Bought a few packets Ernie Ball to see what they are like. For about USD $2 [AUD 3.40] a pack I "kinda expected" they would be fake and the "although fake these strings ... etc etc" comments gave me a clue. 😆😂
I have 3 sets of the Ernie Balls, 10-46 I have a slinky cobalt 10-52. I'm going to lose out I can feel 'Scam & Fake' approaching!! Too good to be true 😢
As a machinist, the most noticeable thing is on the ball end, the fakes have almost no chamfer around the hole, whereas the real strings have a nice big chamfer.
Well a very easy way to tell would be measure the strings. But I gave always found Ernie ball strings to be cheaply packaged and to be honest I never liked them.
Now I'm questioning if I've ever played genuine Ernie balls. I buy at random music stores because I travel. Anytime I've bought Ernie balls the packaging was always horrible and they broke easily. I was left wondering what the hype was all about. This makes so much sense. I've always wondered why the packaging quality for the Ddario's and Ernie balls varied so much. I thought it was a cost cutting measure. The more you know. Thanks KDH!
I don't play much anymore but when I was i played Ernie's. I played a lot of metal and my ernie wound strings always snapped/separated. Never had that issue with D'Addario. Just a thought. This was 20 years ago too...
@@justandardprocedure Yeah.. D'Addarios have been pretty solid for me as well. The fact that they are ghost manufacturers for many branded strings(Fender etc) is just cherry on top
@@juggert If you're traveling in the US and shopping at a store that has lines of amps/guitars, they're probably getting them from an authorized distributor of the strings. I stopped using Ernie Ball like 30 years ago because of the breakage. A few years ago I bought a 6-pack of Ernie's (from an authorized dealer) because I was taking a stand due to the horrible packaging of D'addario strings (they went from each string in its own envelope, to one envelope with each string coiled individually, to two strings coiled together in a bag) because they suck to change and I change my strings after every 6 hours of performance time. I couldn't get anywhere near 6 hours without a string breaking and all 6 sets were toast in short order. Bending a minor 3rd on the high E would be 50/50 to break on the first time and a double-step bend would break 100% of the time. Most of them broke at the bend site and not at the ball or the tuner end, just like 30 years ago, which only happens like 1 out of 100 breaks on D'addario strings. A week later I bought a 10-set pack of D'addario and kept the Ernie envelopes to repack D'addario strings so they're faster when changing and that's it.
I've always hated the Ernie balls for all the same reasons listed by others already, but I also never thought that they really sounded good either compared to the XL110s
I believe the oil on those strings is cosmoline. It's a grease/oil used in metalworking/machining/manufacturing to inhibit rust. They probably had to dip the strings in cosmoline so they wouldn't rust in the shipping container.
the big problem is Amazon/Ebay, and the large pile of garbage they sell today (and retail buyers resell their material, distributing it elsewhere). The whole Amazon bussiness model thing is awful, but no one is willing to regulate it or say "no, you can't do this". Thanks Murica !
Even buying "ships from and sold by Amazon" is often problematic. I bought expensive cable from them, they sent the entirely wrong thing, then refused to refund me because the return they received wasn't the same thing I originally ordered... duh. smh Would never happen with Crutchfield or Sweetwater.
@jieltunnah That may have been because Amazon mixes stock from themselves and what they store from third party sellers. Third party sellers that sell their counterfeits through Amazon warehouses and shipping will have their stock mixed with Amazon's, so the fakes and real versions get mixed up. Amazon, even though they source real versions may end up selling you a counterfeit because of that. It's a cost cutting measure so people in the warehouses don't have to work out which stock is from which seller. Happens all the time with flash storage like micro SD cards.
I always buy my strings (and many other things like batteries) from reputable dealers, like my local guitar shop, or directly from the manufacturer. Thanks for bringing awareness to this, I'm surprised that there are so many people who don't know this is going on!
It's been going on for many years. I made a post on this thread about finding the same strings on AliExpress over a decade ago. I brought it to both companies attention and they sent me all kinds of goodies.
But it's possible that your guitar shop, without knowing it, is selling counterfeit goods. I knew a shop that was scammed in buying Shure SM58 and SM57 microphones for a bargain. What they didn't knew, was that the seller was a local criminal, selling fakes that he imported from Ali Baba.
I just got worried since I just changed my strings to a new pack of Ernie balls, and the strings were a bit oily, but then i realized that it was just the lemmon oil from the fretboard that I had just put on! Thanks KDH since I've never known there were fakes!
Mine are oily too from a giant lemon oil soak and I love it. I keep missing the frets because they're so slick but it's so fun to play I'm probably gonna get some ghs fastfret or cheaper knockoff. Plus a coat of oil keeps the rust away. Also if you wipe them down after playing they feel a lot nicer. And wrap some kitchen paper around a string and pull it through, youll get lot's of corrosion and stuff off. Used to live in the tropics and all that was a must if you wanted a week of decent feel and playability out of a set. If you really want to get as close to fresh as possible soak that paper in isopropyl. They won't be as shimmering and glassy as fresh but a lot closer than before.
Now this is a good and informative video. I had no idea that counterfeit strings were going around. Explains why they’re so cheap on the bay. Thanks for the heads up. 👍
I've been playing guitar for 40 years this year and I've pretty much used Ernie Ball for four decades, save a few years when I had a RotoSound deal. I've never had any problems with Ernie Ball, on the contrary, they've always been my "go to" strings. A couple of days ago, I installed a set of Earthwood Nylon ball end strings I'd purchased online. Two of the three plain nylon strings failed, one failed within say ten minutes after installation, the next one failed about 24 hours later. Both strings failed at the "ball end" and both times, the guitar wasn't actually being played. I'm assuming it's a counterfeit set, after seeing your video. It's meant that I've had to postpone some recording and uploading a new video. I've since replaced them with a Martin set bought from a local, authorised dealer and they are 10/10. Very interesting video mate. Carlo 👍🏼🎸
I had D'Addario strings I bought off Amazon that kept unraveling from the ball on the high E string. I would start bringing the high E string to pitch and it would just keep winding and winding and winding. I thought something went wrong with the tuner until it just unraveled from the ball!
I didn't know about this. As someone who loves Ernie Ball strings this makes me sick. A counterfeit set of strings may keep someone from buying the real thing in the future. And that hurts Ernie Ball. I do buy my Ernie Ball bass and guitar strings from a guitar shop that's been around for decades. If you can, support your local small business.
I recently bought a pack of Ernie Ball strings online because lately I haven’t got the time to go to the store (they close around the same time I usually get off work). It’s something I’ve been avoiding because during the lockdown one of the local music stores went out of business and if more stores close down, we will be fucked. And guess what, the ones I ordered online were fakes. I could tell something was off from the moment I felt the packaging, and my A string broke less than 2 hours later. I learned my lesson, shouldn’t have betrayed my local business, lol.
Dude if you love Earnie Balls try some DR's sometime and see if you like them, as they last longer 1000% of the time, and their tone is flat out BETTER! Used to only play Balls for 25yrs. Was sick of breaking strings live, and my usuals where out at the store I used to go to so had to find something else. Got a pair of DR's on a whim, and have never looked back. Did a back to back on em, and the DR's, and DR's had way fucking better tone(actually recorded it with same everything into Pro Tools), and lasted at least a whole month longer than the Balls(play everyday for at least 2hrs, with 1 day a week going 4-6hrs sweatin balls at band practice-no air conditioning drummers a cheap bastard in summertime and refuses to put on the damned air!). Used to use Slinky top Heavy Bottom for nu metal type of stuff, and Funk stuff as well.
I used to play Daddarios, but my hands sweat a lot, and also my sweat is really acidic, so my strings rust in no time at all. Ernie Ball seem to last longer for me.
@@edorissen Acidic sweat? You have something in common with the late great Rory Gallagher. In his case he had a rare blood type that made his sweat very acidic. If you've watched footage of him playing you can see where the paint on his guitars is worn away from his sweating while performing. A lot of paint missing.
@@michaelwilson2340 huh, that's interesting. My blood isn't rare, but I have some obscure health issues, which might be the reason behind this annoying rust thing. Rooms in which I have my instruments are always reasonably dry, so you would expect the strings to stay somewhat fresh, considering I wipe them pretty often and wash my hands, but this is not the case. It is funny that my strings rust so much, that the difference between new and old strings is just astronomical. This difference can be somewhat noticeable, but in my case it is just mind blowing.
Huh...never really considered that there was counterfeit guitar strings, but I guess people will fake anything. I feel bad for the legit companies....rough thing to have to fight against.
@@robbirose7032 really? Why wouldn't they? It's lost income to them and also potential lost reputation. If you bought the counterfeit strings without realizing it, and get a set of crappy, greasy strings, you may decide, "ernie ball strings suck" and never buy them again and also tell all of your friends what crap strings they are. I'd care if I were them
@@davewestner I have never seen them take action over fake sellers. Some brands do this by working with amazon and ernie ball. You'd think Ernie Ball would care but I have reported fake sellers and nothing has been done.
@@robbirose7032 gotcha. I'd definitely be curious to hear EB's thoughts on this subject. Must be very difficult to battle this kind of thing. Just outta curiosity, are you in the sales biz? Kinda wondering what the retailer's take on this is too
@@davewestner yeah I run a music shop. It's infuriating when people moan about how expensive some of my strings are when compared to stuff on amazon that is even cheaper than I can buy in bulk at trade prices.
Years ago i bought a set of ernie ball and the ball end immediately came off the high E when i returned them to the shop the owner came out and was really mad but not at me but because hes had multiple ppl return them. He bought whole load of fake strings and this was right as first guitar center opened semi nearby. He was gone the next year. This has been going on for very long time, good on your channel for covering it. Many ppl are unaware. This is part if the reason i wont even buy anything guitar related online unless im expecting it to be cheap crap for me to work on. I made it my JOB to learn everything i could about guitars and how they are manufactured. All pickup types, everything. Its alot and im still learning but i urge everyone to do the same
The owner knew or should have known unless someone at the distribution center stole legit and shipped counterfeit. There's a reason why some thing is half the price than the normal price through a non factory recognized distributor.
