Color coded strings

[David Zornes]

Friends, does anyone know the brand of strings that are color coded? I need to change out the strings on a steel that I acquired and I noticed that they are color-coded. I believe they may be George L’s, I’m not certain. But I want to stay with the same type of strings.

[Barry Hembling]

D'Addario come in a sealed plastic bag and are colour coded. Maybe other brands do it too in the US but these are the only ones I've come across here in Australia

[Roger Crawford]

George L’s are not color coded. Most likely D’Addario.

[David Zornes]

Now that you mentioned D’Adario I believe they are the strings. Thank you!

[Jack Stoner]

And,to me, the color coding is a pain in the butt when changing strings.

[Danny Letz]

The black ones sound best.

[Scott Denniston]

And,to me, the color coding is a pain in the butt when changing strings.

Yes and even worse when you want to change just one string. They sell them in an intertwined bundle instead of separate packages. You have to undo the whole thing and lay them out just to change one. I guess the colorblind are up a creek too. These are great strings but the packaging (or lack thereof) is a deal breaker for me. Hope they get wise to this.

[Donny Hinson]

Friends, does anyone know the brand of strings that are color coded? I need to change out the strings on a steel that I acquired and I noticed that they are color-coded. I believe they may be George L’s, I’m not certain. But I want to stay with the same type of strings.

So then...if they stop making them, it looks like you're up the creek?

[David Zornes]

Not really; I just like the tone of them.

[Fred Treece]

I like the color coding. If you drop a string you don’t have to figure out what gauge it is. And hats off to D’Addario for cutting down on plastic packaging. If I only need one string, there is always a leftover plastic envelope or bulk string bag to put the other strings in for storage.

The black ones sound best.

definitely!

[Lee Baucum]

I buy individual D’Addario strings (unwound) from my local music store. They are individually wrapped, no colors, just shiny brass. The size is printed on the sealed plastic package.

[Scott Denniston]

I buy individual D’Addario strings (unwound) from my local music store. They are individually wrapped, no colors, just shiny brass. The size is printed on the sealed plastic package.

As it should be. But they do this NY series differently for some unknown reason. I do have a flashlight for dark stages but I shouldn't need it for this. Most string packs come individually wrapped and clearly labeled. Don't they care about the colorblind?

[Brett Lanier]

You can get the NYXL strings as singles too. Same with their normal strings, all bundled together in a set, and individually packaged if you buy them as singles. The NYXL singles' packaging is even nicer too, with thick paper backing that protects the strings from getting bent.

[Paul Stauskas]

Brett, where can you buy the NYXL singles?

[Brett Lanier]

Here Paul. http://www.daddario.com/DADProductDetai ... nd_Singles

Maybe not a very realistic option though. I didn't realize how expensive they are... I've been ordering all my strings through a band I play in. I don't see the plain strings on that site, hope they're not discontinued. It is handy to have some individually wrapped plain strings for when one breaks.

[Fred Treece]

You can buy the NYXL singles at the Forum Store.

[Paddy Long]

I use D'Addario EJ49 Phospher Bronze string sets on my Dobro and they are colour coded as well - so I think it is a normal practice on their "packaged" string sets to have colour coding so you don't get the wee buggers mixed up :-}!!

The NYXL's are awesome for pedal steel - Nickel wound of course!!

[David Nugent]

I purchase the individual strings at my local 'Sam Ash' store.

[Garry Vanderlinde]

You can buy the NYXL singles at the Forum Store.

I buy mine through The Steel Guitar Forum.
https://www.steelguitarshopper.com/dadd ... l-strings/
SUPPORT OUR FORUM

[Ken Brooks]

I saw the title of the post was got excited. I thought it was going to be color coded strings so I could find the correct number string when picking.

[Scott Denniston]

I saw the title of the post was got excited. I thought it was going to be color coded strings so I could find the correct number string when picking. Sad

No it's for people that don't want to know what guage theyre putting on and they can just think "the green one". Or...something ... I guess.

[Tom Spaulding]

As it should be. But they do this NY series differently for some unknown reason. I do have a flashlight for dark stages but I shouldn't need it for this. Most string packs come individually wrapped and clearly labeled. Don't they care about the colorblind?

Hi, Tom Spaulding from D'Addario here.

All of our sets have color-coded ball ends when they are purchased as sets. Singles all have brass ball ends as a .046 might be the A string in one set (and get a Red ball end) and the E string in another (and therefore get a Brass ball end). Therefore, singles can't have colored ball-ends as there is no way to know how they will be used.

Once you buy a set and follow the codes on the packaging, you replace any broken/worn out string with the same color. No two wound string gauges share the same color, no two plain string gauges share the same color, so there is no confusion.

The strings come coiled in consecutive pairs, so when changing a set, remove two at a time, install two with the same respective ball end colors at a time. No confusion. If you find yourself breaking individual strings regularly (something that does not happen often with NYXL) I recommend buying some spare singles to avoid opening sets in order to replace one string. B0b carries a wide selection of D'Addario single in the Forum Shop.

Bob sells the NYXL1238PS set for $17.00. He sells the 10 plain and wound singles in that set individually for $18.45.

The string sets are packaged this way to reduce cost and waste material. 92% of males are not colorblind, so the 8% that are might need to go the singles route if the ball-ends are causing an issue.

Hope this helps.

Tom

[Scott Denniston]

Thanks for the explanation Tom. Personally I like buying in sets and not ordering in singles. I really like the NY strings but was disappointed to open a set and find a birdsnest or a basket to unweave. In fact I think I bought three sets. Anyway that's it---personal preference. Again, great strings but I don't want to mess with them. To each his own and that's all I'll say.

[Fred Treece]

The string sets are packaged this way to reduce cost and waste material. 92% of males are not colorblind, so the 8% that are might need to go the singles route if the ball-ends are causing an issue.
Tom

Bravo! Many companies are trying to reduce or eliminate single-use plastic packaging, and I happily support that effort whenever possible. Hopefully D’Addario is looking for ways to lighten the packaging load for their single strings too.

I guess standard practice is packaging strings individually in paper envelopes, then stuffing the whole set into a larger single plastic envelope. Some of these large plastic envelopes are sturdy enough to reuse rather than just dump in with the rest of the recycling, but there is no system in place for that process. It seems like after collecting a dozen or so you should be able to ship them back and have them refilled, along with the individual paper envelopes. Of course, then you’d have to retrain your packaging robots...

[Tom Spaulding]

Of course, then you’d have to retrain your packaging robots...

We don't have any packaging robots to re-train. We use actual people... See 4:21 in this video: How It's Made - D'Addario Strings

Here's a good look at Sustainability from CEO Jim D'Addario leading a Factory Tour. Check out from 2:35 on...

We pretty much eliminated the paper sleeve/ thick plastic envelope approach for sets years ago, but that might still be standard practice for other brands. You can see all of our sets in their packaging at the website D'Addario. The lightweight yet sturdy single string packaging is as environmentally friendly as it can be given current technology and necessary product specs.

Single strings need to survive being shipped from NY to dealers around the world, stored in an online retailer's warehouse for future shipping or kept in the local music store's counter display and then tossed in gig bags, cases and pack-a-seats.

We use recycled paper in all our materials and do all printing in-house at the factory. The single-string packaging materials can all be recycled by the customer locally.

We do encourage all players of any brand to recycle their strings via our industry-first recycling program:D'Addario Playback. We pay the shipping for sending the strings in to be processed. You can earn Player's Points for doing so, points that can be traded for more gear, merch, etc.

Tom