Coated or Plain Acoustic Guitar Strings? Which Sounds Best? Which Is Better For You?

D'Addario has just sent me their new XT strings, so we will compare those with the regular XS Coated Strings, which I've been using for some time, and the Uncoated Phosphor Bronze strings.

GIVEAWAY! 🍀

🎁 D'Addario is celebrating Change Strings World Day, and you can get free strings and more. :) The prizes are as follows:

100 Students win a set of XS Strings.

The first place wins 12 sets, a maintenance kit, an AutoLock strap, and a Nexxus 360 Rechargeable tuner.

Due to competition laws, this giveaway is only open to the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada residents.

👉 Enter the Giveaway Here. Good luck!

Before we explore these different acoustic guitar strings and which one might be the best for you, let me share a bit about my journey and preferences!

My Favorite Acoustic Guitar Strings

I didn't like coated strings for the longest time. Way before trying the D'Addario ones, other popular brands would send coated strings to me occasionally, but I didn't think they sounded good. They always sounded flat and dead, and they got rid of some string noise, like that little finger scratchy thing that seems to disappear on the coated strings, but that sometimes sounds nice. They last longer, but why would I put them on when they didn't sound as good?

But with the D'Addario XT Strings, I thought they sounded as good as the out-of-the-box ones and lasted much longer. I'm constantly putting new regular strings on for the guitars I use for recording just for that bit of brightness, but today's test might change that! I might put the coated ones on straight away. But I always put coated strings on guitars I don't play as often because they last long before you have to change them. So, coated strings are something that I use now all the time, which means I'm very curious to test these out!

Testing & Changing Strings!

I've left my old strings on to start this video. They're coated strings, but I haven't changed them for months. I'll strum and pick with them, then change for the XT and the Uncoated Phosphor Strings.

My Setup

I normally record my acoustic guitar plugged into the Kemper. I use this free patch called Acoustic Jr. Shelter. It's plugged in, but a little microphone generally picks up the acoustic guitar. I have a microphone hidden in my hat here! And in addition to that, I use a nice Neumann U87. It's an old vintage microphone that belonged to Hugh Padgham and probably recorded a few Police songs in its time. That goes directly into my Logic door!

💬 Watch the test! Then, Join the Discussion and let me know which strings you prefer. :)