I got a used Cort G200 and the owner had installed fake Fender tuners on it. ?they were not the quality of real Fender tuners and were not as smooth and the word 'Fender' on the back was not identical to real ones. China is a communist dictatorship and fakery is a hallmark of socialists and communists. Are you catching on?
@@sportsport9470Definitely can, especially being that the fake Ernie Ball strings seem to be 9s. If you spend some time and study some string tones you'll hear it.
Fantastic video! Thank you. 👍 It helps to have a micrometer as used in metalwork machining, it will tell you the thickness of strings very accurately. You can get a cheap ebay one for $25. It can also tell you the exact thickness of the paper and foil packet etc, which could allow you to test an unopened packet before buying it (assuming you are hands-on)
This explains a lot. This week I put on a set of "Regular Slinkys" I bought on eBay and they had rust spots and sound like crap. EDIT: Just gave the other 2 packs the squeeze test, and they are just like the counterfeit pack in the video. I didn't even know this was a thing.
Wow, I've been using Ernie Ball Super Slinky 9's ( the pink package ) for about 20 years, and I didn't know there were knock off guitar strings out there! So far so good I think as they seem to have the characteristics of the real Ernie Ball's, and I bought them at legitimate guitar stores.
You’re looking at about a cost of about 15-30 cents for the metal to make a set of strings and 10 cents to print and package them. String companies make off like bandits my man.
Obviously there's a difference in how they feel but the audio differences and colour difference were immediately apparent to me at least and I don't have a crazy good monitor or AI but it was particularly clear on the solo sections of the demos. Fake strings is just something I never thought I'd have to contend with. What a bizarre world we live in.
Don't hear a big sound difference on the Ernie Balls, but if my strings felt oily and cheap, deteriorated rapidly and had the wrong gauge (especially if I am using a floyd rose system setup for a specific gauge), I'd be absolutely furious.
I’m glad u did this video, I thought I was going crazy. I’ve been buying fakes. The fakes are absolutely shit. Too much muddy lowend, wrapping the string post is impossible. Buy from a shop
Im in Australia. I bought elixirs from a music shop near me about a year ago. They where horrible, oily shit sounding strings and went a weird blue colour after being played a while. I asked around and found out about the fake string crap. Obviously, this shop had been buying cheap strings on the internet and selling them at a premium price. I dont go there any more. I found a reputable music shop about an hour away. Its a pain, but I trust them.
Maybe when doing aural comparisons that get squashed to similarity by YT compression, show the audio in a DAW one above the other to “see” the difference? Great video, thank you!
I've never bought counterfeit strings, ..but I buy Chinese branded Strings $2 pack... Never had any issues..Nice sounding, intonate well and feel nice under the fingers... No complaints.
Why? I would think that the fakes would weigh the same and be the same thickness as the real deal. Otherwise the tension would be different on the strings and you would notice it. No, they won't try to save money on a little bit of metal when they're making $4 profit per pack of strings.
@@joeking433 How are they making a $4 profit per set of strings when the site he very likely bought them from charges $1 per set? As he mentioned, the strings were a lighter set than the labeled 10's on the packaging.
For a couple of years now I’ve come across rusted Ernie ball strings all the time. Never thought that they could be fake. It has become really common to open a new package and at least one of the first 3 strings has a bit of rust on it. Maybe this is why
I've had a tiny bit of rust on legitimate Ernie Ball strings that I bought from a reputable and very large guitar shop. It's just because they're shite.
Suddenly it all makes sense, what I've been finding with EB strings for the past 2 - 3 years. Enough if a problem that I moved to ... D'dario 😅. Same problem. And I bought them both from reputable outlets. Currently using Rotosounds for the past few months, so far so good 🤞
I'm a new guitar player, still taking lessons. I'm well aware of the fake strings and I bought some on purpose because they're much cheaper. But it makes sense if you're an experienced player to invest in quality strings, whereas I'm just learning and I can't tell the difference in sound from the fake ones. Now I gotta admit, the fake elixir strings I got are much better than the real SG ones I left the music store with when I bought my guitar
I just bought a cheap 3 pack off eBay. I had a feeling something would be dodgy. But I’m on a budget here. And as soon as I felt the pack... -was not air tight. -out the pack they would not unravel easily -normally opening the pack face up would go from 46 to 10 These went the other way around... - they felt rough like the air had gotten to them... I’m sure they’d do the job. But, I’m a bit annoyed at the quality But it will do for now as I still need to adjust my guitar
Hi KDH, You should have measured the string with a (digital) caliper. They are so cheap these days and then you would have known for certain if the gauge of the counterfeit strings was off.
At least for the high strings that's a bit sketchy on the metrology side. The difference between a 11 or 12 high e is just .025mm which is a difference you might rather measure with a micrometer
@@themechanix393 yeah You're right. I always thought that 1 gauge equals 1/20th of a mil. So 0.05mm per gauge. But that's still very tough to do with a caliper. My bad. 😁✌️ EDIT: I did check with my own caliper and some online research and supposedly most of them go down to about 1/20th to 1/50th of a milimeter. Which would make it possible to measure a difference even as small as 0.02mm. However due to the nature of the measuring instrument there would be probably a lot of room for error.
@@DAAN_MUSIC there's a rule of thumb that you want your measuring equipment to be 10 times more precise than the measuring increment. That's completely overkill for this but still holds some truth. Even good analog calipers make it hard to measure beyond .02mm and cheap digital ones only tend to give you the false illusion of precision. Especially if youre inexperienced in applying the caliper pressure
@@themechanix393 That's cool info! I had my caliper out and thought I'd give it a go for "science". So, I measured my Strat, my Western Acoustic and my Explorer. They measured; 0,009inch 0,011inch and 0,010inch. Respectively. So I was able to find the gauges. However at first it was challenging to get a consistent results. Like you said, the hardest part is to get used to applying a generous amount of pressure to the calipers while holding them at an angle. But with a zero'd out digital caliper and the guitar flat on the workbench I managed to get consistent results after a few minutes. Also the 9's would average out lower than the 10's consistently. So for example incorrect measurements on the 9 gauge string would show 8,5 or 9,5. While the 10 gauge would show 9,5-10,5. This would mean that if you where to compare 2 strings like for the purposes of this video the measurement inaccurancy can become redundant if the sample group becomes large enough. Also, In case anybody is curious I think this article does a better job at explaining it than me: travelingguitarist.com/measuring-string-gauge-caliper/ EDIT: Nonetheless, there might be a False sense of accuracy at play like the Mechanix stated above. As I know the string gauges of these guitars. 😁✌️
Thank you for making me aware of this issue. I will be watching for them, but to be honest, I doubt I could tell a fake from the real thing without having them side by side.
I'm from Poland and I've been useing EB strings till about two years back when I've noticed that they breaks after about 2 weeks of playing, sometimes even faster. I thought that EB quality declined and I stopped useing them. I never thought that they're not real EB. Problem is that I've always been buying them in my local music shops not aliexpress and at the same price as originals few years back. It seems that they only ship not original EB to my town. That is sad. I'll tell my friends to be aware of this scam. Thank You for this video!
No issues with other brands? I am yet to break a single string on any of my electrics. Maybe you have sharp edges in the nut or bridge? Unless you rock 9s or 8s those might break easily.
You probably didn't have counterfeits. 10 years ago I used EB's because everyone else did, and I broke a string every 2 weeks (granted it was a 56 or 60 gauge on a terribly sharp awfull ibanez bridge, but didn't have that problem with d'addarios). I got genuine ones for the shop, thomann, or other proper sites. Only worse strings I've ever used were dean markleys that lasted 1h -also genuine. I've been using ghs boomers since 2014/15 and only broke one or two ever since, when they were at least 6 month to 1 year old. They sound bright, keep their brightness better than d'addarios (and those keep their brightness a lot lot better then eb's) and don't gunk up as much. If only their sliding noise wasn't as loud as it is
Hello, I’ve seen and used some fakes and I can tell you these 3 observations: -Every time without fail, they always give you a lighter gauge than advertised on the packaging, usually I have 9’s, they give me 8’s and yes, they never last. -These strings don’t last long, honestly expected it but I can confirm these as they usually last a week for me where the genuine ones can go for over a moth of live gigs. -The tone is different, you hear more of the “Metal clacking” than the actual string’s tone. This is honestly more noticeable when clean and when you play them as it doesn’t only mess up your tone but the way you play as well to get around the more obnoxious “metal clacking”.
This may explain why I recently put a set of EB's on my guitar and hated them. I couldn't figure out what had changed since usually I really like EB's. I never even thought that they could be counterfeit or that this was even a thing. Thanks for the information.
I genuinely think I have been fooled into thinking I can only play Elixir because the EBs and D’Addarios I played in the beginning were fake. I play EBs now and they’re great. God, so many years of buying expensive strings..
That is exactly why it's such a problem. Not only that you get ripped off, but you end up thinking the product is crap while it's a knockoff. They are getting good in faking though, if you have never used the real thing....how would you know? You would just think that brand sucks and buy something else. Have you seen the fake pickups? You can buy VERY convincing Seymour Duncans in China....I'll never trust an "upgraded" second hand guitar again.
Well Ernie balls are actually pretty lame. If you’re consistently rehearsing with a band you’ll notice Ernie balls last about half as long as d’addarios. Ernie balls would go dead for me in about 3 practices and d’addarios would last me 7-10 sessions. Just something I noticed. These were the regular slinky’s vs the regular xl’s same gauge and same price point. But the best strings for the money are GHS. those last forever.
@@YouAllObeyNikk completely agreed. eb failled me so many times when I started playing in a band 10 years ago. Spent lots of money on them and their expensive models and they were always shite. d'addarios were better and then ghs were even much better. Only downside is the sliding noise being obnoxiously loud. Also elixirs are expensive but they do last for so long. I tried a guitar with elixirs on it, I didn't know that, I thought the dude changed the strings 5 minutes before but he said "no they're 6 months old elixirs". Mind blown
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I bought a 6 pack on Ali thinking I'd made a great deal. Looked at the packaging and saw they're fakes 🤦🏼♂️
Yea that was a surprise to me to. U could tell the difference. Real shit is usually more vibrant that fake anything. Strings are so damn cheap anyway why even buy fakes. My local music store has deals on strings all the time as does the 4 guitar centers within 50 miles from my house. Buy real deals don’t get fooled!!!
