Ok, so I am terribly confused on this so here goes. My Tele came with what I assume are medium/ light strings. Time to change them and I want to go with a heavier gauge. Are 13's the thickest? I was also considering using a wound 'G' string for a meatier string response and tone. Mosly Rhythm on this guitar so I was going nickel rounds.

11-52 GHS Boomers on both start & jaguar (once I stopped using light gauge like 9's could never go back to them)

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JObeast wrote:

Are Pyramids really worth the extra dough?

I'm in the process of finding out: I switched to Pyramid Gold flats 12-52's on the Jazzmaster a couple of weeks ago after playing d'Addario Chromes for years and years, and so far I'm pretty impressed. They stay in tune almost immediately after you put them on, they have -to my ears- a richer, warmer sound and they feel a bit more loose than the Chromes do, almost as if I were playing a lighter gauge string (roundcore vs hexcore I guess ?). Now time will tell if they will keep sounding good longer than the Chromes do. I put a set on my Jag last week as well, but I have a feeling 13-56's would work even better with the 24" scale length.

I don't know the retail price for Pyramids in the US, but I paid about 2 Euros (about 2.65$) more for a set than for a set of Chromes.
My biggest issues with the Chromes are that they start sounding dull very quickly and that they tend to break rather quickly as well, especially at the ball ends (even had that happen more than once while putting on brand new strings...). So if the Pyramids would prove to last longer, they'd definitely be worth the extra dough to me.

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Its absurd how expensive Thomastiks have gotten and how much Pyramids have been for sometime.

Thomastik makes a really really fine string, both roundwound and flatwound. They are not, worth $25 a string. I use to put a 2-4 news sets on each month when I got them for $14 a pop. I even consider $14 too much these days.

If I were to go flatwounds... I couldn't go for chromes so I would probably go Thomastik.

mike_fried wrote:

Unfortunately Pyramids are about twice the price of Chromes here in the U.S. I believe that if they were as close in price here as the are in the EU, Chromes would become extinct...

Ah, I see...over here in Europe it's rather the other way around (made in USA vs made in Germany, import taxes, vat etc...pretty logical actually): I've been checking some US sites and Chromes are usually around 10$ or less but in Europe they Retail for 12 to 13 Euros, which amounts to 16 - 17$... Pyramid Golds set you back between 17 and 20$ around here, so for me it's a no-brainer really.

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Well, to be accurate... I use a Pyramid 12~52 set, but I sub the 12 to an 11 and the second string down to a 15. That let's me bend a little easier in the trebles.

Are Pyramids worth the do-re-me ? I think so. Reason? I keep waiting for string changing time, but it never seems to arrive. They just don't go bad.

I bought three cartons (10 sets each, so that's 30 sets I guess) to start with. I put a set on my Fender Jaguar, my Squier Jazzmaster and my VM Jaguar. That means I have about 27 sets left.

The guitar I gig with is the Squier JM-Jazzmaster, and those Pyramids went on about 18 months ago and except for the 1st and 2nd strings (which I do change because they are plain strings), the 3,4,5 and 6th string Pyramids are for all practical purposes the same as the day I installed them.

Now, there is one factor. I'm nutty about clean hands, and I do not have the kind of acids in my skin oil that some guys seem to have that tears up strings fast. So that's probably one reason they have lasted so long, but I don't ever get that kind of longevity with round-wounds.

L7

P.s. yes, and let me add that I tried a set of 'chromes' once on a Stratocaster and I hated them. And I put some 'Chrome' bass flatwounds on a Jazzbass and they were way inferior (IMO) to the Fenders. Ok....

Last edited: Sep 06, 2014 01:13:14

I run .012-.052 Chromes on my Tele. really dig the sound. If I'm playing bass, its Labella Flats, 43-104.

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I've been using GHS 10-46 recently.

11-50 "DR" pure nickel strings on my Strat, love the way they feel and sound.

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