I played a gig with 74 pence Harley Benton strings

bluechargeboy · February 2015

Yes indeed, I felt the need to try Harley Benton Valuestrings at €0.98 per pack. My reasoning being that D'Addarios only last me one or two gigs so why not try the cheapest possible and see if they will do me?

The first thing to know is that they are a really disturbing yellow colour:

They seem to be made of some non-human alloy or possibly from Atlantis. They are described as "bronze" and they look closest to 80/20 bronze. When you uncoil them they stay in a curved shape, and they just look odd. Anyway they come in individual sealed plastic packets, not too shabby and better than D'Addarios in this respect. ;-) The ball end wraps look tidy.

The sound of them is a bit clanky compared to D'Addarios but they lasted one practice and one gig without much trouble, stayed in tune OK. I would only use them for gigs and not recording. I am playing single note lines and mad plectrum strumming, they would not be any good for nice fingerstyle.

I don't trust them but I may have to try them again. As they are sealed up they would be fine for cheapo spares in the guitar case. The main downside is the Thomann shipping costs, which kills the idea of buying them unless you go mega-bulk or add them to another order. I tend to get D'Addarios when I go to America for about £3, so I'm trying to decide if the extra £2 is worth it for the tonez in a live situation.

So in summary they are not horrendous.

Next gig: Harley Benton Coated Phosphor Bronze strings!

Frankieabbot · February 2015

Interesting.....never heard of them until I read your post. You sound a 'discerning' player so I understand why you might want or need to change them after every gig or so. But to a keen but limited noob like me they could last longer. Still got the strings on my guitar that were on it when I bought it a year ago! Dunno what type or make they are but they seem to stay in tune....and haven't broken yet!

bluechargeboy · February 2015

They might be coated strings @Frankieabbot, they can last forever if you are a fairly gentle player or you are fingerpicking. I tend to thrash away like a loon with a plectrum so the coating wears away. This gets expensive hence the quest for cheap strings!

I think my body chemistry is not compatible with acoustic strings, they seem to die instantly, no matter how much TLC I apply to strings or hands...!

Dave_Mc · February 2015

LOL nice

bluechargeboy said:
They seem to be made of some non-human alloy

Most alloys are non-human, surely?

DefaultM · February 2015

I got a load of similar sounding electric sets once (stayed coiled etc). They absolutely wrecked my frets, put massive scratches in them.

bluechargeboy · February 2015

Dave_Mc said:

LOL nice

bluechargeboy said:
They seem to be made of some non-human alloy

Most alloys are non-human, surely?

D'Addario strings are extruded directly from their employees, like with spiders' webs.

Dave_Mc · February 2015

LOL

Frankieabbot · February 2015

Has anyone tried any of their guitars? I see that German retailer is flogging HB semi acoustic guitars for £150.

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I played a gig with 74 pence Harley Benton strings

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