D'Addario Silk & Steel Acoustic Guitar Strings - EJ40-6 String - Warm, Mellow Tone - Light, 11-47

I really like D'Addario strings in general - and years back I settled on their Nickle Bronze line, stringing all my guitars with either the Lights or Balanced Tension Lights. That included my parlor guitars. I had no idea that these Silk and Steels existed. :) Anyway, when it came time to change the strings on my Blueridge Parlor, I did a Google Search and Silk and Steel popped up. Love em!! To my ears, they indeed sound "mellower", very pleasant for fingerstyle and Blues, my main area of interest. They also seem to project a bit less volume than the Nickle Bronze, and I'm guessing it's mainly because of the lighter gauge of the lower four strings. Not an issue for me. Along with the rounder sound, those lighter gauge lower strings are much kinder to my fretting fingers and the lower tension makes bending easier. These gains in ease of play have been a real eye opener! Lastly, I never stretch my strings when I install them, so typically I'd have to monkey around with a newly installed set of Nickle Bronze before they'd stabilize. Surprisingly, these Silk and Steels held initial tuning pretty good and only needed some minor tweaking during the first hour of play. I don't know if the core material difference had anything to do with it or if I just got lucky on the installation. Anyway, if you own a parlor guitar or are looking for strings that are gentler on your fingers, these are really worth trying out. :)

Excellent product for high-end acoustic guitars. Strings are smooth for fretting and sound great!

Many years ago, I had played a Yamaha acoustic daily. My poor left hand fingers were completely numb on the tips, and blistered each time I played on the strings I was using. Typing was very painful in class. I later was in a music store & spotted strings, and so looked them over. Saw (martin) Folk Silk & Steel strings. Reading, says were 'easy on fingers', mellow sounding. The first part is what got my attention. I bought them and strung them up. Oh wow. Yes! Easy on fingers! My fingers healed up and got feeling back over the coming days, even while still playing 2-4 hours per day. Got married and stopped playing except very occasionally over the next 39 years. Fast forward to this last July, I bought a new guitar and much better guitar. Oh no. The strings! Meat grinders again. But. I knew what was needed, and I played on them for a few minutes daily, building may left hand back up. Strength wise and callouses. Except these strings also left bruising and did cut my fingers. Looking on Amazon, I knew I wanted Silk & Steel strings again. Or at least I thought. Oh my gosh..... cannot believe how many brands of strings now! 1970's, there weren't many brands or kinds NOR gauges. Crud. What to get? Spent more than 2 weeks looking and reading... Finally decided on these D'addario Silk & Steel. The 1st strings, high E, is 11, whereas Martin is 11.5. D'addarion would be slightly easier on that high string on my pinkie finger. It's the one that is bruised the most. The other strings are the same as the Martin's. Love these strings! Mellow and soft and the notes just flowwww..... strings & guitar just resonate... the sound lasting... not falling off as quick as the original strings. Yes! Got my wonderful sound back and love listening while playing again. I do finger picking... kind of banjo style. Notes on these strings ring true without brassy sounds..... bass is solid & rings, and not thunking as the strong (hard) strings were producing. (the guitar came with 13's! Not good on fingers that the last time playing at all had been 15 years earlier, and on Silk & Steel at that. Did NOT like the sound of 13's either. Very HARD notes, no flowing & then tapering off sound.) Am very happy with these D'addarios Silk & Steel. I do not miss the extra .5 on the Martin high E string. I sat and played for 4 hours on these strings. My back gave out sitting with my dreadnought. My left hand fingers were still okay and could have played a lot longer. But, my back said no, put the guitar away and play again tomorrow. Love these strings. ^_^

I like finger style and play a lot of folk and lighter classic rock stuff. These strings give a nice even, mellow sounds I like and are very easy on the fingers. They are all I use now.