@@redddogg2461 People aren't "buying" fakes, they are buying strings and getting fakes. It's not as easy to discern the difference, when all you have to go by is an image of the real thing, and a price.
@@castleanthrax1833 I hear u man. That’s is a issue if u think you are getting the real thing. If we would order from a Guitar center of Sam Ash or Musicians friend those would be the only way I’d order. I don’t order anything online tho to be honest I been playing over 30 years so it’s pry a little easier for me to feel or even by looks for that matter if something was off. False advertising is straight BS. Like them selling counterfeit Les Pauls. But also man I also see Best Buy sells Ernie Ball strings. Their are plenty of places someone can buy their strings so they don’t get ripped off.
@@redddogg2461 Yeah, but in this day and age of internet shopping, you only know they're not genuine when they're in your hands. The images you are looking at are genuine and it's not unreasonable to find a store on ebay that specializes in guitar strings. That's what happened to me, and although they were cheap, they weren't so cheap that it raised a red flag. They even distributed from my country (Australia) to make it appear more authentic. I've been buying strings for decades, so they didn't fool me when I received them. ✌️
Ah, this explains a lot. About a month ago i bought a set of Ernie Ball Regular Slinky strings from a local "music store" that was not only missing the b string but the g string didnt have a ball end on it. I was shocked because in 25 years of working on guitars (20 professionally) and changing literally thousands of strings i had never seen this happen in a set of brand name strings. The store i bought them from is notorious for having shoddy merchandise and ripping people off with underhanded deals but i figured that they couldnt screw up a pack of strings. I guess i know now how they are making their money. Be careful of the little stores. They are trying to cut corners wherever they can to make a profit and you will end up paying the bill...
That is sad AF. I have a local store here too, of course, and they're known for their high ass prices. But they have excellent customer service and if they can afford it and still make a profit, occasionally they will price match items. That's how a local store should be, we know they can't keep up with online retailers but they are a great store in every other way. Been in business over 40 years. Those sad ass people you're talking bout should lose their business, there's no excuse for not even being able to stock legit strings at a decent price smh
@@daveaird96 yeah, i pretty much have. I have refused to buy any equipment there for a long time because of their shady business practices but i was in a hurry and figured that since strings came prepackaged i would be safe. Now i find out that counterfeit strings are a thing. Guess it is Sweetwater for me from now on...
When I buy my strings, I typically look for the actual manufacture and buy directly from them. Honestly only buy D’addrio XL’s and I’ve never come across fakes. Good to know though lol
I've been wondering why I'm only getting 2 gigs out of Ernie's lately. Guess what? Yeah, I bought a 10 pack deal off the net. So I've gone back to my old shop for a few packs and we'll see how long these last. Interestingly its alway the roundwounds that break too. I haven't changed what I'm doing but as a hard up muso of many years I've just learned another lesson! Well, they say you never stop learning!! Thanks for the vid!
I wondered this myself when looking on eBay at cheap strings - I'll be buying mine from the local guitar store rather than online in future - I love your content!
Why would they be different? Cheap no-name strings off of China can be found for $1 a set. They just put those strings in a counterfeit package. I'm pretty sure they're the same gauge otherwise the tension would be way different from the real deal. It's that strings can be made very cheaply, not that they have to skimp on material. Its that they don't have to pay for much overhead like American brands.
@@joeking433 because in the video he says that the 10's feel like 9's and that they fake ones probably use the same guage for every fake package be it .08, .09, .10, .11 ect....
@@dpaaron1 I've had fakes and they were the same thickness as the real strings. But the high E string would always unravel from the ball after a couple days.
The funny thing is, I can't tell you how many times I've bought defective packs of the real thing. And this is going back to the 90's btw when you could only buy store bought. Only about 2 or 3 years ago did I walk into a local music store for classical guitar strings and had to come right back and tell the guys that the pack they gave me had strings already breaking right after initial install. Bad string cores are super common even among the real thing. I can't imagine then how these fakies are. It just keeps getting harder it seems to buy quality these day.
I accidentally bought some fake d'addarios a couple of years ago. They didn't intonate correctly and even on the lower frets were way off. I can only guess that the windings must have been inconsistent.
I missed this one somehow and it caused me to immediately pull out my box of 9-42 Cobalts that I got a reasonably good deal on but not outrageous when I bought 40 sets. I had a sinking feeling but thankfully they are without a doubt real. Thank you for the PSA clips like this , you will save many people from buying fake garbage.
Its good to be made aware of this. I only buy from legit retailers, even when on line. Note also that you have zero idea what that slick, oily substance is made up of on the fake strings. Ripping off people, especially if they are on a low budget, is despicable. Indeed report the fakes.
Cosmoline, alot of people are allergic to it, it probably wipes off though, probably why they would sound duller. Like buying an already used set of strings, more or less.
In terms of sound, it seems like the fake D'Addarios were much closer to the real one in sound than the fake Ernies. Even then I could only hear the difference at loud volumes with my studio monitors. There's plenty of reasons not to buy counterfeit but the sound was surprisingly similar for the D'Addarios at least.
I think the main issue is going to be the feel and longevity of the string. The sound I don't think you'd really notice that much. I find that's true with most things guitar. The difference with a high end guitar and a cheap one is a little difference in sound but a huge difference in how it feels and how precisely it sets up/ stays in tune.
@@nathanjasper512 I pretty strongly disagree in terms of the sound differences. There is a huge difference in the sound of the "attack" for the note based on the type of strings and general quality. For example, two of the more expensive strings I use are Stringjoy and Elixir Nanowebs. The Stringjoy sets are way way brighter and buzzier than the Nanoweb sets from Elixir, while the Elixirs are far "warmer" and have a more defined low-mid range. Of all the different things on the guitar itself that impact the sound of your playing, the material you are striking to actually make the sound is one that's pretty important for the overall character.
I've been using StringJoy strings for several years now. I've found them to be some of the best. They sound good, play good and last along time. But what I like most, is that you can customize your sets. They even have half gauges so that you can better dial in the feel you want. They also now have the best in coated strings if you prefer.
I 've never spoken to anyone at Stringjoy, much less been asked or paid to advertise for them. i simply went to the website, found what I needed, tried them and have been quite satisfied ever since. You do you. @@babooger6839
Sad thing this goes on with every industry, this is why it’s important to support companies that have no or very little ties with Chinese manufacturing
A lot of guitar companies do have ties to China unfortunately. And many are aware of the counterfeiting and simply turn a blind eye to it because they accept that it’s just a part of doing business with China. Some third parties that make guitars in China will finish their production runs for the bigger guitar companies and then they’ll switch over to counterfeit making during downtime. They use the same tooling, the same 3D models on the CNC machine, etc.
@@projectgoatse I bought a pair of aviator raybans once from ebay, as soon as they arrived I knew they were fake, in the cases it was written Rayban Driving Saries. (Yeah, with A). I though the glasses would be bad, but they looked like the real deal, so I bought it to a friend's store and asked him to check them. In his words, materials were right and the RB inside the lens was legit, cut using diamond or something like that (i dont remember the details), but just like the real deal. In his words, exactly that, same company, same machines, same materials, just legit counterfeiting products to sell in third world markets.
After seeing this video I think this happened to me. I bought a 3 pack EB 10s from amazon and when I got them I thought the strings were crap and didn't last very long (didn't think twice about the packaging). The last time I had used EB was years before with the Plastic air exposed packs. Maybe it's time for me to try EB again
Thank you so much for this video. I’ve been buying what I thought were genuine strings from Amazon for a while now and going crazy when they start to rust after weeks of being on my guitar, something I had never experienced before. I thought it had to do with the humidity in my house or my hands were getting unreasonably sweaty while playing and ruining all my strings. I had no clue this was a thing and had never even considered it was a possibility.
AMAZING!! I had never even entertained the thought that anyone would want to make 'fake strings' instead of putting their own logo on and saying 'sounds like' or 'compare to' or something like that and sell them a couple bucks under the brand they're copying. I think they'd sell more of them, and have less people being 'disappointed' in the sound. It really hurts Ernie Ball, I think.. if someone unknowingly gets a pack and is 'unimpressed' by them. I could actually hear the difference.. even on youtube. I'll be more careful now that I'm enlightened. THANK YOU for this video.
Well done,I,m a pro guitarist ,I didn,t even Know they would fake strings,I,ve always used D,Darrio but up till now I.ve never looked that close.I will in the future many thanks.
Wish you had some gauges. Curios if they were actually the wrong gauge. Like others here, I had no idea there were fake strings. Thanks for making this video.
To take the "go a little further for quality" further yet, definitely give Thomastik-Infeld's guitar strings a try. The quality is out of this world, superb durability, and their golden zone of sound lasts much longer than most other brands.
Yes.I had flat wounds on my fretless Moses neck, 'Berger small body bass for years and they stayed the same sounding. Eventually they wore out at the official adapter due to the small screws cutting thru the outer wrap. Next set I'll try a bigger screw after market adapter. No double ball for Thomastic . I now have some LaBella 2 ball strings that only sound 90 % as good and are stiffer at the same gauge.
Holy crap, I'm just now realizing the only time I tried D'Addario strings, they were probably counterfeit... they were the cheapest I could find and I was underwhelmed by them. Lol sorry D'Addario, I'll have to give you a second chance 🙏
I think you missed the most obvious difference on the EB package: The real ones are clean cut along the bottom edge The fakes seem to have serrated cutting pattern along the bottom. Thanks for this well done and informative video.🇨🇦
Thanks KDH for uploading this video! 1 year ago I received a pack of fake d'addario strings from my friend who previously borrowed my guitar. I got suspicious from the quality of packaging and decided to open it today and noticed: - the prints on the packaging are not crisp, not like the real deal. - the glue on the back is way too thick and lazily smeared, like a hot glue gun apllied in a hurry. - the inner packaging are folded inside, just like in the video - unsurprisingly, the authenticity code is exactly the same
They feel oily because they are absolutely soaking to keep them from rusting while traveling across the world. Also, you were right, TH-cam compressed mosted of the sounds but when you did those clean runs the real strings sounded brighter. Plus I'm watching on my TV so that probably doesn't help.
