I have pretty much settled on Elixir Phosphor Bronze strings but I don't care for them for the first few days after I put them on. I find the sound too edgy but after a few days of playing them in, they sound fantastic and last much much longer than non-coated strings. I would only get a week at best out of a non-coated strings and I can extend that to a month or two at most depending on how much I play and if I regularly wash my hands before playing and wipe down the strings after playing.
Some may think this is out in left field... (my wife thinks I am beyond that and in the stands selling hot dogs!
) In my opinion, the time of day that you play can also have an effect on your perceived tone of your guitar. Try this some time... Play your guitar in the middle of the day in a room with lots of natural light. Now play it again later that night when it is dark out and be sure it is the same room, guitar pick, location etc. But in the second sitting, have all the main lights off so you only have accent/mood minimal lighting. Or try this in a room where you can shut the lights off. I tried this with a buddy of mine and we both agree that you hear more in the guitar. Our theory is that there is less visual distraction and it allows you to focus on your hearing sense. There's probably a PHD study on this topic out there somewhere but it makes sense to me... decrease one sense and another compensates slightly. Look at blind people... their sense of hearing is much more finely tuned that someone with 20/20 vision.
