The Best Guitar String Brands, According to 600+ Guitarists
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What seems like an easy guitar question isn’t so cut and dry after all.. Last week, I asked 600+ guitarists what their favorite brand of guitar strings was.
I knew guitarists had opinions about strings. I did not know guitarists treated the question like a deposition.
People defended their brand the way you defend your kids. There were guys who have been using the same set since 1978. There were guys arguing about whose strings rust slower.
As most of you might have guessed, the top four brands took home about 80% of the votes. The rest is a long tail of brands with tiny but rabid followings.
A note before we dig in: a lot of you named one brand for electric and a different one for acoustic. We counted both.
#10. Gibson (11 votes)
A small but loyal group of Gibson players named Gibson strings, mostly the Vintage Reissues 10s and the Bright Wires. Gibson strings on Gibson guitars. That obviously tracks.
Honestly, this finished lower than I expected. Gibson brand loyalty is otherwise religious, but guitarists are weirdly willing to put any string on any guitar. One voter named Gibson Vintage Reissues for his Les Pauls and Super Bullets for his Strats. That kind of brand-loyalty-by-guitar-not-by-brand was all over this poll.
If you’ve never tried them, the Vintage Reissues 10s are the set most pollers named.
#9. DR (20 votes)
The DR fans are committed. Pure Blues was the runaway pick in this camp, with a few callouts for High Beams and the old Dimebag High Voltage set.
One poller said he uses DR Pure Blues because he likes a “dark tone.” Another paired DR on electric with Elixir on acoustic, which is a setup we saw come up over and over. Multiple commenters who use Pure Blues said they wouldn’t go back.
#8. Fender (21 votes)
Mostly Super Bullets and the 150s. A few pollers specifically called out Fender for their Strats and nothing else, which tracks.
There’s also a small but vocal anti-Fender camp. So know going in that these are slightly polarizing. The Strat guys love them. The shred guys won’t touch them.
If you play a Strat and you’ve never tried the Super Bullets, do it this week. You’ll be glad you did!
#7. Dean Markley (30 votes)
The most bittersweet brand on the list.
Dean Markley Blue Steels kept coming up, and almost every time they did, somebody else replied that they’re discontinued.
One poller said he used Blue Steels as long as he could remember and is “testing the waters with others” because they’re out of business. Another person said the discontinuation “breaks my heart.” Many players feel the same way.
If you’re a Dean Markley loyalist who hasn’t checked recently, that’s the bad news. The good news is the brand still has 30 votes in 2026 even after going dark, which says a lot about how good these were.
The Blue Steel formulation in particular had a cult following for decades.
#6. Martin (38 votes)
Martin is the acoustic king here. Almost nobody named Martin for their electric. But for acoustic, it was everywhere. Phosphor Bronze, 80/20, Silk and Steel, the Tommy Emmanuel signature set.
A huge chunk of pollers run Ernie Ball or D’Addario electric and Martin acoustic. That combo is basically the default rig for anyone with one of each. Martins are cannons. They’re big, warm, full-bodied, and they hold tune.
One poller said the Martin Tommy Emmanuel signatures are affordable and stay in tune, which is the through-line on Martins in general. They sound like a Martin guitar is supposed to sound, and they’re hard to beat for the money.
If your acoustic is still wearing whatever came on it from the factory, throw on a set of Martin 12s this weekend, and the guitar will feel like a different instrument.
#5. Stringjoy (42 votes)
Now we’re getting into the brands with real passion behind them.
Stringjoy is the newcomer that keeps pulling people away from whatever they’ve used for decades. The pattern in the comments was so consistent it was funny. “I used Ernie Ball for X years, then I tried Stringjoy and never went back.” Over and over and over and over.
One poller said he used Ernie Ball for 43 years before switching to Stringjoy. Forty. Three. Years. That’s a religious conversion.
Another said he’s been on Stringjoy Foxwoods for 3 years and will never use anything else.
The hooks are custom gauges (you can order literally any combination you want) and a reputation for tight quality control. Foxwoods is the most-named acoustic set. Signatures is the most-named electric set. The new Orbiters (coated) and Soft Touch lines are getting traction too.
If you’ve been hearing about Stringjoy and wondering if it’s hype.. it’s not. This is the dark horse pick of the entire list.
#4. GHS (73 votes)
GHS Boomers carry this entire brand. Like, almost every GHS comment was specifically about Boomers. A few callouts for the David Gilmour signature set (which is GHS), and a few for bass Boomers, but otherwise it’s Boomers, Boomers, Boomers.
These are the strings people don’t think about because they’ve always worked. Every guitar shop in America has them on the wall. They’re cheap, hold tune, and sound good in pretty much any guitar. They’re the Toyota Camry of guitar strings. Reliable, easy to find, and hard to mess up.
If you don’t want to overthink string choice, this is the safe answer. The 9s if you play lighter, the 10s if you play standard.
#3. Elixir (105 votes)
Here’s where the conversation gets spicy.
Elixir is the most polarizing string in the top tier. People either love them obsessively or actively avoid them. There is almost no middle ground.
The reason is the coating. Elixir’s Nanoweb and Polyweb coatings make the strings last way longer than uncoated strings, but they also feel slightly slick, and some players claim they kill a tiny bit of brightness.
