D'Addario XS vs. Elixirs- mini review

[beachbum205]

I have been a huge fan of Elixir Nanowebs on my Taylors for a long time now. But with all the hubbub, I thought I would try a set of the D'Addario XS's on my Taylor 510e. I have had them on for almost a month now, and I thought I might offer a mini-review.

PROS
- they seem to be slightly louder than Elixirs
- as of now, no signs of wearing out or sounding dull

CONS
- they don't feel as smooth or slick as Elixirs
- they don't have the sound I have always associated with Taylors- what I call that "Taylor sparkle"

So to summarize, while the DA's actually sound pretty decent (better than I expected), my next string change will be back to Elixirs. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is how I feel about these strings (along with other recent changes in the Taylor universe).

In the end, this is all very subjective. What I'm hearing and feeling may be totally different than what another person might experience. So it goes without saying, YMMV.

Be interested to hear other's opinions on this.
-Jack

[woozone]

Agreed.  This might as well be as subjective a change in tonal quality as V-class bracing.  Who knows the real reason why after a long season of Elixirs there's such an abrupt change in vendors.

[Edward]

Good to know, and a very timely review.  I was just thinking about this difference earlier today since Strings and Beyond has a free-shipping special right now (your PSA is now ).  As a lonnnnng time user of elixir PBs, I was curious about trying the DAdds.  But now maybe I'll just order my ol' standby.  Big thanks for the review!

Edward

[Guitarsan]

Who knows the real reason why after a long season of Elixirs there's such an abrupt change in vendors.

Well, any change would be abrupt, but the decision was clearly deliberate and likely took months, based on what Taylor has said about the evaluation process.

We can take big clues from what Andy Powers says are D'Addario's strengths. He's complimented the XS strings consistency (manufacturing quality assurance) a lot.

“More than anything, what I always look for is whether the strings all behave in the same kind of way,” he says. “As a guitar maker, I want the exact same character from one string to the next. Otherwise, you can ruin everything about the guitar.” That desire for consistency across each string set is amplified by the scale of Taylor’s production — in the range of 200,000 guitars each year. With our manufacturing sophistication, we’ve been able to bring an extraordinary level of consistency to the build quality of our instruments. Similarly, D’Addario has achieved impressive consistency through its proprietary string-making technology and precision manufacturing processes, which allow them to produce 800,000 strings a day."

Taylor is not going to say anything about Elixir, but you can tell by what they say about the XS strengths why they changed
https://woodandsteel.taylorguitars.com/issue/2023-issue-2/feature-story/wire-transfer/

The great thing is as users we have choice, regardless.

One more thing, I found Vince Gill's (a superb guitarist) comments interesting on this subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv7YCz5URLc watch :35 - 1:00 at least

[Guitarsan]

CONS
- they don't feel as smooth or slick as Elixirs

Don't look now, but you're feeling the actual wound string, not the too-thick coating. 

[Edward]

I disagree about the "too thick" coating.  The polywebs, for sure are thick and sliiick!  But the nanowebs feel like unwound strings that have slickness to then, as if you've applied Fast Fret or the like, but without the extra step or time/trouble.  This excellent feel, and how they maintain their excellent tone for the duration of their usable life, is why I use and stick with the Elixirs.  Every other string I've tried (not the D'Ads though) degrades in tone while Elixir PBs keep like 90%+ of their tone till the very end.  In fact, I change them because they start to feel wonky with bumps and whatnot, and not because of poor tone.


Edward

[beachbum205]

We can take big clues from what Andy Powers says are D'Addario's strengths. He's complimented the XS strings consistency (manufacturing quality assurance) a lot.

“More than anything, what I always look for is whether the strings all behave in the same kind of way,” he says. “As a guitar maker, I want the exact same character from one string to the next. Otherwise, you can ruin everything about the guitar.”

Taylor is not going to say anything about Elixir, but you can tell by what they say about the XS strengths why they changed
https://woodandsteel.taylorguitars.com/issue/2023-issue-2/feature-story/wire-transfer/

The great thing is as users we have choice, regardless.