They sound louder, but less clarity and warmth. Either way, the initial sound isn't the real test. It's how they sound after a week or two of playing that matters. And both the real and fake Ernies will sound like shit
Yep, I ordered some Ernie Ball super slinky’s from Temu, slightly different shade of pink on the pack, made in USA on the front, then a stick on made in china label on the back. I haven’t opened them yet so this will be interesting..
Earnie Ball packages are clearly distinctable - the genuine one (greenish backhround, black text) from the fake one (yellowish background, greyish text)
I recently got a EB 3-pack on Amazon and the strings were all corroded. I’m wondering if those were fake now. EB sent me new packs right away when I reached out so they’re a great company.
I used to work for a book publisher in Japan. He refused to sell books in Thailand. Why? Cause they would take the books and reproduce them and sell them as competition. He discovered this as his original book he had sold down there. He was on vacation and found a book that looked almost identical to his being sold. While his brother owned a furniture store selling 1800's German furniture. Actually, he bought Museum catalogs of German furniture. He'd send the photos to factories in Thailand and Indonesia and have exactly duplicate "historic" furniture on a boat in a couple months.
Dude, I just recently went through so many Ernie Ball strings that I was about to make a video about how much their quality had diminished! Now I see that I probably got fake strings!
Thanks mate. I took a pack I had left over to the guitar shop to see if what I had were fake. Turns out they were. So I bought a 3 pack of real power slinky 11-48 strings. Put a new set on, and everything The guy says in the video was absolutely correct. Plus they were for some reason easier to string, stay in tune better, ring truer and the biggest difference is in the sustain. Ring for days. SUSTAIN IS MUCH BETTER WITH THE REAL STRINGS.
They sound 95% the same in clean, but that difference is absolutely vanished when you add distortion on it (and there's nothing to do with TH-cam compression at all) That being said, there's for sure some difference on gauge accuracy, longevity, stability, feeling that cant be retransmitted on video but are so so important
My first thought was just don’t buy strings at a discount. They’re already inexpensive. That won’t necessarily prevent you from getting counterfeit but when you’re not looking for a deal, you tend to end up at the legit distributors like guitar center.
Thank you for letting us know about this, I think I have some genuine and some fake Ernie Balls here with all the differences you said about but the artist names on the back are the other way around, I'll only buy them from reputable retailers now
Thank you for posting this video, your video helped us discover that we got counterfeit Ernie Ball regular strings. The counterfeit strings were of a different color, weird splotches of colors on the front and back, back of the string pack had an Eagle seal on it(real ones don’t have it), writing was much larger, string packets were thin and red was bright, holes in the packets, and the strings had tarnish on them too. We luckily got a new pack of the real strings and the guy that sold us the counterfeit now know they weren’t real and what to look for.
I never buy strings online. I always buy my strings from a pawn shop. I have two opened packs of Ernie Ball strings. I compared the packaging side by side and YES, one is authentic and one is fake! I can clearly see the differences between the two, especially on the backs of these two packs. I can also tell the differences between the inner paper/red dye..and last but not least, the differences between the real Ernie Ball strings, and the counterfeit strings! The counterfeit strings are on my Kramer right now! I been having trouble with them, they are constantly losing tone, sounding very flat! I certainly know how to spot the counterfeit Ernie Ball strings now. Thank You, Sir.....
I will be looking for that next time i'll buy strings. I play EB for 10+ years now and I never had any real problem with them until recently. Play on 10-46 and 10--52 (i think) and I break something like 4 or 5 strings in 3 months. So I'm considering buying D'Addarios next time and see if the problem comes from the string brand, fake or real, or from my bridge (which is also possible). Thx for the video btw, those informations are valuable.
To say something is made in USA only requires a small amount of processing to really happen in the USA. I am not putting the packaging on my guitar and I'm capable of wiping off oil. The way to test dimensions is with a gauge. The way to compare tone is straight to the desk with no effects. You could have set up a rig to compare measured tension at standard pitch and vibrating length.
I have been playing Ernie Ball strings since 1973. Not planning to change. On stage, my rhythm guitar mates would break their D'Addario strings while I, as lead player, never broke a string. They later changed to a string company that gave them a sticker with their strings. Those stickers started showing up on their guitar cases. Not me. Ernie Ball for the win.
Funny that I stumbled across this video! I was just reminiscing about a certain brand of strings I used to buy at a little local music store, somewhere in the middle of Indiana. When my band toured a lot back in the late Nineties and early 2000s, we'd always pass through this bitty, little town someplace in Central Indiana... Damn if I can't remember the name. Anyhow... There was a small music store in that town, and we would stop at it on our way out west, just about every time we'd go that way up and out of Kentucky. The store carried these bronze Chinese made acoustic guitar strings... And they were a whole two bucks a pack. And they were absolutely THEE BEST acoustic guitar strings that I've ever used... And I've played for over forty years. And damned if I can't remember the name of those things... All i do remember, is that they were in a Kelly Green package and had a picture of some kind on the front of the label... All of the writing on the package was in Chinese characters. Damn it.
When you played with a clean sound, I could definitely tell a difference right away. The real EB strings had a much warmer and fuller sound than the fakes.
NGL. I never knew there were counterfeit strings and legit can't tell the difference at a glance. Thank you for bringing it to our attention. 🙏
Bought a few packets Ernie Ball to see what they are like. For about USD $2 [AUD 3.40] a pack I "kinda expected" they would be fake and the "although fake these strings ... etc etc" comments gave me a clue. 😆😂
Same don't feel bad
Same here. Never even thought about this being a thing.
I have 3 sets of the Ernie Balls, 10-46 I have a slinky cobalt 10-52. I'm going to lose out I can feel 'Scam & Fake' approaching!! Too good to be true 😢
Its a huge differences just wear headphones
I play guitar for 31 years now, and today was the first time I heard about fake strings 😬
I just bought one and yep, it's very oily and the sound just isn't right. It's more muted and more compact.
Plot twist: Channel owner customly made them for clicks.
(⊙_◎)
well it's the future i guess 😂
Same here
I had no idea this was a thing. Thanks KDH. I try to be frugal these days so I could easily have bought cheap counterfeits without noticing.
@@DMSProduktions Love me ernie Balls too much.
@@DMSProduktions I’ll never stop buying elixirs.
I buy several sets whenever Sweetwater has a sale.
@@hoonaignachowaneha Yes, I'm SURE you love Ernie's balls!
@Vito Spatafiore nice! I’ll look for some. Thank you.
As a machinist, the most noticeable thing is on the ball end, the fakes have almost no chamfer around the hole, whereas the real strings have a nice big chamfer.
And, as Quinn likes to say, "Chamfers are what separates us from the animals". Or in this case the pirates.
I didn't even know what a chamfer is until I googled it! Nice little detail u catched!
@@MaximusAdonicus thank you.
Yeah the whole going over the package is useless. Different batches and different manufacturers will change all that. Only way is to know the product
Well a very easy way to tell would be measure the strings. But I gave always found Ernie ball strings to be cheaply packaged and to be honest I never liked them.
Now I'm questioning if I've ever played genuine Ernie balls. I buy at random music stores because I travel. Anytime I've bought Ernie balls the packaging was always horrible and they broke easily. I was left wondering what the hype was all about.
This makes so much sense. I've always wondered why the packaging quality for the Ddario's and Ernie balls varied so much. I thought it was a cost cutting measure.
The more you know. Thanks KDH!
I don't play much anymore but when I was i played Ernie's. I played a lot of metal and my ernie wound strings always snapped/separated.
Never had that issue with D'Addario. Just a thought.
This was 20 years ago too...
@@justandardprocedure Yeah.. D'Addarios have been pretty solid for me as well. The fact that they are ghost manufacturers for many branded strings(Fender etc) is just cherry on top
@@juggert If you're traveling in the US and shopping at a store that has lines of amps/guitars, they're probably getting them from an authorized distributor of the strings. I stopped using Ernie Ball like 30 years ago because of the breakage. A few years ago I bought a 6-pack of Ernie's (from an authorized dealer) because I was taking a stand due to the horrible packaging of D'addario strings (they went from each string in its own envelope, to one envelope with each string coiled individually, to two strings coiled together in a bag) because they suck to change and I change my strings after every 6 hours of performance time.
I couldn't get anywhere near 6 hours without a string breaking and all 6 sets were toast in short order. Bending a minor 3rd on the high E would be 50/50 to break on the first time and a double-step bend would break 100% of the time. Most of them broke at the bend site and not at the ball or the tuner end, just like 30 years ago, which only happens like 1 out of 100 breaks on D'addario strings. A week later I bought a 10-set pack of D'addario and kept the Ernie envelopes to repack D'addario strings so they're faster when changing and that's it.
Could talk for hours how amazing D'ad 120 EXL's are :)
I've always hated the Ernie balls for all the same reasons listed by others already, but I also never thought that they really sounded good either compared to the XL110s
I believe the oil on those strings is cosmoline. It's a grease/oil used in metalworking/machining/manufacturing to inhibit rust. They probably had to dip the strings in cosmoline so they wouldn't rust in the shipping container.
Oh the smell of Russian and Chines metal products, cosmoline...
years of buying mil-serp has given me fine appreciation preservative grease's and oil's
I guessed so. Seems to be industrial grade wiring wrapped to looked like strings
@@dennismeyers2008 What do you thing strings are made of? 😆😆🤣
@@bigstick5278 Russian?? Russia ain’t like China?
the big problem is Amazon/Ebay, and the large pile of garbage they sell today (and retail buyers resell their material, distributing it elsewhere). The whole Amazon bussiness model thing is awful, but no one is willing to regulate it or say "no, you can't do this". Thanks Murica !
