My first try with coated strings ...

Thursday, March 5, 2015 -- With a snowstorm under way last night, I decided to restring my Peavey Raptor with my new set of Elixir super light coated strings.

The honest truth is that this is my first set of coated strings I've owned; I've known of them, but frankly, as an amateur player, I've never felt the need to pay double or triple the cost for strings. For example, I recently bought a pack of 5 sets of strings for just a little over the price of the coated Elixir strings.

I really had to put some thought into which guitar to restring ... I've been playing the Ibanez as my go-to guitar lately. It's light and just a nice player. I hadn't played the Peavey in quite a while, and I had forgotten how sweet it plays too.

I love the sound of new strings, and the Elixirs certainly sounded beautifully bright and clear. I'm anticipating that these will last me quite a while given the fact I'm spreading my playing around between several guitars.

Right now I have restrung the Ibanez and the Oscar Schmidt semi-hollow body with "standard" strings, and they too sound really good. You forget how crappy old strings make a guitar sound. You don't have to convince me that coated strings will be more cost effective over the long term, but when I can buy quality uncoated strings cheaply -- and given the fact I'm not gigging professionally -- I'm going to give coated ones a try and see how long they last.

I played the Peavey for a while, and boy howdy, those strings sound great! I think I'm going to continue to evaluate coated strings and watch for some deals on eBay for two or three-string sets. We'll see!

Rock on!