I know that many people think Andy Powers is a really cool genius, and almost everything he says is pure brilliance. I don't happen to be one of those people. And I'm not buying this spin for a second. Taylor has been shipping guitars with Elixirs since 1999. I doubt they would do that if Elixirs didn't have the same "character across the strings". If this was a real issue, I guess a lot of those guitars would have been "ruined".

I believe this was primarily a business decision to switch, and I have no problem with that. They have every right to do whatever they want, and if it makes more financial sense for them, I'm fine with that. Just don't pee on my leg and then tell me it's raining.

[Guitarsan]

We can take big clues from what Andy Powers says are D'Addario's strengths. He's complimented the XS strings consistency (manufacturing quality assurance) a lot.

“More than anything, what I always look for is whether the strings all behave in the same kind of way,” he says. “As a guitar maker, I want the exact same character from one string to the next. Otherwise, you can ruin everything about the guitar.”

Taylor is not going to say anything about Elixir, but you can tell by what they say about the XS strengths why they changed
https://woodandsteel.taylorguitars.com/issue/2023-issue-2/feature-story/wire-transfer/

The great thing is as users we have choice, regardless.

I know that many people think Andy Powers is a really cool genius, and almost everything he says is pure brilliance. I don't happen to be one of those people. And I'm not buying this spin for a second. Taylor has been shipping guitars with Elixirs since 1999. I doubt they would do that if Elixirs didn't have the same "character across the strings". If this was a real issue, I guess a lot of those guitars would have been "ruined".

I believe this was primarily a business decision to switch, and I have no problem with that. They have every right to do whatever they want, and if it makes more financial sense for them, I'm fine with that. Just don't pee on my leg and then tell me it's raining.

Your comments have little relevance to my post, even though it was quoted. But ok, I'll put you down as not an Andy Powers fan. And I don't need to read your mind to be able to say that. 

And you're free to believe anything you want, but if you want anyone else to come along, you might offer evidence or facts... something beyond pure conjecture.

[Frettingflyer]

I had tried the D’Addario’s on my 322e and really like them on that guitar. I accidentally got a set of XM instead of XS and didn’t care for them. Put a set of Elixirs on and like that too, but that guitar will be wearing the D’A’s for now while most of them keep the Elixir’s. I like having choices but never expected Andy to follow my lead:)

[beninma]

I really like the XS strings.

I think in general D'addarios in the same gauge feel easier to play than Elixir, and some (not all) Elixirs are obnoxiously slippery, especially if your fingers start to sweat.   I know in some cases the Elixirs actually have higher tension specs for the same string gauge, so it's probably not placebo.   That might not have to do with the coating.

I do perhaps think the Elixirs on a Taylor will sometimes add a little extra chunkiness to the bass strings if you need that.

I think Elixirs lose high end faster than the low end as the strings age, it's subtle but it's there.  The XS strings I think age a bit more evenly.

[SDTaylorman]

We can take big clues from what Andy Powers says are D'Addario's strengths. He's complimented the XS strings consistency (manufacturing quality assurance) a lot.

“More than anything, what I always look for is whether the strings all behave in the same kind of way,” he says. “As a guitar maker, I want the exact same character from one string to the next. Otherwise, you can ruin everything about the guitar.”

Taylor is not going to say anything about Elixir, but you can tell by what they say about the XS strengths why they changed
https://woodandsteel.taylorguitars.com/issue/2023-issue-2/feature-story/wire-transfer/

The great thing is as users we have choice, regardless.

I know that many people think Andy Powers is a really cool genius, and almost everything he says is pure brilliance. I don't happen to be one of those people. And I'm not buying this spin for a second. Taylor has been shipping guitars with Elixirs since 1999. I doubt they would do that if Elixirs didn't have the same "character across the strings". If this was a real issue, I guess a lot of those guitars would have been "ruined".

I believe this was primarily a business decision to switch, and I have no problem with that. They have every right to do whatever they want, and if it makes more financial sense for them, I'm fine with that. Just don't pee on my leg and then tell me it's raining.