F Amazon. It’s all China like Walmart.
Even buying "ships from and sold by Amazon" is often problematic. I bought expensive cable from them, they sent the entirely wrong thing, then refused to refund me because the return they received wasn't the same thing I originally ordered... duh. smh
Would never happen with Crutchfield or Sweetwater.
@jieltunnah That may have been because Amazon mixes stock from themselves and what they store from third party sellers. Third party sellers that sell their counterfeits through Amazon warehouses and shipping will have their stock mixed with Amazon's, so the fakes and real versions get mixed up. Amazon, even though they source real versions may end up selling you a counterfeit because of that. It's a cost cutting measure so people in the warehouses don't have to work out which stock is from which seller. Happens all the time with flash storage like micro SD cards.
I always buy my strings (and many other things like batteries) from reputable dealers, like my local guitar shop, or directly from the manufacturer. Thanks for bringing awareness to this, I'm surprised that there are so many people who don't know this is going on!
It's been going on for many years. I made a post on this thread about finding the same strings on AliExpress over a decade ago. I brought it to both companies attention and they sent me all kinds of goodies.
Yes. But your local shop could buy itself counterfeight goods without knowing it.
Remember Guitar Center was selling fake Chinese made Oktava microphones for a while. I think straight from the manufacturer is best.
But it's possible that your guitar shop, without knowing it, is selling counterfeit goods.
I knew a shop that was scammed in buying Shure SM58 and SM57 microphones for a bargain. What they didn't knew, was that the seller was a local criminal, selling fakes that he imported from Ali Baba.
my local guitar shop sold me fakes, they just seem to be everywhere
I just got worried since I just changed my strings to a new pack of Ernie balls, and the strings were a bit oily, but then i realized that it was just the lemmon oil from the fretboard that I had just put on! Thanks KDH since I've never known there were fakes!
Mine are oily too from a giant lemon oil soak and I love it. I keep missing the frets because they're so slick but it's so fun to play I'm probably gonna get some ghs fastfret or cheaper knockoff. Plus a coat of oil keeps the rust away.
Also if you wipe them down after playing they feel a lot nicer. And wrap some kitchen paper around a string and pull it through, youll get lot's of corrosion and stuff off. Used to live in the tropics and all that was a must if you wanted a week of decent feel and playability out of a set.
If you really want to get as close to fresh as possible soak that paper in isopropyl. They won't be as shimmering and glassy as fresh but a lot closer than before.
Now this is a good and informative video. I had no idea that counterfeit strings were going around. Explains why they’re so cheap on the bay. Thanks for the heads up. 👍
I've been playing guitar for 40 years this year and I've pretty much used Ernie Ball for four decades, save a few years when I had a RotoSound deal. I've never had any problems with Ernie Ball, on the contrary, they've always been my "go to" strings. A couple of days ago, I installed a set of Earthwood Nylon ball end strings I'd purchased online. Two of the three plain nylon strings failed, one failed within say ten minutes after installation, the next one failed about 24 hours later. Both strings failed at the "ball end" and both times, the guitar wasn't actually being played. I'm assuming it's a counterfeit set, after seeing your video. It's meant that I've had to postpone some recording and uploading a new video. I've since replaced them with a Martin set bought from a local, authorised dealer and they are 10/10. Very interesting video mate. Carlo 👍🏼🎸
Lol you had to ‘postpone’ some recording and the uploading of a new video?? Who cares?!
@@thegoodguy44 me
I had D'Addario strings I bought off Amazon that kept unraveling from the ball on the high E string. I would start bringing the high E string to pitch and it would just keep winding and winding and winding. I thought something went wrong with the tuner until it just unraveled from the ball!
I didn't know about this. As someone who loves Ernie Ball strings this makes me sick. A counterfeit set of strings may keep someone from buying the real thing in the future. And that hurts Ernie Ball. I do buy my Ernie Ball bass and guitar strings from a guitar shop that's been around for decades. If you can, support your local small business.
I recently bought a pack of Ernie Ball strings online because lately I haven’t got the time to go to the store (they close around the same time I usually get off work). It’s something I’ve been avoiding because during the lockdown one of the local music stores went out of business and if more stores close down, we will be fucked. And guess what, the ones I ordered online were fakes. I could tell something was off from the moment I felt the packaging, and my A string broke less than 2 hours later. I learned my lesson, shouldn’t have betrayed my local business, lol.
Dude if you love Earnie Balls try some DR's sometime and see if you like them, as they last longer 1000% of the time, and their tone is flat out BETTER! Used to only play Balls for 25yrs. Was sick of breaking strings live, and my usuals where out at the store I used to go to so had to find something else. Got a pair of DR's on a whim, and have never looked back. Did a back to back on em, and the DR's, and DR's had way fucking better tone(actually recorded it with same everything into Pro Tools), and lasted at least a whole month longer than the Balls(play everyday for at least 2hrs, with 1 day a week going 4-6hrs sweatin balls at band practice-no air conditioning drummers a cheap bastard in summertime and refuses to put on the damned air!). Used to use Slinky top Heavy Bottom for nu metal type of stuff, and Funk stuff as well.
I used to play Daddarios, but my hands sweat a lot, and also my sweat is really acidic, so my strings rust in no time at all. Ernie Ball seem to last longer for me.
@@edorissen Acidic sweat? You have something in common with the late great Rory Gallagher. In his case he had a rare blood type that made his sweat very acidic. If you've watched footage of him playing you can see where the paint on his guitars is worn away from his sweating while performing. A lot of paint missing.
@@michaelwilson2340 huh, that's interesting. My blood isn't rare, but I have some obscure health issues, which might be the reason behind this annoying rust thing. Rooms in which I have my instruments are always reasonably dry, so you would expect the strings to stay somewhat fresh, considering I wipe them pretty often and wash my hands, but this is not the case. It is funny that my strings rust so much, that the difference between new and old strings is just astronomical. This difference can be somewhat noticeable, but in my case it is just mind blowing.
Huh...never really considered that there was counterfeit guitar strings, but I guess people will fake anything.
I feel bad for the legit companies....rough thing to have to fight against.
I don't think Ernie Ball actually care.
@@robbirose7032 really? Why wouldn't they?
It's lost income to them and also potential lost reputation.
If you bought the counterfeit strings without realizing it, and get a set of crappy, greasy strings, you may decide, "ernie ball strings suck" and never buy them again and also tell all of your friends what crap strings they are.
I'd care if I were them
@@davewestner I have never seen them take action over fake sellers. Some brands do this by working with amazon and ernie ball.
You'd think Ernie Ball would care but I have reported fake sellers and nothing has been done.
@@robbirose7032 gotcha.
I'd definitely be curious to hear EB's thoughts on this subject. Must be very difficult to battle this kind of thing.
Just outta curiosity, are you in the sales biz? Kinda wondering what the retailer's take on this is too
@@davewestner yeah I run a music shop. It's infuriating when people moan about how expensive some of my strings are when compared to stuff on amazon that is even cheaper than I can buy in bulk at trade prices.
Years ago i bought a set of ernie ball and the ball end immediately came off the high E when i returned them to the shop the owner came out and was really mad but not at me but because hes had multiple ppl return them. He bought whole load of fake strings and this was right as first guitar center opened semi nearby. He was gone the next year. This has been going on for very long time, good on your channel for covering it. Many ppl are unaware. This is part if the reason i wont even buy anything guitar related online unless im expecting it to be cheap crap for me to work on. I made it my JOB to learn everything i could about guitars and how they are manufactured. All pickup types, everything. Its alot and im still learning but i urge everyone to do the same
The owner knew or should have known unless someone at the distribution center stole legit and shipped counterfeit. There's a reason why some thing is half the price than the normal price through a non factory recognized distributor.
The Ernie Ball M-Steel are really great. They have a hexagonal inner steel core and are quite a lot brighter sounding. Great review!
A hexagonal inner steel core is a regular feature even for true China strings like *Alice,* not to mention other string manufacturers.
Man, until watching this I would have never thought that there would be fake strings, but here we are. Awesome video as always!
Sad isn't it! Is there literally nothing you can trust anymore? It makes me wonder!
I got a used Cort G200 and the owner had installed fake Fender tuners on it. ?they were not the quality of real Fender tuners and were not as smooth and the word 'Fender' on the back was not identical to real ones. China is a communist dictatorship and fakery is a hallmark of socialists and communists. Are you catching on?
Another bad mark against China.
You can definitely hear the difference if you listen to the mids. Thank you for doing this, I hate gear sold on Amazon because of issues like this
Not just strings. Bought a washing machine pump off Amazon that was counterfeit. Lasted less than 2 years where the original lasted 10.
Stop talking BS. In a blindfold test you NEVER EVER NOTICE.
no u cant
@@sportsport9470Definitely can, especially being that the fake Ernie Ball strings seem to be 9s. If you spend some time and study some string tones you'll hear it.
wat r u a bat get real
Thanks man! I didn't even know fake strings existed.
Me either but now I think guitar center gave me some a month or two ago
Fantastic video! Thank you. 👍
It helps to have a micrometer as used in metalwork machining, it will tell you the thickness of strings very accurately. You can get a cheap ebay one for $25.
It can also tell you the exact thickness of the paper and foil packet etc, which could allow you to test an unopened packet before buying it (assuming you are hands-on)
make sure to buy a genuine micrometer 😂
This explains a lot. This week I put on a set of "Regular Slinkys" I bought on eBay and they had rust spots and sound like crap.
EDIT: Just gave the other 2 packs the squeeze test, and they are just like the counterfeit pack in the video. I didn't even know this was a thing.
Ebay is even worst than Amazon for counterfeit stuff.
Why did you buy from a genuine music store on eBay? they are all available on there.
Also you could have got your money back.
@@joeking433 gotta look for stuff on genuine stores whether in amazon or eBayz
@@DoktrDub Why? As I said, until this video I didn't even know counterfeit strings were a thing.
