Dave Wirth
This is tip #15 of my new book, How to Learn Guitar and Have Insane Amounts of Fun:
The price of marketing a set of strings costs more than half the price of a set. Each string manufacturer must do extensive market research, advertise both in print and on the web, secure a fantastic web presence, and get well-known guitarists to sponsor. They do this just to gain a modest foothold in an already saturated market. Therefore, marketing any pack of strings accounts for at least half of the price. What I have noticed as a guitarist with close to twenty years of string buying experience is that most packs of strings under $10 are almost exactly the same quality, regardless of their price.
To be clear: Most packs of guitar strings that are under $10 are almost the exact same quality.
Most strings in this price range lose their tone in about the same amount of time, and break just as easily as the others. What this means for you is that the cheapest strings you can find will last just as long as strings that cost about $10 a pack. For example, I have bought no-ad strings in bulk and had them last just as long as the name-brand strings. If you want to buy strings of higher quality, the packs that are more than $10 each, you get an incredible jump in quality. My highest suggestion is to go with the cheapest strings you can get until your palette is really secure.
If you had the entire book, you could easily find out which diameter (meaning width) of strings is best for your hand as well as for your guitar. Want to check it out?
