There’s nothing quite like the feel and sound of fresh guitar strings, especially on an acoustic guitar, where every tonal nuance is exposed. Playing with old, dull, and grubby strings not only feels bad but also affects your guitar’s tone – a double whammy to avoid. To help, we’ve put together a selection of the best acoustic guitar strings available today so you don’t have to face this problem alone.
Strings may not be the most expensive part of your guitar, but they’re certainly one of the most integral. Just like your guitar’s body shape, bracing construction, tonewoods, and even scale length, your acoustic guitar strings play a huge role in how good your instrument sounds – and how it feels when you’re playing.
Of course, strings are incredibly personal, and the best acoustic guitar strings for you will depend on both your playing style and the type of acoustic guitar you own. To make it easier to find the perfect set, we’ve rounded up our top recommendations in a number of categories. From coated options to steel core custom gauges, we’ve selected a wide berth of options that will appeal to the cornucopia of players out there. We’ve also included some useful advice at the end of this guide in our FAQs section.
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Elixir’s Nanoweb acoustic guitar strings offer brilliantly long-lasting performance that far exceeds the majority of uncoated strings available. We’ve heard players stating that these strings have survived regular play for six months!
In our experience, tonally speaking there’s little difference between these and a set of uncoated strings and, if anything, the slightly lesser brightness when you first put them on is another advantage. It makes the strings sound as though they’ve been played in for a little bit, losing some of that super twangy tone you get with a new pair of strings.
Elixir Nanoweb sounds equally good with fingerpicking and flatpicking which is why they come as standard on all Taylor guitars. Although these are on the pricier side of things when it comes to acoustic guitar strings, the trade-off is not having to replace them so often, which more than makes up for the extra cost.
When you’ve been making guitars for 180 years, it’s probably safe to assume you know a thing or two about making strings as well. With Martin Guitars Authentic Acoustic strings, you’re getting time-tested experience and quality when you string your acoustic guitar.
These are uncoated strings, so they have a brightness of sound that’ll be familiar to any acoustic guitar player. We found them to balanced all across the frequency spectrum so you’ll get a great response whichever register you’re in, alongside great tuning stability.
The impeccable standards with which Martin guitars make all their instruments and accessories applies here too, and you’ll find that these strings withstand a punishing amount of playing, surviving the harshest pick attacks with aplomb.
Of course, D’Addario can create a fantastic set of steel strings, but it has many more feathers in its cap. From violin strings to banjo strings, D’Addario’s catalog is expansive. However, we’re focused on guitar, and it also makes an excellent set for classical guitar – the Pro Arté Nylon Cores are the best of the bunch.
With a multifilament nylon core and silver-plated copper winding around the bass strings, the Pro Arté strings offer a responsive and resonant tone. They are incredibly durable, so you won’t need to change them very often. D’Addario offers the Pro Arté strings in multiple tensions, from normal tension for lower action to high tension for extra volume.
Although some players may prefer the convenience of ball-end nylon strings, the Pro Arté strings are certainly among the best nylon acoustic strings currently on the market. Plus, for the price, there’s not a lot to argue with.
Although Ernie Ball is primarily known for its ‘Slinky’ electric guitar string brand, the company also makes excellent strings for the acoustic guitar players out there. Combining years of experience manufacturing strings with some of the best materials available, these are a great choice for any kind of guitar player.
We found that sound-wise they offer a distinctly warmer tone than some of the others on this list. They are not overly bright when you first put them on like some acoustic guitar strings, which makes them great for regularly gigging guitarists as you don’t have to spend so long breaking them in.
The tonality definitely makes them more skewed towards flat pickers and strummers, however, as the warm mellow tone might not be bright enough for fingerpickers to make themselves heard.
D’Addario’s Nickel Bronze Acoustic range offers a string that allows you to hear the natural tonality of your guitar and less of the string itself. They work fantastically well for a wide variety of playing styles, whether you’re flatpicking and strumming or gently fingerpicking.
Due to the lack of coating, you may find these strings don’t last quite as long as their coated cousins. That said, the price range of these acoustic guitar strings means that you’ll probably end up spending the same amount no matter which you choose.
The sound of these strings comes from their nickel plating, which makes them great for playing with other instruments as they sit so well in the mid-range. We found they don’t throw up as many overtones as some of the other strings on the list, giving them a very clear and defined sound.
D’Addario’s XS range marks a fresh step for the company with an innovative polymer and ultra-slim coating for an outstanding playing feel. These strings offer the maximum lifespan of any D’Addario acoustic string thus far, making them a great choice for the gigging acoustic guitarist.
A hex-core construction ensures that your tuning stability is always on point, whilst intonation across the length of the string will never be an issue. The NY steel core gives outstanding durability too, so you’ll be hard pushed to snap one of these.
In terms of sound, in our experience they offer a great balance between warmth and brightness, sounding balanced over the full set. The coating means you get less finger noise when sliding up and down the neck too, which is a nice bonus.
Curt Mangan is a relative newcomer to the acoustic guitar-string game, but don’t let that put you off trying a set. Curt himself worked at Ernie Ball for many years, so you can rest assured that he has plenty of experience in the industry.
These strings are handmade in the USA to very exacting standards, offering acoustic guitarists an extremely high-quality product. The ability to specify your own custom gauge on the Curt Mangan website also offers the flexibility you can’t get with established brands.
In our testing these strings sounded great when we first put them on, without so much of that ‘zingy’ sound you often get from a new set. There’s a nice shimmer in the high end that’s not too bright, but not too warm, making them great all-rounders.
Fender needs little introduction when it comes to guitars, but its strings offer just as much quality as its instruments. Coming in at a brilliant price point, Fender Dura-tones offer a great introduction to coated strings for those who’ve never tried them.
It may take you some time to get your hand around the feel of coated strings – however, time is on your side as these are some of the longest-lasting strings we’ve tested. Subjected to a micro-treatment of coating, Fender estimates these will last you five times longer than an uncoated acoustic string.
They hold their tuning fantastically well with minimal stretching and the tonality is very bright, making them well suited to larger-sized acoustic guitars like dreadnoughts. They’re very measured across the set in terms of tension, so chords feel great and every note rings out clearly.
Rotosound has something of a vintage image thanks to its association with famous acts of the ‘60s like Jimi Hendrix and The Who. But don’t let that fool you into thinking they haven’t kept up with the times. This British brand makes some of the best acoustic guitar strings around.
They include an extra high E string which is a nice touch for new players, who often overtighten strings when changing them for the first time. Despite this inclusion, these strings are still very durable and will stand up well to hard strumming.
As with most uncoated strings, they’re very bright sounding and have an excellent balance across the set. They sustain really well too, thanks to their wound bronze-alloy construction made to a time tested recipe.