Same man
Wow, I've been using Ernie Ball Super Slinky 9's ( the pink package ) for about 20 years, and I didn't know there were knock off guitar strings out there! So far so good I think as they seem to have the characteristics of the real Ernie Ball's, and I bought them at legitimate guitar stores.
It seems like a whole lot of work to counterfeit such a low-margin product.
Margins are amazing on strings. Especially with volume.
China clones 25 cent guitar picks in there back alley sweat shops...
Very high margins.
You’re looking at about a cost of about 15-30 cents for the metal to make a set of strings and 10 cents to print and package them. String companies make off like bandits my man.
The strings they get for cheap. They already have them on hand, the only real thing they are counterfeiting is the package.
Obviously there's a difference in how they feel but the audio differences and colour difference were immediately apparent to me at least and I don't have a crazy good monitor or AI but it was particularly clear on the solo sections of the demos. Fake strings is just something I never thought I'd have to contend with. What a bizarre world we live in.
Thanks for making us aware. I follow several of the string companies. I don’t recall any of them warning their customers about counterfeit strings.
Don't hear a big sound difference on the Ernie Balls, but if my strings felt oily and cheap, deteriorated rapidly and had the wrong gauge (especially if I am using a floyd rose system setup for a specific gauge), I'd be absolutely furious.
I’m glad u did this video, I thought I was going crazy. I’ve been buying fakes. The fakes are absolutely shit. Too much muddy lowend, wrapping the string post is impossible. Buy from a shop
Im in Australia. I bought elixirs from a music shop near me about a year ago. They where horrible, oily shit sounding strings and went a weird blue colour after being played a while. I asked around and found out about the fake string crap. Obviously, this shop had been buying cheap strings on the internet and selling them at a premium price. I dont go there any more. I found a reputable music shop about an hour away. Its a pain, but I trust them.
Maybe when doing aural comparisons that get squashed to similarity by YT compression, show the audio in a DAW one above the other to “see” the difference? Great video, thank you!
He wouldn't because the graphs would look similar. He is kising Ernie's b-flat
I've never bought counterfeit strings, ..but I buy Chinese branded Strings $2 pack... Never had any issues..Nice sounding, intonate well and feel nice under the fingers... No complaints.
Don`t give a crap if I can hear the difference in the video, Just the fact your bringing this to everyones attention is awesome. Thank you KDH !!
Thank you for the information . Regardless of where they were bought , it's good information for a beginner and/or anyone who wasn't aware.
One of the most helpful videos I've ever seen regarding counterfeit strings, much appreciated.
It might be worth measuring the weight of the packs as the genuine weights would make it easier to check for fakes.
Why? I would think that the fakes would weigh the same and be the same thickness as the real deal. Otherwise the tension would be different on the strings and you would notice it. No, they won't try to save money on a little bit of metal when they're making $4 profit per pack of strings.
@@joeking433 If you watch the video both of those things you mentioned would be the same, were actually noticeably different when playing them.
@@joeking433 How are they making a $4 profit per set of strings when the site he very likely bought them from charges $1 per set? As he mentioned, the strings were a lighter set than the labeled 10's on the packaging.
Yeah, the counterfeiters would just get wise and start making the bearings at the bottom heavier to prevent a package weight check…
@@ianspeckmaier9565pml
For a couple of years now I’ve come across rusted Ernie ball strings all the time. Never thought that they could be fake. It has become really common to open a new package and at least one of the first 3 strings has a bit of rust on it. Maybe this is why
Fuck I seen a seller selling strings and they even showed and said things about rust ,What The Fuck...
I’ve had the same experience. always stayed away from EB’s for that reason
I've had a tiny bit of rust on legitimate Ernie Ball strings that I bought from a reputable and very large guitar shop. It's just because they're shite.
The rusty strings of Ernie Ball is like the broken neck on a Gibson LesPaul, it´s just his trademark 🤣🤣🤣
Suddenly it all makes sense, what I've been finding with EB strings for the past 2 - 3 years. Enough if a problem that I moved to ... D'dario 😅. Same problem.
And I bought them both from reputable outlets.
Currently using Rotosounds for the past few months, so far so good 🤞
I'm a new guitar player, still taking lessons. I'm well aware of the fake strings and I bought some on purpose because they're much cheaper. But it makes sense if you're an experienced player to invest in quality strings, whereas I'm just learning and I can't tell the difference in sound from the fake ones. Now I gotta admit, the fake elixir strings I got are much better than the real SG ones I left the music store with when I bought my guitar
I just bought a cheap 3 pack off eBay. I had a feeling something would be dodgy. But I’m on a budget here. And as soon as I felt the pack...
-was not air tight.
-out the pack they would not unravel easily
-normally opening the pack face up would go from 46 to 10
These went the other way around...
- they felt rough like the air had gotten to them...
I’m sure they’d do the job. But, I’m a bit annoyed at the quality
But it will do for now as I still need to adjust my guitar
Hi KDH,
You should have measured the string with a (digital) caliper. They are so cheap these days and then you would have known for certain if the gauge of the counterfeit strings was off.
At least for the high strings that's a bit sketchy on the metrology side. The difference between a 11 or 12 high e is just .025mm which is a difference you might rather measure with a micrometer
@@themechanix393 yeah You're right. I always thought that 1 gauge equals 1/20th of a mil. So 0.05mm per gauge.
But that's still very tough to do with a caliper.
My bad. 😁✌️
EDIT: I did check with my own caliper and some online research and supposedly most of them go down to about 1/20th to 1/50th of a milimeter. Which would make it possible to measure a difference even as small as 0.02mm. However due to the nature of the measuring instrument there would be probably a lot of room for error.
@@DAAN_MUSIC there's a rule of thumb that you want your measuring equipment to be 10 times more precise than the measuring increment. That's completely overkill for this but still holds some truth. Even good analog calipers make it hard to measure beyond .02mm and cheap digital ones only tend to give you the false illusion of precision. Especially if youre inexperienced in applying the caliper pressure
@@themechanix393 That's cool info! I had my caliper out and thought I'd give it a go for "science".
So, I measured my Strat, my Western Acoustic and my Explorer.
They measured; 0,009inch 0,011inch and 0,010inch. Respectively. So I was able to find the gauges.
However at first it was challenging to get a consistent results. Like you said, the hardest part is to get used to applying a generous amount of pressure to the calipers while holding them at an angle.
But with a zero'd out digital caliper and the guitar flat on the workbench I managed to get consistent results after a few minutes.
Also the 9's would average out lower than the 10's consistently. So for example incorrect measurements on the 9 gauge string would show 8,5 or 9,5. While the 10 gauge would show 9,5-10,5.
This would mean that if you where to compare 2 strings like for the purposes of this video the measurement inaccurancy can become redundant if the sample group becomes large enough.
Also, In case anybody is curious I think this article does a better job at explaining it than me: travelingguitarist.com/measuring-string-gauge-caliper/
EDIT: Nonetheless, there might be a False sense of accuracy at play like the Mechanix stated above. As I know the string gauges of these guitars. 😁✌️
@@DAAN_MUSIC cool discussion, rather rare on TH-cam:-) really interesting results of yours!
Thank you for making me aware of this issue. I will be watching for them, but to be honest, I doubt I could tell a fake from the real thing without having them side by side.
I'm from Poland and I've been useing EB strings till about two years back when I've noticed that they breaks after about 2 weeks of playing, sometimes even faster. I thought that EB quality declined and I stopped useing them. I never thought that they're not real EB. Problem is that I've always been buying them in my local music shops not aliexpress and at the same price as originals few years back. It seems that they only ship not original EB to my town. That is sad. I'll tell my friends to be aware of this scam. Thank You for this video!
No issues with other brands? I am yet to break a single string on any of my electrics. Maybe you have sharp edges in the nut or bridge? Unless you rock 9s or 8s those might break easily.
You probably didn't have counterfeits. 10 years ago I used EB's because everyone else did, and I broke a string every 2 weeks (granted it was a 56 or 60 gauge on a terribly sharp awfull ibanez bridge, but didn't have that problem with d'addarios). I got genuine ones for the shop, thomann, or other proper sites. Only worse strings I've ever used were dean markleys that lasted 1h -also genuine.
I've been using ghs boomers since 2014/15 and only broke one or two ever since, when they were at least 6 month to 1 year old. They sound bright, keep their brightness better than d'addarios (and those keep their brightness a lot lot better then eb's) and don't gunk up as much.
If only their sliding noise wasn't as loud as it is
I had no idea that this was an issue. Thanks so much for putting this out.
Hello, I’ve seen and used some fakes and I can tell you these 3 observations:
-Every time without fail, they always give you a lighter gauge than advertised on the packaging, usually I have 9’s, they give me 8’s and yes, they never last.
-These strings don’t last long, honestly expected it but I can confirm these as they usually last a week for me where the genuine ones can go for over a moth of live gigs.
-The tone is different, you hear more of the “Metal clacking” than the actual string’s tone. This is honestly more noticeable when clean and when you play them as it doesn’t only mess up your tone but the way you play as well to get around the more obnoxious “metal clacking”.
This may explain why I recently put a set of EB's on my guitar and hated them. I couldn't figure out what had changed since usually I really like EB's. I never even thought that they could be counterfeit or that this was even a thing. Thanks for the information.
I genuinely think I have been fooled into thinking I can only play Elixir because the EBs and D’Addarios I played in the beginning were fake. I play EBs now and they’re great. God, so many years of buying expensive strings..
That is exactly why it's such a problem. Not only that you get ripped off, but you end up thinking the product is crap while it's a knockoff. They are getting good in faking though, if you have never used the real thing....how would you know? You would just think that brand sucks and buy something else. Have you seen the fake pickups? You can buy VERY convincing Seymour Duncans in China....I'll never trust an "upgraded" second hand guitar again.
Well Ernie balls are actually pretty lame. If you’re consistently rehearsing with a band you’ll notice Ernie balls last about half as long as d’addarios. Ernie balls would go dead for me in about 3 practices and d’addarios would last me 7-10 sessions. Just something I noticed. These were the regular slinky’s vs the regular xl’s same gauge and same price point. But the best strings for the money are GHS. those last forever.
