Understanding the Strings of the Guitar

Here is the latest installment in the "Understanding" series for guitar teaching reference. Click Here For Printer Version.

GHS Coated Boomers: Guitar String Review CB-GBXL

          Hello! My name is Jesse A and I am now a contributor to  Guitar Corners: A resource for all things guitar related.
          Today we will be discussing the GHS Coated Boomer (set CB-GBXL) for electric guitar .009-.042". The test instrument is a Fender Telecaster with standard Tele components ala 1952. The test amplifiers are a Fender Princeton Reverb and a Roland JC-77, one tube the other transistor respectively.
         The strings are individually packaged in single paper envelopes as per usual for GHS. Each string wound up nicely on the Tele and right away I could feel that these are not your uncle's coated  string, cough...Elixir...cough. Coated Boomers have a soft and supple quality that the Elixir strings do not seem to have. If you have tried the original GHS Boomers you probably remember the rock-and-roll finger biting that happens when you are playing them during the break-in period, the Coated Boomers have no such issue.

       Once installed these strings came up to pitch within 30 minutes and after a letting the Princeton warm up we were ready. The clean tones are fantastically sparkly with good balance of low and high frequency content. Harmonics are excellent and with a kick of the TS-9 the lines flowed with great sustain. Both neck and bridge selections sound like they are supposed to for each pickup, great tones!
      Now for the JC-77, being a monster clean amp we heard more sparkling highs and actually needed to re-adjust the EQ (both Mike and I are "knobs at 12 o'clock" kind of guys) but the good tones were still happening. Played through the JC-77 with the quartet this set of strings produces a characteristically bright and articulate tone with a definite emphasis on the upper frequencies, i.e. definitely cuts through.
      These strings are a great alternative to the standard Boomers and are certainly different than the garden variety coated set. I recommend you give these a try if you are looking to experiment a little.