Ernie Ball Paradigm Regular Slinky 10-46 Gauge Electric Guitar Strings (P02021) | Durable Coated Strings for Rock, Blues & Studio Recording

TL;DR - These strings are awesome for heavy playing: Amazing Tone with Stable Longevity, Staying in Tune, and just Not Breaking for many shows.I've waited years to write this, because on my first two sets, I had almost immediate breakage on at least one string - however, I was able to get a couple sets before they were available to all the public, and my later experience as not the same, but I wanted to be sure before posting a review.Some background...I'm a heavy handed Gibson (endorsed) player, playing rock music akin to The Who or QOTSA - I usually wear down a 60mm pick to unusable in a couple sets. I've played hundreds of shows in the past five years, and D'addario EXL110 was what I used forever, because that's what my Luthier always put on after a setup, so I figured they were the best choice. But with the D'addario's I was almost always out of tune on multiple strings by the end of a song - so tuning between songs was always a mood killer, banter and jokes required to fill the gap in music. Worse, I was breaking 2-3 strings a set - in random fashion, not always the high E or B string - the D string maybe the highest break rate. I always had to have a backup guitar, and someone to change the broken string so it would be ready when I broke the next string. At times, I had to borrow a guitar while multiple strings were being worked on. I constantly wiped down the strings after each time playing and always stored the guitars out of the air asap. I tried many different string treatments, but nothing really mattered.I tried the new NYXL, but for me they still had short and unpredictable lives, and the tone would change rapidly, I never knew what to expect.As stated earlier, I was able to get in on the early batch of Paradigm strings (I use the 10-46) and though I did have some almost immediate breakage (within a few hours of playing) on those pre release sets, the replacements and others lasted what was, for me, amazingly long times. Weeks-long, and when I switch over completely to the Paradigms, I ended up actually changing strings (all of them at once) before they broke, something I hadn't done in years, unless popping on new strings for studio work.The Paradigms were a life changer for me. Not have strings break mid-set anymore is a pure godsend. I almost never use the backup guitar anymore because of a broken string.And there is a super bonus for me - THEY STAY IN TUNE for the entire set.And there there is the TONE.My experience is that the "brand new" tone takes a few hours to calm down and then the (very excellent) tone stays stable for weeks. For me, tone-wise, these blow away the former D'addario strings. In the studio, I had some extra D'addario sets left over, so I strung up a guitar and it sounded like a toy compared to another with the Paradigms. To be sure, I restrung with Paradigms, and it was full rich tone immediately.For years, I thought I had bad guitar tuner hardware causing the strings to go out of tune. But apparently it was the strings themselves.If I had anything bad to say, it would be that I don't love the "brand new" sound, so I don't like to play live until I've had a chance to work the strings for a few hours. But that new sound is still far better than what I was used to, just not the great sound that happens after broken in.Also in the maybe bad department is that I am still worried about the strings breaking when new even though it hasn't been the case in years. Usually when I put on a brand new set of strings, it's because I have studio or a big show that is being recorded or something, when I least want a string to break. That said, since I have to play until the "brand new" string sound goes away - when I have done that, I am confident that I have gone past that point where a bad string would have broken.I've seen reviews in which the tone was unsatisfactory for the player, and I suspect that it is a matter of how heavy handed a guitarist you are. If you never wear out picks, I think it might not be the right type of string tone for you. For me, I haven't found other strings that come close to the richness and pureness of these strings.I realize that everyone is different. I know some lighter touch (usually Fender style) players that are jaw-droppingly good, that have real emotional power to their playing who swear by D'addario's and won't break a string in years of playing. But that was clearly not my case.Do they still break on stage for me? Yes, but it's very rare and probably I should have changed the strings by then.To sum up, for my style, Paradigms changed my music life. I just feel super fortunate that these exist. I recommend them constantly to other players - especially when I see them break a string on stage. The Tone and Tuning stability alone would have justified switching over for me, but what I really needed - and didn't really expect to find - were strings that could taking a regular beating and not break. These do that. Just awesome.(Note: These were bought as a gift by me - the review is from the person I buy them for)I bought these because I like coated Elixirs (I have a couple guitars that have had the same set of these for 3+ years that play the same as the day I got them), but Elixir doesn't sell standard sets with the gauges I like. I typically buy Stringjoys because of the custom gauges I like to play, but they don't offer coated strings.So, because of both of those things, I gave these 10-62's a shot for a guitar I have tuned down a step to A standard. They are bright, stayed in tune well, and the 10-62 gauge is a great set for this particular tuning. The longevity left a lot to be desired. Maybe had a bit more time in them than standard EB strings, but they certainly didn't last any longer than uncoated Stringjoy's, so for an extra dollar, I'll stick with Stringjoy for the custom gauges.I used these for a guitar that I don't always play as much as I should. They cost a little more than the slinky I normally use but are perfect for this application ?. Prompt shipping and no issues.I only buy these. The sound great and last long.These strings