I reported in an earlier post about trying both 80/20 Bronze and Phosphor Bronze Elixir strings and said that I’d report back what I found. Well, after several months of use, here’s my report.
All in all, I prefer the “good ole” 80/20’s to the Phosphor Bronze’s. There are two main reasons. 1) My guitar tends to be rather “bright” sounding anyway, and the P.B.’s just make it sound over the top, especially given… 2) the P.B.’s don’t age well. I find that the P.B. strings deteriorate sonically faster than the 80/20’s. The sonic degradation, when it occurs, is less graceful with the P.B.’s than with the 80/20’s, and the guitar begins to have a shrill edge to it.
So there you have it. Of course, YMMV. If you have a larger, more bassy guitar (like a big dreadnought), and live in a less harsh climate (I live in a rain forest, basically), the P.B. strings may be more to your liking.
