Last time, I spoke about how your sound scheme when playing guitar (at least mine) relies partially on the kind of wood the guitar is made of. This time, I'm going to go into strings.
At my job, I sometimes hear from the average newcomer to the world of guitar and bass that they never knew there was a difference between one brand of strings or the other. Thankfully, with experience and knowledge, I was able to endow upon them some good knowledge on how they can be different and how they can heighten a particular aspect of a guitar/bass' sound or alter things in something as simple as tone.
As far as material goes, for electric bass and electric guitar, once upon a time, by and large most electric guitar and bass strings were mainly nickel-wound steel. Naturally, this would give you a standard range of brightness. Brands like Ernie Ball, Fender, Daddario, Dunlop and GHS to name a few. Here's my experience with some Nickelwound strings I've used.
Daddario - the label says bright but for me they come off pretty neutral and let your guitar's natural tone sit right there. I also see them as "the gateway drug" of guitar strings. Fav sets were the Blues/Jazz Rock.
Dunlop - these strings have a tone that borders between mellow and dark. When I used the Zakk Wylde set on my Axstar years ago, it definitely gave it an extra pump on the bass and a slight punch on the mids. The Heavycore series are pretty good too.
Ernie Ball - There's a reason why I have been a faithful whore to Ernie Ball. Their durability certainly beats out Daddario and Fender. On top of that, they have a great feel and everything sounds very even and clear. It stands right in between bright and mellow. Fav sets consist of Hybrid Slinky and Skinny Top Heavy Bottom.
Fender - You thought your Strat or Tele were bright before, these make it a little brighter. Seems to bring up the treble and mids a tad. The Bullet series has a tiny bullet-looking end instead of the usual ball end.
GHS - There's something about GHS' line of strings that make me feel like they have some of DR's string feel but Dunlop's tone and durability. Out of this brand, my favorites were Zakk Wylde's Heavyweight Boomers.
In addition, you also have theline of strings that have coating. The first brand coming to mind obviously is Elixir. Sure enough, you get a brand like DR, followed by Cleartone.
Elixir - Endures like God but not keen on its tone. They sound sort of bland, lack brightness but also lacking some sort of mellow element.
DR - Black Beauties are the one everyone recognizes but if you remember when they started offering the coated strings, you may have recalled the Red Devils and the Silver Stars. With my old Squier bass, Red Devils gave it a nice punch for latin and funk music. They endure for a good while and possessing sound tone. On guitar, it gave my Strat a nice Hendrix tone. The Silver Stars gave my old PRS SE Custom 22 a good balanced tone.
Cleartone - They possess a nice grip when it comes to feel. They barely feel coated while having a nice balanced tone. I can honestly say after putting their Monster gauged strings on my Sinbiote, I can claim that they can rival Ernie Ball, even GHS. I currently use their Hybrid on my Axstar and thus far, as balanced as can be. It brought out some of the brightness the Axstar lacked.
It doesn't end with nickelwound or even coatings, much to my surprise. Daddario and a Jazz Swing brand decided to have the grand idea of Flatwound strings. What this meant was that you would surely get a mellow and dark tone while also having a more slick and flat feel. I haven't bothered with either because I like to take control of my tone to a degree but consider this -- if you want that smoother and softer feel and want to add more mellow tone to your guitar, go for it. IF you want to mellow a Fender/Squier guitar out, this could be your ticket.
There's also chrome. Not only did Daddario pull off the whole Flatwound thing on their line but made them chrome in the process. They look shinier but certain sound mellow due to the flatwound nature of the Chrome series. I wonder what they would sound like if they were roundwound instead.
Ernie Ball then had the grand idea of finally having a set of coated strings but not before changing the string material as well. They went ahead with making these strings out of titanium. You know for sure they have a thick and tough durability about them and the tone leaning towards mellow while still clear as can be.
DR also released their Pure Nickel series. Some people go for them for a clean and decently bright tone. Given my sensitivity with nickel, I steer clear from these.
Then it happened. Cobalt. Ernie Ball couldn't possibly get crazier. They have a line of their strings made with cobalt steel. I am currently using their Cobalt Skinny Top Heavy Bottom on my PRS Tremonti SE and let me tell you -- while the guitar naturally has strong mids and pretty neutral and balanced on Treble and Bass but these strings skyrocket your Mid frequency. There will not be any lack of presence in your sound and you definitely will find yourself needing to turn your volume down! They are powerful but a word of caution -- the strings feel tough. Granted, the STHB strings are 10-52 but they feel like regular Power or Not Even Slinky strings.
Stay tuned to Part IIB, where I discuss strings for acoustic instruments.