The Elixir camp doesn’t care, and the anti-Elixir camp will not be convinced.
Where Elixir absolutely dominates is acoustic. The Nanoweb 12-53s came up over and over. If you’re an acoustic player who hates how fast your strings go dead, this is the brand to try first.
#2. D’Addario (161 votes)
D’Addario is the workhorse of the entire string industry. If Ernie Ball is the rock band, D’Addario is the studio session player who never misses a note.
The single biggest sub-conversation in this whole poll was about NYXLs. People love them. The NYXL 10-46 in particular came up so many times I lost count. Pollers said NYXLs hold tune better, last longer than regular D’Addarios, and are worth the slightly higher price.
For acoustic, the XS and XT coated lines are the new hotness. For electric, the standard XL line is still the daily driver for most pollers. The Chromes flatwounds got named by a handful of jazz players.
The D’Addario pattern is longevity. Players pick them up at some point in their teens or twenties and never have a reason to switch. Every guitar shop in the world stocks them, and the quality control is great.
If you want a do-everything string you can buy anywhere on Earth, this is probably your answer.
#1. Ernie Ball (176 votes)
The runaway winner. By a nose, but a winner.
Ernie Ball Super Slinkys are the strings most guitarists picture when somebody says the word “strings.” The branding alone has imprinted on multiple generations of players.
The brand was built on accessibility (you could find them in any music store from the 1970s on) and that colored packaging system that made it easy to grab your gauge without thinking was a smart move.
The Super Slinky 9s and the Regular Slinky 10s are the two most popular sets by a wide margin. Hybrid Slinkys (9-46) are for the rhythm players who want a heavier bottom without giving up the bend on top. The Cobalts and Paradigms have smaller but passionate followings.
A few pollers said quality control has slipped a bit recently. That came up enough times to mention. It’s part of why Stringjoy is gaining ground.
But remember.. Ernie Ball is still the default for a reason.
Honorable Mentions
We had close to 40 different brands named in this poll. The ones with passionate-but-smaller fan bases deserve a callout, too:
- Rotosound (9 votes). This is a British brand. Greens and British Steels were the most-named sets.
- La Bella (8 votes). Big with classical and jazz players. The HRS series and the flatwounds specifically.
- Curt Mangan (7 votes). A boutique brand the “I’ve tried everything” guys kept bringing up.
- Mariposa (7 votes). A regional favorite, mostly from pollers in the Philippines.
- Dunlop (6 votes). Mostly the Billy Gibbons Rev.
- Thomastik-Infeld (6 votes). The flatwound players’ premium pick. Multiple jazz pollers said nothing else compares.
- John Pearse (5 votes). Acoustic-focused.
- Blue Magic (4 votes). I’d never heard of these before this poll. Three different pollers said they’re the best they’ve ever played, after decades of trying everything.
Also named: Cleartone, Savarez, Adamas, Optima, SIT, PRS, Santa Cruz, Augustine, Pyramid, Newtone, Snarling Dogs, Webstrings, Harley Benton. Plenty of options out there if the big four aren’t working for you.
What This Poll Told Us About String Players
A few patterns jumped out from going through 600+ comments:
Most guitarists have a brand for life.
The phrase “I’ve used X since [year]” came up dozens of times. People do not switch strings often. When they do, it’s because something went wrong (broken set, QC issue, brand got discontinued).
Electric and acoustic are usually different brands.
A huge number of pollers named one brand for electric and a different one for acoustic. The single most common pairing was something-Slinky electric and Martin or Elixir acoustic.
NYXL changed the game for D’Addario.
The NYXL line came up so many times that it’s basically its own brand at this point. If you’re a D’Addario player who hasn’t tried the NYXLs, the pollers who switched were emphatic that it was worth it.
Coated strings are a religion or a heresy.
Elixir is the obvious example, but the same fight showed up around D’Addario XS, Cleartone, and Stringjoy Orbiters. If you’ve never tried coated, it’s worth experimenting. If you hate them, you’re not alone either.
Quality control matters more than most people admit.
Several pollers said they switched brands because their go-to started breaking or coming inconsistent. Stringjoy in particular keeps benefiting from this, and a lot of the EB defectors landed there.
Some of the most loved brands aren’t household names.
Curt Mangan, Blue Magic, Newtone, Adamas.. decades-experienced players keep saying these are the best they’ve ever played. Not every great string has a Times Square ad budget.
A Final Note
If you’re new to changing your own strings and you just want a safe pick, grab D’Addario or Ernie Ball in your gauge. Both brands live in every shop in the country and both are reliable.
If you’ve been playing a while and you want to try something new, the most common upgrade paths from this poll include:
- EB player who wants longer life: try D’Addario NYXL or Stringjoy
- D’Addario player who wants slightly more snap: try Ernie Ball or NYXL
- Anyone who hates restringing: try Elixir Nanowebs on acoustic
- Anyone tired of breaking strings: try Stringjoy
And if you’re still playing the strings that came on the guitar from the factory, please change them. Martin, Elixir, or D’Addario will be a huge upgrade and your guitar will feel like a different instrument.
