of its ability to convincingly fake a strat sound, which was a drag. On the other hand, the full-on humbucker sounds were improved in my opinion. I think the different harmonic emphasis works really well with overdriven humbucker sounds – meaty and fat but with lots of harmonics. With these strings, I noticed right away that rolling back the guitar volume resulted in the sound becoming a lot more dull and woolly than with nickel-wound steels. I’m guessing that’s because the strings aren’t as bright to begin with, the normal tonal degradation from lowering the guitar volume is even more pronounced. For me, this was a showstopper. I’m old school – I play with a single-channel amp turned up loud and get cleaner tones by rolling back my guitar volume. Not being able to do that is a deal breaker. If you play with your guitar at full volume all the time, however, it shouldn’t be an issue for you. Another interesting thing: I had my PRS pickups set low to compensate for the bridge pickup’s insanely strong output. But with the XTs, the sound was kind of anemic and raising the pickups helped tremendously. So if you’re going to use these strings, optimizing your guitar’s setup for them is worthwhile. Finally, yes, the longevity of these strings is great. I got about double the lifespan out of them before going back to D’Addario XL’s.Read more

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Chasin’ Steel – December 28, 2021

   I’ve played D’Addario almost exclusively now since 1990. Every now and then I’ve tried some others like SIT, Ball, etc. I always go back. I tried the XTs just for grins, and I love them. They stay in tune better and last longer that traditional XLs. I bend a lot and change tunings quite a bit too. I use them on fixed bridge and Floyd setups. They are the best string I’ve used!Read more

3. 

   Rated 1 out of 5

   James Ray – February 11, 2020

   I thought my guitar neck was warped but it was the strings.I was playing my guitar for about 30 minutes and it started sounding out of tune. wouldn’t stay in tune. Took my guitar to the guitar shop two days later to make sure my guitar neck was ok witch it was. He said it was the strings.Must have been a bad batch of material or workmanship.Read more

4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Geary Jones – December 13, 2021

   I did not know these strings would make on my Fender Squire Strat sound this much better. I just started playing in 2020 and have been fighting to keep the original strings tuned up until last week. The moment I started tuning the new set of XT Electrics, it was like I had been listening with cotton in my ears. The new strings are so much brighter and cleaner than my old strings. I only play through noise-cancelling headphones and what a difference now. The tone lasts so long and the strings stay in perfect pitch even after bending. I am so happy I did my research and picked these strings. Even my wife noticed that my playing sounds better now … my best critic : )Read more

5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Felipe Gonzalez Avalos – July 2, 2021

   I have been using Elixirs for over a year, and even though they last a lot, the “plastic” feeling never got me convinced. While in a music store, a nice gentleman told me about these strings and I bought a set for my acoustic guitar first. Then I went and bought these for my electric guitars, and what I can tell is the feeling is like an untreated string, very close to the NYXL, and they last a lot. I just bought another set to have a spare one until the end of the year, and looks like I’m not going back to Elixir.Read more

6. 

   Rated 3 out of 5

   Headwig – January 10, 2020

   Too bright. I liked the EXP coated strings specifically because they had a slightly mellow sound, a certain finesse and softness to the way they created tones, even though you could still get aggressive with them if you wanted. These new XT strings are more in-your-face and unrefined. I wouldn’t have a problem with these strings if they’d kept the EXP strings in production. But they’ve discontinued those in favor of these. For that reason, this gets 3 stars. Bring back EXP, they are my signature sound and nothing comes close.Read more

7. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Doub50 – March 16, 2022

   paid a bit more than normal for strings. but, but cheap acoustic and electrics sound nice. more so in the acoustic than electric. and I have caustic sweat like the saliva from Alien, and it corrodes strings like you can’t imagine. been 3 months, playing from 5-45 minutes about 4x a week, strings still sound good on both the electric and acoustic. no string crud, though I hesitate to type this as Ill walk upstairs and sit down to play and there it is right? honestly,great strings! try em, its al subjective, but you might like. Working well for meRead more

8. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   A. E. Drury – March 7, 2021

   I really like the Gibson brand of strings for my Les Paul Special, and I prefer the 10-46 sets. I have tried Erie Ball but went back to the Gibson. I bought these D’Addario XT Nickel Plated Steel, and while the feel of them isn’t quite the same as the Gibson (for all I know, D’Addario makes the Gibson ones…) but my impression so far is that they are a bit longer lasting than the set that came with my guitar out of the factory. So impressed that I’ve ordered a second set! For me, the price to performance factor is slightly in favor of D`Addario at this stage of my evaluation.Read more

9. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   JN1998 – November 12, 2020

   Bought a couple of months ago and have just changed. I believe these are some of the best sounding strings I have put on my Gibson Les Paul Standard, the have a nice balanced sound and feel great under the fingers. I have however found the so called coating to not perform nearly as well as the Elixir Optiweb’s I have previously used. They lasted me a good 8 weeks but now after probably a good 50hrs playtime they are very rusty just like you find with the EXL’s. They definitely last longer then the normal strings but I think I will switch back to Elixirs as for me they are unmatched in terms of life, I can get a good 4 months out of those! These are great however if you want a great sounding and feeling string that lasts twice as long as your average string.Read more

10. 

    Rated 1 out of 5

    Andy Richardson – August 2, 2020

    Coming from Elixir strings, I thought I would give these a shot because I’ve preferred the sound of D’Addario strings in the past. Unfortunately, these haven’t held up too well by comparison. After just 3 weeks, the strings have already oxidized and gotten sharp – so bad that I’ve gone ahead and put on my old Elixir strings while I wait for a new set (I have a nickel allergy). If your point of comparison is standard strings, maybe it’s worth a shot. But for coated strings – they’re useless.Read more

11. 

    Rated 3 out of 5

    Oran Barr – May 18, 2021

    I’ve been using D’Addario strings for years and absolutely love them. I used XL’s for a long time and now use NYXL on my stainless steel fret guitars and love them. BUT having said that. These strings were absolutely awful in my opinion. I don’t know if I just got a bad pack, but for a coated string that supposedly lasts longer, they started tarnishing within less than a week and now 3 weeks in have totally lost their tone. I’ve been wiping down my strings everytime I play and also do not live in a humid country. Very disappointed, hope these are just a dud pack but I really dont recommend these at all.Read more

12. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Clifford Laysell – April 14, 2020

    Been using ernie ball for over a decade and recently switched to these d’addario stings. They feel great and last a little while longer. I was changing the ernies about once every 3 weeks. These last me about a month. (Playing about 4 hours a day, so I get about 120 hours playing out of them. I doubt I will be changing back.Read more

13. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    mthazy – January 31, 2021

    Purchased a new Harvey Benton gold top les Paul these guitars are well built but reviews had advised to change the cheap strings it comes with. The guitar was not staying in tune so first upgrade was these new strings. They solved the tuning stability issues straight away and the tone from the guitar is much improved used Daddario strings before and these are excellent very happy with my purchaseRead more