Sometimes things are used because they are the best available at that time. This whole switch to Daddario strings smells of that to me. IF Daddario COATED strings had been equal to or better than the Elixirs (chosen because of the large volume and the fact that Taylor wanted their guitars in the showroom to look and play better for longer) then they would have been chosen then. Now that they've released their XS line it's clear that Taylor feels they're superior to their old supplier and made the switch. Nothing nefarious or misleading about that at all. Just don't stand in the rain and tell me I'm peeing on your leg (and don't complain you're getting wet because you refused an umbrella either).

[beninma]

Sometimes things are used because they are the best available at that time. This whole switch to Daddario strings smells of that to me. IF Daddario COATED strings had been equal to or better than the Elixirs (chosen because of the large volume and the fact that Taylor wanted their guitars in the showroom to look and play better for longer) then they would have been chosen then. Now that they've released their XS line it's clear that Taylor feels they're superior to their old supplier and made the switch. Nothing nefarious or misleading about that at all. Just don't stand in the rain and tell me I'm peeing on your leg (and don't complain you're getting wet because you refused an umbrella either).

If you go back 5-6 years if you looked at what Elixir was offering (EXP) versus D'addario was offering it would be easy to declare Elixir was better.

Fast forward today, Elixir is making the same strings and D'addario is on their 3rd version of their coated strings.   EXP -> XT -> XS.

The guys at Taylor have probably been trying these all along (like I have) and came to their own decision.   But they are also probably making the decision based on factors we don't care about.   Like which one is more reliable at delivering container trucks full of strings on schedule, or which one has the best price on 100,000 sets of strings.

If Taylor wants to do D'addario because they get a better discount on 100k sets of strings that's obviously not relevant to us but it's fine for them to use that as part of their decision.   But it's also legitimate if they just think the strings are better or suit a larger % of the Taylor lineup.

I kind of think Elixirs were a decent match with the brightest Taylor models.. but in recent years Taylor seems like they have released more and more guitars with a warmer voice, and maybe D'addario suits those better, but they don't want to worry about 2 suppliers.

I am also not sure what the chemicals are in the XS strings.. but Gore has said most of their stuff needs to go away, so Elixir strings may actually go away due to environmental concerns.   If D'addario found a way to get the job done with less harmful chemicals that could be part of what's going on too.

I am going to miss Gore-Tex a lot more than Elixir strings if they both have to go away.

[beachbum205]

“More than anything, what I always look for is whether the strings all behave in the same kind of way, As a guitar maker, I want the exact same character from one string to the next. Otherwise, you can ruin everything about the guitar.” - Andy Powers

The question is, does anyone really believe that more than anything, this is the reason Taylor made the switch? Personally, I doubt this very much. I'm guessing this decision had much more to do with the business aspects and the economics involved, and I'm fine with that.

Let's be honest, Andy Powers is good at many things, among them PR. And this just sounds like PR spin in guitar builder lingo to me. It wouldn't be the first time. But if you don't hear it that way, that's cool too. 

[Earl]

The question is, does anyone really believe that more than anything, this is the reason Taylor made the switch? Personally, I doubt this very much. I'm guessing this decision had much more to do with the business aspects and the economics involved, and I'm fine with that.

Taylor has never claimed that Elixirs sounded best on their guitars.  The goal was having comparatively fresh sets of strings on their guitars in a retail setting, to make them sound better than the competition.  These days almost every maker is using coated strings for that reason.  I have no insider info on why they switched, but dollars almost certainly figure in heavily.  Then marketing-speak takes over to justify that decision to the consumer.  No real issue with that capitalistic choice.  But I have become suspicious about ANY claim from Taylor about anything subjective.  Color me jaded....   

[ScottSD]

I've got to tell you.  I've have a 714CE that had really darkened up; to the extent I was thinking of moving it along.  I changed from DR Sunbeam 12's to D'Addario XS 80/20 12's and have been mightily impressed.  I've mostly been playing that guitar for the last week and I'd have to say those strings brought it back from the dead.

Scott