maintain their resilience and sound quality longer than any other string I have purchased. Let’s put that in perspective. That’s hundreds of sets over a Fifty + year span. The claim that these strings are y breakable is simply ridiculous as, on average, I have broken many of them particularly when you first put them on.We live in a world now where most guitar strings are above average..These ain’t it my friendThe Paradigm series is the Premier strings available today. They last up to 6 months even if you play every day. The sound is a perfect balance of feel and tone, I have the Hybrid on all my electric guitars except for 1 Gibson SG that is tunes to C# which I use a Paradigm 11-54 for Heavier Musick. Try the Hybrid because it's half of a 10 set- your Low E is 46/ A is 36/ D is a 26. So it feels "right" but with the high E @ 9 you can really bend the hell outta of it. I've tried just about every major brand over the years and nothing comes close to the Ernie Ball Paradigm's and @ $15 bucks a pop there a steal cus they last 3x times as long...These strings really do what they say. They sound good. They last and they really are hard to break. And I’ve given them a pretty good workout. They’re pretty expensive but I think they are worth it.Now I actually bought these as a last resort. A few months before I purchased these I had treated myself to a Paul Gilbert signature fireman guitar and for the life of me I could not fathom why i was snapping high E strings almost every week (snapped 2 in a day once) I did a little bit of research and found nothing and i had concluded that the strings were consistently snapping at the bridge, I thought at first what a silly design for a bridge, but then I couldn't figure out how Paul was using so many different models with the same bridge for videos and gigs and having no snapping at all (little did i realise he was using RPS strings at this point) after seeing some of the Paradigm ads on Facebook I desperately bought some as the guitar had became my main gigging instrument.I'd seen lots and lots of negative reviews saying they snapped in the first 24 hours, that they rust easy etc etc etc, but like i say i was desperate, I think i purchased these on January 23rd 2019... 50 or gigs later, plenty of weekly rehearsals and a lot of playing at home I literally cannot even fault these. Before i wrote this review i had a little clean of the strings, they're a bit grubby but the tone is still there and they have that snap that new strings lose after a few weeks of playing, I am actually quite shocked myself they still feel and sound so good after 8 months of hard work (I am a pretty hard player myself and strings do suffer)Usually I don't tend to leave good reviews as I think to myself "well yeah they're doing as advertised" and I am really nit picky about these sort of things but I am well and truly impressed by the durability of these strings. The only reasons i can think of for people snapping these strings within the first 24 hours is 1. They've been sent a bad batch, unlikely but it does happen and 2. which is far more likely, whoever is finding these snapping after 24 hours or 1 use obviously doesn't know how to restring a guitar correctly or doesn't have their guitar properly set up.So if you're reading this and you are like i was and you're sceptical then my advice is definitely give these a try, ignore all the bad reviews and see for yourself, I'm glad I did.Thought I would try these out see how long they last.. they lasted me 4 months which is alright until I think about how much I've played that guitar, being lockdown season, not much at all.. Ive had the standard ernie balls last longer with more use and more aggressive playing. Shame it was the A string too, was half expecting the D or the high e going but nope the A string.. I think thats the 2nd or 3rd time in 10 years that the A string ever went on any of my guitars. Absolute waste of money and a bit of a con saying "break resistant" that some ballsy statement, you're better off getting the cobalt version for higher output, grip and tone saving me £5. Back to the lab.. I'd spend £100 on strings that don't break, but they gotta do what it says on the box.I prefer slightly higher gauge strings. For standard tuning I’d use 10’s instead of 9’s and have used these 11’s on my Gibson Explorer specifically for Eb tuning (while you could get away with 10’s if you prefer) - obviously Gibson scale - and to me, these are some pretty comfortable strings to use. Is there a massive difference between guitar strings and companies? There probably is, but it probably isn’t much to the layman but can be quite significant to some and there is a lot of B.S as well! For me, these strings are noticeably louder than the previous set, which had been on for ages...so make of that what you will! The big selling point of these strings is that they are meant to last and sound better for longer than your standard strings and, a month on from putting them on and using them, they don’t seem to deteriorated. No complaints and let’s hope they last as long as they’re meant to.At the age of 53 I picked up my guitar again after about 25 years. Now in the age of YouTube I’ve been able to massively develop technique and have been studying legato (with the help of some amazing Tom Quayle online lessons). I’ve always used Ernie Ball super slinky’s, 9’s but after a fair bit of research upped my gauge to 10’s and some newer string technology with these Paradigms. Wow. So much more control and as advised, easier for hammer ons and pull offs. Everything just feels that much more tight. Yes, bends are a bit harder but not compromising style. Floyd Rose needed resetting and my tones needed a bit of bottom end taking off but we’ll worth the effort. Now for some more playing!These strings are great, the issue I had was the high e string snapped when turning the peg on the headstock, I'm going to continue using the cobalt version, good job I have some kicking around. I genuinely wasn't expecting this to happen, I've only ever had one string snap on me 8 years ago when plugging strings. I can save a £5 an get the cobalt version, and keep all my strings, I would recommend others to potentially do the same.