DR StringsElectric Guitar Strings, Black Beauties-Black Coated, 10-52 (BKE-10/52)

The best picks you can buy, seriously.

I've been using these strings for several years on my GIbson Les Paul Studio Gothic because they look great on an all black guitar. They sound great but the coating doesnt last very long it basically starts chipping off after the first play. It seems like they lasted longer when I first started using them.

Looks cool, lacking in the tone department a little though

These feel like a significantly heavier gauge than they really are - this is due to the coating, obviously. Personally I find this desirable, almost cloth-covered in texture, but your mileage may vary.Another (equally obvious) thing to note is that the coating will flake off. This is a no-brainer in regards to picking, but what might not be obvious it that after significant play there will be noticeable divots in the coating at the frets - as in where the fret wire meets the string, which feel more like kinks than wear. This isn't a horrible thing, but it is very odd and unique to this particular brand due to the very heavy-handed application of the coating material. The BB's here are less prone to this than the red/white/blue strings they produce in my experience, but it's notable and my make some choose to change their strings more often because of the coating chipping off. I feel this wear occurs before the strings themselves have have actually dulled.

The coating on these strings provide a very nice grip for vibrato and string bends. For a whole note bend and shake they stick to your fingers so you can concentrate more on the intonation and not on having your fingers slip. These are the only strings I use for practice. They allowed me to have pitch perfect string bends every time. I found afterwards when playing with my usual pure nickle strings that maintaining intonation on bends and vibrato came a lot easier.Having said that, they would not be my string of choice for sound. They have a little more thud - less bump -on the low end and less chime on the top, as if the sound was just smothered a little. With an overdriven sound, you cant really notice it. But when chasing that elusive fender transparent clean sound, they fall a little short. My normal playing strings for this are the round wound, pure nickles from DR.Ive never had any issues with the coating or the life of the string.For practice, I wouldnt use anything else, a 5 of 5. For sound I give them a 3.

These actually sound pretty good, but the black coating quickly disappears and you’re left with “meh”. I don’t play in a band so I can’t speak to heavy use, but I’ve gone back to D’Addario stings in my guitars. They sound and look great for a long time. If it were just a wall hanger I’d definitely (and carefully) string up another set though.

The color will not hold up to even light playing.

I’ve been using DR Black Beauties in my guitars and basses for more than 10 years. Installed this set in a new guitar and the photo shows the “coating” gone after 5 days, with no more than 4-5 hours of playing. The coating product started to come off in visible chunks…. I don’t know if this was a bad batch, but felt like these were knock offs from the original product. If that’s the case, buyers be aware. I would totally recommend DR strings, but these are pretty terrible.

Suenan y se ven bien los primeros días pero tienden a perder color y brillo rápidamente

Sweet strings 👍👍

They look neat on the guitar, but don't sound great. The black finish was already coming off from just a couple of times playing them.They're perfect if you have a wall hanger thats a show piece

The oils in my sweat destroy strings so fast that I've always needed coated strings for the past 20 years. Stringing my 11 guitars with Elixirs has become extremely expensive so I though I'd give these a whirl and see if I can save a few bucks in the future. I was also interested in seeing how black strings would look on my Schecter.Pros:-Black strings look good from a distance (before coating wears off... 5 minutes)-Strings sound okayCons:-Within 5 minutes of playing the coating on the high e string came off near the pickups.-Strings are very glossy, look terrible close up while playing-Very sticky when compared with ElixirsI find it very ironic that I bought these strings mainly for the aesthetic aspect (hoping coating would be decent) and the aesthetic of the strings and guitar is completely ruined within minutes of playing. When the coating comes off it is very very noticeable. SO unless you just want to hang a guitar up on the wall with these strings I would say pay the couple extra bucks and get Elixirs which feel 10X better, will look better, and I can only assume will hold their sound much longer.Hope this helps all the unlucky ones like me who need coated strings but want quality strings as well.

They look cool, but about the sound, for the picky listener you'll notice that theres some muddiness, i think it's because of the coating, otherwise on the style and low tuning im using they're absolutely my choice.Im using a les paul type with chambered weight relief.