Elixir 14777 Stainless Steel 5 Light

I have been a fan of Elixir strings for about 4 years now. They are easy to play and sound very well balanced. Elixirs coated nickelwounds sound "set in" right out of the box and keep that tone for months. The only thing these strings could not pull off was a bright, punchy slapping-tone. And this is where this set of stainless steel Elixirs can really shine!

I put them on my 5-string fretless first and was amazed with the brilliance and vocal qualities of these strings. The notes sounded clearer but were lacking just a bit of "body" in comparison to the nickel-version of this coated string. You could hear the subtle differences on long, sustaining notes and especially harmonics. I personally prefer the nickelwounds on my fretless.
A few days later I put the stainless steel Elixirs on on my 1995 Warwick Fortress and they turned out to be a perfect match: Clear lows, growling mids, snappy attack and a brilliant top-end. I could not put this bass down for hours...

I have been using these strings for a few months now and their sound has not changed yet and the coating is still like new. They are more expensive initially but make up for it on the long run. I only need to change these maybe twice a year and I play about an hour daily. Highly recommended!

I know that these strings are absolutely ace as I've used them for years on my 6-string bass. Just incredible, and so long lasting. Maybe not for the most grownling metal bass needs and not for the friends of a muffled tone (as these will take months to get even slightly muffled), but other than that excellent for anyone who doesn't feel changing strings every month.

The stars missing are only due to the dissapointing fact that these don't fit my fanned fret Dingwall, even though they're advertised as long scale. Or it could be that I got a bad set. Anyhow, Thomann's super customer care came through again as per usual and everything is sorted out wonderfully now!