@@YouAllObeyNikk completely agreed. eb failled me so many times when I started playing in a band 10 years ago. Spent lots of money on them and their expensive models and they were always shite. d'addarios were better and then ghs were even much better. Only downside is the sliding noise being obnoxiously loud. Also elixirs are expensive but they do last for so long. I tried a guitar with elixirs on it, I didn't know that, I thought the dude changed the strings 5 minutes before but he said "no they're 6 months old elixirs". Mind blown
I bought a 6 pack on Ali thinking I'd made a great deal. Looked at the packaging and saw they're fakes 🤦🏼♂️
Didn't know there were fake strings out there. I mainly use Ernie Ball, so thanks for showing us what to look for
You'll know immediately by the colour, but if you're not a "seasoned" buyer, you may get caught out.
Yea that was a surprise to me to. U could tell the difference. Real shit is usually more vibrant that fake anything. Strings are so damn cheap anyway why even buy fakes. My local music store has deals on strings all the time as does the 4 guitar centers within 50 miles from my house. Buy real deals don’t get fooled!!!
@@redddogg2461 People aren't "buying" fakes, they are buying strings and getting fakes. It's not as easy to discern the difference, when all you have to go by is an image of the real thing, and a price.
@@castleanthrax1833 I hear u man. That’s is a issue if u think you are getting the real thing. If we would order from a Guitar center of Sam Ash or Musicians friend those would be the only way I’d order. I don’t order anything online tho to be honest I been playing over 30 years so it’s pry a little easier for me to feel or even by looks for that matter if something was off. False advertising is straight BS. Like them selling counterfeit Les Pauls. But also man I also see Best Buy sells Ernie Ball strings. Their are plenty of places someone can buy their strings so they don’t get ripped off.
@@redddogg2461 Yeah, but in this day and age of internet shopping, you only know they're not genuine when they're in your hands. The images you are looking at are genuine and it's not unreasonable to find a store on ebay that specializes in guitar strings. That's what happened to me, and although they were cheap, they weren't so cheap that it raised a red flag. They even distributed from my country (Australia) to make it appear more authentic. I've been buying strings for decades, so they didn't fool me when I received them. ✌️
Ah, this explains a lot. About a month ago i bought a set of Ernie Ball Regular Slinky strings from a local "music store" that was not only missing the b string but the g string didnt have a ball end on it. I was shocked because in 25 years of working on guitars (20 professionally) and changing literally thousands of strings i had never seen this happen in a set of brand name strings. The store i bought them from is notorious for having shoddy merchandise and ripping people off with underhanded deals but i figured that they couldnt screw up a pack of strings. I guess i know now how they are making their money. Be careful of the little stores. They are trying to cut corners wherever they can to make a profit and you will end up paying the bill...
That is sad AF. I have a local store here too, of course, and they're known for their high ass prices. But they have excellent customer service and if they can afford it and still make a profit, occasionally they will price match items. That's how a local store should be, we know they can't keep up with online retailers but they are a great store in every other way. Been in business over 40 years. Those sad ass people you're talking bout should lose their business, there's no excuse for not even being able to stock legit strings at a decent price smh
Take your business somewhere else
@@daveaird96 yeah, i pretty much have. I have refused to buy any equipment there for a long time because of their shady business practices but i was in a hurry and figured that since strings came prepackaged i would be safe. Now i find out that counterfeit strings are a thing. Guess it is Sweetwater for me from now on...
When I buy my strings, I typically look for the actual manufacture and buy directly from them. Honestly only buy D’addrio XL’s and I’ve never come across fakes. Good to know though lol
I've been wondering why I'm only getting 2 gigs out of Ernie's lately. Guess what? Yeah, I bought a 10 pack deal off the net. So I've gone back to my old shop for a few packs and we'll see how long these last. Interestingly its alway the roundwounds that break too. I haven't changed what I'm doing but as a hard up muso of many years I've just learned another lesson! Well, they say you never stop learning!! Thanks for the vid!
I wondered this myself when looking on eBay at cheap strings - I'll be buying mine from the local guitar store rather than online in future - I love your content!
Would be curious to see a thickness check with a set of calipers.
Why would they be different? Cheap no-name strings off of China can be found for $1 a set. They just put those strings in a counterfeit package. I'm pretty sure they're the same gauge otherwise the tension would be way different from the real deal. It's that strings can be made very cheaply, not that they have to skimp on material. Its that they don't have to pay for much overhead like American brands.
@@joeking433 because in the video he says that the 10's feel like 9's and that they fake ones probably use the same guage for every fake package be it .08, .09, .10, .11 ect....
@@dpaaron1 I've had fakes and they were the same thickness as the real strings. But the high E string would always unravel from the ball after a couple days.
The funny thing is, I can't tell you how many times I've bought defective packs of the real thing. And this is going back to the 90's btw when you could only buy store bought. Only about 2 or 3 years ago did I walk into a local music store for classical guitar strings and had to come right back and tell the guys that the pack they gave me had strings already breaking right after initial install. Bad string cores are super common even among the real thing. I can't imagine then how these fakies are. It just keeps getting harder it seems to buy quality these day.
I accidentally bought some fake d'addarios a couple of years ago. They didn't intonate correctly and even on the lower frets were way off. I can only guess that the windings must have been inconsistent.
I missed this one somehow and it caused me to immediately pull out my box of 9-42 Cobalts that I got a reasonably good deal on but not outrageous when I bought 40 sets. I had a sinking feeling but thankfully they are without a doubt real. Thank you for the PSA clips like this , you will save many people from buying fake garbage.
The thing I noticed when purchasing some "Elixirs" is that the counterfeits would corrode like nobody's business
Elixirs = Only the wound strings are coated.
@@cheapskate8656 Nah dude these were wound. They were literal fakes.
@@WilDBeestMF So, the windings corroded? That might explain why the strings are oily. Maybe the windings are not nickel, just steel?
@@cheapskate8656 Idk. I just know that they went rusty real fast.
Yep. Plus the horrible oily feel.
Its good to be made aware of this. I only buy from legit retailers, even when on line. Note also that you have zero idea what that slick, oily substance is made up of on the fake strings. Ripping off people, especially if they are on a low budget, is despicable. Indeed report the fakes.
Cosmoline, alot of people are allergic to it, it probably wipes off though, probably why they would sound duller. Like buying an already used set of strings, more or less.
it's the lubricant they use when drawing the wire, it's unlikely to be especially harmful but no synthetic oil is good for anyone to handle.
In terms of sound, it seems like the fake D'Addarios were much closer to the real one in sound than the fake Ernies. Even then I could only hear the difference at loud volumes with my studio monitors.
There's plenty of reasons not to buy counterfeit but the sound was surprisingly similar for the D'Addarios at least.
I think the main issue is going to be the feel and longevity of the string. The sound I don't think you'd really notice that much. I find that's true with most things guitar. The difference with a high end guitar and a cheap one is a little difference in sound but a huge difference in how it feels and how precisely it sets up/ stays in tune.
@@nathanjasper512 I pretty strongly disagree in terms of the sound differences. There is a huge difference in the sound of the "attack" for the note based on the type of strings and general quality.
For example, two of the more expensive strings I use are Stringjoy and Elixir Nanowebs. The Stringjoy sets are way way brighter and buzzier than the Nanoweb sets from Elixir, while the Elixirs are far "warmer" and have a more defined low-mid range.
Of all the different things on the guitar itself that impact the sound of your playing, the material you are striking to actually make the sound is one that's pretty important for the overall character.
SUPPORT USA INDUSTRY NOT CHINESE
@@drphilgee6430 ?
I only use EB on my electric and I fell for it too. But 20 plus years of hearing the original made me realize it.
I've been using StringJoy strings for several years now. I've found them to be some of the best. They sound good, play good and last along time. But what I like most, is that you can customize your sets. They even have half gauges so that you can better dial in the feel you want. They also now have the best in coated strings if you prefer.
NGL, I would love a set of 9.5 gauge strings.
Sounds like advertising
I 've never spoken to anyone at Stringjoy, much less been asked or paid to advertise for them. i simply went to the website, found what I needed, tried them and have been quite satisfied ever since. You do you. @@babooger6839
Sad thing this goes on with every industry, this is why it’s important to support companies that have no or very little ties with Chinese manufacturing
A lot of guitar companies do have ties to China unfortunately. And many are aware of the counterfeiting and simply turn a blind eye to it because they accept that it’s just a part of doing business with China. Some third parties that make guitars in China will finish their production runs for the bigger guitar companies and then they’ll switch over to counterfeit making during downtime. They use the same tooling, the same 3D models on the CNC machine, etc.
@@projectgoatse I bought a pair of aviator raybans once from ebay, as soon as they arrived I knew they were fake, in the cases it was written Rayban Driving Saries. (Yeah, with A). I though the glasses would be bad, but they looked like the real deal, so I bought it to a friend's store and asked him to check them. In his words, materials were right and the RB inside the lens was legit, cut using diamond or something like that (i dont remember the details), but just like the real deal. In his words, exactly that, same company, same machines, same materials, just legit counterfeiting products to sell in third world markets.
Everything is made in china now, including american made products since parts and tools are from china.
@@projectgoatse ghs is made in Battle Creek, mi. Been here for years.
Explain why "this is why it's important to support companies with no or very little ties with Chinese manufacturing"?
After seeing this video I think this happened to me. I bought a 3 pack EB 10s from amazon and when I got them I thought the strings were crap and didn't last very long (didn't think twice about the packaging). The last time I had used EB was years before with the Plastic air exposed packs. Maybe it's time for me to try EB again
Thank you so much for this video. I’ve been buying what I thought were genuine strings from Amazon for a while now and going crazy when they start to rust after weeks of being on my guitar, something I had never experienced before. I thought it had to do with the humidity in my house or my hands were getting unreasonably sweaty while playing and ruining all my strings. I had no clue this was a thing and had never even considered it was a possibility.
