True Or Not?

[yeti66]

I was at a local music store yesterday and was talking to a long time employee about this, that, and the other when strings came up, a young boy and his mother came in and were inquiring about strings for his brand new fender strat, (Christmas present) and 1st nice guitar.

She asked Marty (the employee) what strings he would recommend? being that they always bought the cheapest strings for his (cheapo) fender and wanted to go with quote "good ones this time"!

Without missing a beat he says:AOK "D'addario makes pretty good strings" and that he's always had "pretty good luck with them" and that they'er "good quality for a fair price" I should mention that this is the main brand of string he carries he has others and claims he can get any brand you need? but D'addario is his main inventory!

The lady buys the kid a 3-pack and leaves, afterward I asked Marty what he thought about gibson brand strings? he tell's me that he believes D'addrio is now, and have been supplying gibson with the strings that they outfit most of there guitars with at the gibson USA plant?

Anyone know if this is true or not?

 

[bcdon]

I thought all Gibsons and Epiphones are loaded with Gibson Brite Wires.

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Divisions/Gibson Gear/Strings/Electric Series/Brite Wires/

 

[Spudman]

It is true that only a handful of manufactuers make most of the guitar strings and then sell them under other brand names. I don't know if D'addario makes the Gibson strings or not, but it's highly possible that somebody could be making those strings other than Gibson.

 

[Plank_Spanker]

It is true that only a handful of manufactuers make most of the guitar strings and then sell them under other brand names.

True. I highly doubt that Gibson has a plant somewhere churning out Brite Wires exclusively for Gibson guitars.

I've played D'Addarrio strings for over 30 years, but I've also liked the Brite Wires my new Gibsons shipped with.

Perhaps they're one in the same?

 

[sumitomo]

Same thing with car parts,One place makes brake pads,the other water pumps,ect.Sumi

 

[street music]

Just like riding mowers, one factory in OHio has 6 different brands that come off their line. It's a fact that you can talk about for months, I say find what feels best and sounds right to your ears and play the heck out of them. I tried some Martins, Gibsons, Elixir, D'addirio and a few GHS. I have found Dean Markley's to be my favorite brand of strings.

 

[hubberjub]

Most guitar strings you can buy are made in the same factory and repackaged by the companies you know.

 

[ZMAN]

They must be difference specs then. I have one set of Britewire 10s on my SG and they are very different than the D'Addario 10s that I have on one of my other guitars.
After many years and just about every string possible, I use only 9.5 D'Addarios on all of my guitars.

 

[Spudman]

From Webstrings:

So How Do We Do It?
Great question, I can’t tell you how many people have e-mailed us asking how it’s possible for us to sell such an incredible set of strings at such a low price? This question comes up so often that we felt it necessary to explain this phenomenon right here where everyone can see it... so here goes. The modern guitar string is easily the best string ever made, companies such as D'Addarrio, Ernie Ball, GHS and many others offer higher quality strings than at any other time in history. Guitar strings as well as many other products are now being made faster, cheaper and most importantly better than ever before. Computer controlled manufacturing techniques have enabled industrial America to produce goods whose specifications are so exact that it boggles the mind. From the company that produces the raw material to the company that extrudes the wire all the way to the company that winds the string. All of these processes are more efficient than ever before. Guitar strings are just one the benefactors of this new industrial revolution.

Who Actually Makes Strings?:
For those of you who are still in the dark about who makes guitar strings, lets just say that there are only a handful of companies that actually manufacture strings. Most of today's string labels have one of these string factories manufacture strings for them and they simply put their label on them. These branded strings are then sold to a distributor and then to a store or perhaps a catalog, everyone makes money along the way (we can't fault them for this, everyone needs to make a living). Strings go through many hands before they end up on your instrument.

String Marketing:
As I'm sure you know the most popular string labels spend lots and lots of money advertising. We've all seen those long lists of endorsees, great for those of us who get free strings but if your a working musician without an endorsement deal it doesn't mean much. What it does mean is that someone has to pay for all that advertising. Webstrings doesn't advertise the way the industry does, we don't give strings away free of charge to anyone and we would never pay anybody to use our strings the way many labels do.

A Better Way:
Webstrings contracts the same manufacturers that the most popular labels use for their strings. That's right they're the same high quality American made strings. So you see, there's a good chance that your favorite strings are exactly what we're selling! And if not you may find that Webstrings are of better quality and so much more affordable that you'll never go back to the old stuff! Essentially, Webstrings customers get to play without having to pay. Check out what they're saying and meet our growing list of satisfied customers.

 

[MAXIFUNK]

@ Spud great post very informative.