I play primarily fingerstyle guitar and was looking for strings that would be soft and easy to play. These caught my eyes since it sounded from the description to be a bit closer to classical guitar nylon strings but on a steel-string guitar. I think certain attributes were as I expected: 1) the strings are gentler on the fingers compared to 80/20 or phosphor bronze strings I've played in the past 2) the tone is a bit more mellow, there's less brightness and bite to it 3) the strings are easy to bend That being said, there were some drawbacks I didn't really account for: 1) the tone is mellow to a fault- it almost sounds muffled. 2) the volume output is less than more traditional strings 3) I think the tone degraded relatively fast compared to other strings (e.g. with 80/20s when I install them, they're overly bright for my liking, but then mellow out a bit overtime while retaining a lot of volume and clarity). These went more from mellow to swampy. 4) percussive style playing doesn't really work- hammer-ons are hard to get any volume on, any kind of string slapping drumming is going to sound quiet. All that said, these are nice to have on a secondary guitar (if you have multiple) in case your fingers are tired from playing on steel strings all day but you want to continue for a bit on soft strings. Worth trying out to see if it fits your playstyle. For me- I will probably be mostly playing on my other guitar in the meanwhile, and when I end up swapping these strings out, I'll probably go back to more traditional strings.

These strings are just incredible. They change the whole guitar to a much less twange and a more bass like response.

A childhood friend of mine plays in a touring band and is a luthier when not touring. He has been playing guitar since he was 10 (we are 50 now) and recommended these strings to me. He loves them and I respect his opinion so on his recommendation I tried them. Love these strings on my Yamaha FG800. I've upgraded this guitar with a bone nut and saddle. With these strings the tone is bright, but warm. I'd say it is more "bluegrass and country" than it would be "rock and blues". Although, if you are a bit more aggressive with the pick you do get a great "classic blues" tone. These are a little more expensive than some other brands but I feel like the quality of these stings is a bit better. I also think they last longer than other brands too so, a couple dollars difference is a wash. I personally find these strings to be easier on your fingers than bronze or phosphor bronze (your results may vary). I feel like you do have to make a compromise with these strings. In my opinion there is a bit of a trade off; while I love the overall tone and playability I must admit the projection on the high end is not as good as I would like. Even digging in with the pick on those higher notes, it doesn't have the OOMPH, I'd like compared the the phosphor bronze strings I typically use. I do keep a set of silk & steel and phosphor bronze on hand and will change them out depending on the songs I am learning or the mood I am in. It would probably be easier to get another acoustic guitar!

I am still undecided yet but let me explain. I have been useing Martin light silk and steel on all my guitars for yrs. I have a Martin 6 string that had a mellow bassy tone and I couldn't change that even with a amp and its controlls. I wanted it to sound like the martins I hear the pro's Play. Put the ? out on amazon and a get guy said only, try D'Addario XTAPB1152 Phosphor Bronze. Put on stretched 2 days than put the pick up on and plugged in and BINGO. That was it. I orderd another set of light silk and steel for my Fender acc and elect and they sounded great. It looked like I was about to change from my martins. So I orderd a set of silk and steel light for my 12 Ventura. They also sounded good but not much different than martins but a bit better. I felt like they were harder to play than the martins. I just put a new set of Marytin silk and steel on my martin12 still streching. We'll see, but not sure thats fair cause the Ventura is a relik and U have to man handle it anyway and the martin is a breeze. All in all the D'Addario gave me the sound I looked for for yrs on the martin and fender. The D'Addario and Martin strings I think are the best U can get and they don't cost that much and last a long time. I didn't say this, but I think the D'Addario my have a little bit better sound. I have been a total Martin guy for yrs. LOL I'm still out on the D'Addario's but now I only have 1 guitar with martin strings on. Have other 6 strings to try them on. Only put them on the 1's I play. Yes I will buy D'Addario's again and probably martin. But I am very happy with D'Addario's. Will let U know if I become a total convert. well this is some time later but I had a Martin new string go bad on my Martin 12 string so I got another set O D'Addarios put them on last night , tuned than tuned again this morn. Sound great accuestic haven't tride plugging into amp yet but sure that will be even better. Point is that was the last of the Martin strings and am a all D'Addario now and I have alot of guitars. I am 70 yrs old, been playing since 2nd grade and have been a Martin guy a long time. To switch is saying alot.