AMAZING!! I had never even entertained the thought that anyone would want to make 'fake strings' instead of putting their own logo on and saying 'sounds like' or 'compare to' or something like that and sell them a couple bucks under the brand they're copying. I think they'd sell more of them, and have less people being 'disappointed' in the sound. It really hurts Ernie Ball, I think.. if someone unknowingly gets a pack and is 'unimpressed' by them. I could actually hear the difference.. even on youtube. I'll be more careful now that I'm enlightened. THANK YOU for this video.
Well done,I,m a pro guitarist ,I didn,t even Know they would fake strings,I,ve always used D,Darrio but up till now I.ve never looked that close.I will in the future many thanks.
I never had an issue with Arnie Bell strings
Get to da chopper
Yeah I've got Arnie Balls on my Paul Rudd Smith and they sound awesome.
Same, always used Dad'dandyboy strings...
Wish you had some gauges. Curios if they were actually the wrong gauge. Like others here, I had no idea there were fake strings. Thanks for making this video.
I can definitely tell a difference in tone, the real strings of both brands sound almost 3 Dimensional compared to the fakes.
the fakes had such a flat sound, almost like a guitar emulator.
To take the "go a little further for quality" further yet, definitely give Thomastik-Infeld's guitar strings a try. The quality is out of this world, superb durability, and their golden zone of sound lasts much longer than most other brands.
Yes.I had flat wounds on my fretless Moses neck, 'Berger small body bass for years and they stayed the same sounding. Eventually they wore out at the official adapter due to the small screws cutting thru the outer wrap. Next set I'll try a bigger screw after market adapter. No double ball for Thomastic . I now have some LaBella 2 ball strings that only sound 90 % as good and are stiffer at the same gauge.
I never knew, and now it makes all the more sense why the strings I attached to my guitar ended up breaking the nut
Holy crap, I'm just now realizing the only time I tried D'Addario strings, they were probably counterfeit... they were the cheapest I could find and I was underwhelmed by them. Lol sorry D'Addario, I'll have to give you a second chance 🙏
They give a fck about it. Relax.
I think you missed the most obvious difference on the EB package:
The real ones are clean cut along the bottom edge
The fakes seem to have serrated cutting pattern along the bottom.
Thanks for this well done and informative video.🇨🇦
I think the real ones are serrated too, but tinier bits
I had no idea there were fakes out there. Mind you everything gets faked nowadays.
Extra point for Winger content 👍👍
Especially ORGASMS! Stay safe!
@@DMSProduktions Yeah but that's not a recent thing. . 😂
@@7stringbassist No true, but no LESS relevant! They are still LIES!
Easy Come, Easy Go!
@@danmurphy8144 HAH!
Thanks KDH for uploading this video! 1 year ago I received a pack of fake d'addario strings from my friend who previously borrowed my guitar. I got suspicious from the quality of packaging and decided to open it today and noticed:
- the prints on the packaging are not crisp, not like the real deal.
- the glue on the back is way too thick and lazily smeared, like a hot glue gun apllied in a hurry.
- the inner packaging are folded inside, just like in the video
- unsurprisingly, the authenticity code is exactly the same
They feel oily because they are absolutely soaking to keep them from rusting while traveling across the world. Also, you were right, TH-cam compressed mosted of the sounds but when you did those clean runs the real strings sounded brighter. Plus I'm watching on my TV so that probably doesn't help.
Not helpful if you don't tell us where you got them!
Why the fake ones sound better tho
Maybe you like 009 more
They are probably pretty close to the real ones, only people with a great ear or professional musicians would even notice.
Mercari Ernie ball "10 packs" for $12 explained.
@@JordanAlawamlehI doubt in a blind test anyone would notice the difference, longevity will be the only issue.
They sound louder, but less clarity and warmth.
Either way, the initial sound isn't the real test. It's how they sound after a week or two of playing that matters. And both the real and fake Ernies will sound like shit
You are absolutely spot on. Listening experience varies so much
Stumbled upon this vid and immediately returned 3 unopened packs which I got cheaply on ebay a few days ago, great info!
Yep, I ordered some Ernie Ball super slinky’s from Temu, slightly different shade of pink on the pack, made in USA on the front, then a stick on made in china label on the back. I haven’t opened them yet so this will be interesting..
It would help if you told us WHERE you purchased the counterfeit strings, and a relative price-point that indicates which is which.
Thank you.
I think ive been getting fake strings for years not knowing it.
Good video, think I’ve accidentally bought the counterfeits once. And you got me, definitely was watching this on the toilet.
I must admit that I saw the thumbnail and was in a rage that someone dared to call my Ernies fake, but once I started watching, I was grateful 😁
Earnie Ball packages are clearly distinctable - the genuine one (greenish backhround, black text) from the fake one (yellowish background, greyish text)
I recently got a EB 3-pack on Amazon and the strings were all corroded. I’m wondering if those were fake now. EB sent me new packs right away when I reached out so they’re a great company.
I used to work for a book publisher in Japan. He refused to sell books in Thailand. Why? Cause they would take the books and reproduce them and sell them as competition. He discovered this as his original book he had sold down there. He was on vacation and found a book that looked almost identical to his being sold. While his brother owned a furniture store selling 1800's German furniture. Actually, he bought Museum catalogs of German furniture. He'd send the photos to factories in Thailand and Indonesia and have exactly duplicate "historic" furniture on a boat in a couple months.
Dude, I just recently went through so many Ernie Ball strings that I was about to make a video about how much their quality had diminished! Now I see that I probably got fake strings!
Thanks mate. I took a pack I had left over to the guitar shop to see if what I had were fake. Turns out they were. So I bought a 3 pack of real power slinky 11-48 strings. Put a new set on, and everything The guy says in the video was absolutely correct. Plus they were for some reason easier to string, stay in tune better, ring truer and the biggest difference is in the sustain. Ring for days. SUSTAIN IS MUCH BETTER WITH THE REAL STRINGS.
This spooked me bc I bought Ernie ball strings and I did what u did so I think I’m good
Amazon is terrible for fake strings... I have been stung twice buying Elixir strings... Still paying £10 - £12 per set. I now only buy in store.
I'm 100% convinced I've bought fake Ernie Balls on eBay, trying to save a couple £s when buying multipacks. Learnt my lesson
They sound 95% the same in clean, but that difference is absolutely vanished when you add distortion on it (and there's nothing to do with TH-cam compression at all)
That being said, there's for sure some difference on gauge accuracy, longevity, stability, feeling that cant be retransmitted on video but are so so important
My first thought was just don’t buy strings at a discount. They’re already inexpensive. That won’t necessarily prevent you from getting counterfeit but when you’re not looking for a deal, you tend to end up at the legit distributors like guitar center.
Thank you for letting us know about this, I think I have some genuine and some fake Ernie Balls here with all the differences you said about but the artist names on the back are the other way around, I'll only buy them from reputable retailers now
Thank you for posting this video, your video helped us discover that we got counterfeit Ernie Ball regular strings. The counterfeit strings were of a different color, weird splotches of colors on the front and back, back of the string pack had an Eagle seal on it(real ones don’t have it), writing was much larger, string packets were thin and red was bright, holes in the packets, and the strings had tarnish on them too. We luckily got a new pack of the real strings and the guy that sold us the counterfeit now know they weren’t real and what to look for.
Thank you for sharin', didn't know such a thing. But I'm not surprised. Keep Rockin'! 🎸☺✌
I never buy strings online. I always buy my strings from a pawn shop. I have two opened packs of Ernie Ball strings. I compared the packaging side by side and YES, one is authentic and one is fake! I can clearly see the differences between the two, especially on the backs of these two packs. I can also tell the differences between the inner paper/red dye..and last but not least, the differences between the real Ernie Ball strings, and the counterfeit strings! The counterfeit strings are on my Kramer right now! I been having trouble with them, they are constantly losing tone, sounding very flat! I certainly know how to spot the counterfeit Ernie Ball strings now. Thank You, Sir.....
I will be looking for that next time i'll buy strings. I play EB for 10+ years now and I never had any real problem with them until recently. Play on 10-46 and 10--52 (i think) and I break something like 4 or 5 strings in 3 months. So I'm considering buying D'Addarios next time and see if the problem comes from the string brand, fake or real, or from my bridge (which is also possible). Thx for the video btw, those informations are valuable.
To say something is made in USA only requires a small amount of processing to really happen in the USA.
I am not putting the packaging on my guitar and I'm capable of wiping off oil.
The way to test dimensions is with a gauge. The way to compare tone is straight to the desk with no effects.
You could have set up a rig to compare measured tension at standard pitch and vibrating length.
And also the edge of the Ernie Ball package is different if you take a look. That's the main thing I look at when I buy my Ernie Ball strings
I have been playing Ernie Ball strings since 1973.
Not planning to change.
On stage, my rhythm guitar mates would break their D'Addario strings while I, as lead player, never broke a string.
They later changed to a string company that gave them a sticker with their strings. Those stickers started showing up on their guitar cases. Not me.
Ernie Ball for the win.
Stickers are a good way to cover up scrapes on your guitar case.
I've played Daddarios for 40 years. Broke a string once.
Funny that I stumbled across this video!
I was just reminiscing about a certain brand of strings I used to buy at a little local music store, somewhere in the middle of Indiana.
When my band toured a lot back in the late Nineties and early 2000s, we'd always pass through this bitty, little town someplace in Central Indiana... Damn if I can't remember the name.
Anyhow... There was a small music store in that town, and we would stop at it on our way out west, just about every time we'd go that way up and out of Kentucky.
The store carried these bronze Chinese made acoustic guitar strings... And they were a whole two bucks a pack.
And they were absolutely THEE BEST acoustic guitar strings that I've ever used... And I've played for over forty years.
And damned if I can't remember the name of those things... All i do remember, is that they were in a Kelly Green package and had a picture of some kind on the front of the label... All of the writing on the package was in Chinese characters.
Damn it.
This video had me ripping open my packs of strings to try and compare with the ones you showed and I still can't tell if they're real or fake
When you played with a clean sound, I could definitely tell a difference right away. The real EB strings had a much warmer and fuller sound than the fakes.