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Location: Phoenix AZ | This may seem like a ridiculous question, so let me explain.
Can strings go "bad" in the pack? At some point I must have found a good sale on EJ16's because I bought a TON of them. All sealed in their little plastic packs. I've been restringing a few guitars lately and going out of my damn mind because I can't get the guitars in tune. It's like some of the strings are slipping (they're not) or the guitars have a massive intonation problem (they don't). And on top of that the B and high E sound dead as a doornail. This has happened on numerous guitars over the last few days and I'm sure the strings were sitting in storage for at least a few years. Is it possible for them to go wonky in the pack? Or goes being coiled up for so long in the pack do something ridiculous metallurgically to the structure? Local shop is closed so I can't just run out and buy some fresh ones.
Has anyone ever observed anything like this?
PS - it's not just happening on Ovation guitars, other brands as well. |
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Location: SoCal | I'm not going to comment on a thread about strings...... |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | I know what you're thinking ... Geez, he can't even tune his own guitars !!! |
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Posts: 1673
Location: SoCal | Are you using fresh String Tubes?
Yes, I have had dead strings, in a new pack. Oxidation causes a change in tensile properties.
Edited by noah 2020-03-26 4:41 PM
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Location: When?? | I have in fact had that same thing happen with old stings that never got opened. Mine were a couple sets of original Adamas 1818's, and some Ernie Ball electrics that I discovered in my storage, but they were in there for more than a "few" years. Probably closer to 8-9 years before opened. And yes, same result as your D'Adds. Still tunable and playable for short spans, but also noticeably sounding flat and dead right out of the pack. This was some time back, and I can't recall if they were dead across the whole 6 or not. I would think that metals like that would stand the test of decades, but now you brought it up I am guessing it wasn't my imagination. Also maybe check them closely to see if perhaps there are visual marks on them where they were crossed over in contact when coiled. Even in plastic packs, I am supposing that maybe some very slight humidity may be able to trap and collect in those tiny little contact points and possibly leave corrosion mass that may compromise the structure and tone (though I don't recall attempting any such observation on mine).
Edited by Love O Fair 2020-03-26 4:47 PM
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Location: SoCal | Standingovation - 2020-03-26 1:40 PM
I know what you're thinking ... Geez, he can't even tune his own guitars !!!
Who ends up tuning all your guitars when he comes over? |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | I cannot say I have had issues with old strings still in their original packaging even from 10-30 years old.
Admittedly, these were for the most part electric and bass strings ( a few years ago I found some Rotosound bass strings and Sound City strings from the early 80s buried in a box with obsolete gear). I sold the Rotosounds on eBay for big bucks and put the Sound City strings on the bass....sounded great.
Maybe it works different on Acoustics. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Now I am concerned. (a little)
I own strings that I know are ten years old.
I got some EXP's in old-style packaging... And I have others that I bought on sale, in bulk.
I have not had to buy strings in years...
I just looked... The last time I bought stings was in 2018.
And that was Nylon strings. (I only own ONE Nylon string guitar)
Just another thing to worry about. 
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Location: When?? | It's probably not as much about how old the strings are as it is under what conditions they have been stored during an extended time. The ones I referenced above had been in a not-so-sealed storage unit, and toggled back and forth through many years of hot, dry summers and cool, foggy winters. Ideal conditions for metals to change (oxidation, etc), albeit minor in visual comparison to something like the surface of an exposed metal tool, but still major enough to disturb a delicate vibration frequency response of an acoustic guitar string. |
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Location: Canada | That is weird. D'Addario strings are vacuum sealed and therefore not subject to oxidation. About being coiled up I am not sure. There used to be a brand called Nashville Straights that I preferred and they claimed that coiling was detrimental. But they went out of business... |
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Location: NJ | wow nashville straights!!! they went out of biz in the 80's I remember they sold velcro to hold the spare strings to your case !!!
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Location: Parrish, FL | Well, I was going to post my best effort of an explanation, but the body of my response got lost twice while in the process, so here's the short version.
Metallurgist by training, Haven't practiced physical metallurgy in over 35 yrs, so a bit rusty (pun intended).
EJ16's are Phosphorus/Bronze strings, approximately 92% Copper, 8 % tin, with trace other materials such as phos, zinc, sulfur. D'Addario states that the bronze is over a high carbon steel core. They go on to say that the phosphorus provides greater corrosion resistance and a warmer tone.
Although coiled, I would doubt that they have yielded enough to changed in tensile properties, even if stored at elevated temperatures. Think about it, we put a LOT of tensile stress on the strings as we tune them up, and they DO stretch (yield), but they wouldn't be of much use to us if they went bad from simply coiling them, even for extended periods. The properties of these materials at ambient temperatures are pretty stable and I wouldn't expect them to change significantly. Storage temps well above 500 F may have an effect, allowing interstitial movement of molecules at grain boundaries. Not sure what that temp is (didn't look it up) but higher that Dave's storage closet, even in AZ.
I'll take d'ovation's word for it that they are vacuum packed, so Noah's concern regarding corrosion probably is not a contributing factor either.
So given decent storage conditions and unopened packages, not much to go wrong in a few years. Dave, sorry this doesn't solve your problem or answer your question, but from a purely physical standpoint, they should be good still. A REAL QUICK search of the WWW says the same.
That's all I got.
Brad |
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Location: Cork, Ireland | But like any product, there could be a few bad ones, correct? Less likely with a trusted brand but still possible |
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Do New Strings Become Un-Tunable
