JIM DUNLOP 38129094201 Billy Gibbons Custom Rev Willy's Guitar Strings 09-42 (RWN0942)

Good strings

I loved these strings and have purchased many sets

I bought these after trying to learn the solo from Time by Pink Floyd, and after the first two notes playing with 9-42 Elixir’s I realized this was going to be too difficult to hit those bends right. I suffered nerve irritation in my fret hand almost two years ago and haven’t been able to play like my old self since. Enter these strings. I put them on my PRS SE Custom 24 and only had to adjust the intonation slightly and they were ready to go. It took a few minutes to realize that I no longer needed to “try” to play, the tension is so light you just lay your fingers on the string and it frets! I quickly was able to play the Time solo and hit those Gilmour bends with basically no effort. If you’ve had any issues with your fret hand, or just want to play with minimal effort and work on playing with a lighter touch, buy these! I may have found my new favorite strings for leads!

I've only been playing electric guitar for a year (was classical before that) so it's quite a learning curve -- which model to get, what kind of frets, what pickups?!? After trying guitars from $500 Casino to $3300 Gibsons, I ended up with a $1500 Vox with P90 pickups. Eventually I started trying different strings... a million choices. Since I record synth heavy music and use the live guitar to play rhythm and add warmth and jangle and chime, I tried these 7 gauge strings.Oh yeah! Jangle and chime galore!!! So bright! I couldn't believe the difference in the high end with these. And sooooo easy to play! They take a bit of getting used to since they're more "floppy." Also, you have to play with a lighter touch or they will go sharp if you press too hard. And I use the lightest and biggest pick possible, which gives it an even sharper, sweeter sound.The sound I get sits beautifully in the mix and cuts through all the synths.I'm super happy with these.One caveat is that you have to tune them up carefully when first stringing. I got carried away and was tuning it too high and broke the high E. My fault! Oops! So, the lesson here is don't be stupid like me and pay attention ;)Easy to play, sound sweet and bright, and they're so inexpensive. Score!

I'm an Ernie Ball guy. I mostly play Ernie Balls exclusively. I think the slinky and clang'iness of them are amazing. I also like D'Addario, GHS Boomers, and Exliers for tight studio tones.I just want to also throw out that I despise tight strings. I use 10s for Dropped C, D, Db and Standard. I used 11s for Dropped B, A, and Ab. Then 12s for Dropped G and Gb. I play mostly metal and variants of alternative music. Metalcore, Djent, Post Hardcore, Hardcore, Pop Punk, Dad Rock, Slam and Beatdown, Deathcore, Deathmetal, etc etc. Genres for days.However, I do dabble a lot in pop, pop-rock, electronic music, and hip-hop. So I constantly pick up new instruments and string them up for various clients.As a producer in the south, a lot of my clients are singers and songwriters, country stars, and bluegrass folky type, artists. That like the Telecaster twang, the Les Paul sustain, and the Strat brightness. Oh, let's not forget the occasional 80's Charvel shred.I threw these on my Gibson Les Paul Custom, and I hated the feel instantly, regretting the purchase. So within the first five minutes of playing, I was already contemplating taking them off. I figured I'd let the client decide. He didn't say anything, but he did favor another guitar with Ernie Balls on it.Fast forward. After a week. The feeling stayed the same. No loss of tone. Still stale stiffness. Normal expected generic guitar sounds.Fast forward to week four. A few clients picked it up, no one really was blown away. Again, most go towards other axes. They do still feel the same. I'm not sure if due to the little amount they were played, may be a total of two hours on them total.I figured I'd try to justify the purchase and do a bit of tracking on it. Here's my non-biased open experience.There's almost no bend on these things, the tension is way too tight on the higher strings. They are so stiff it hurts almost. They're boomy, and work well for chords and sustain. Though they should, most guitar strings need to do this. I don't like the way solos or chicken pickin' sounds on them. It almost sounds like the stiffness gravitates towards the neck pickup more and you can really hear it on record. I do like the way they sound for ambiance on big ol' wide chords that are intended to fill space. Like a Cadd9 kind of ring out. They feel full in that regard. Stiff but full.Overall I can't say I'd recommend them. As Ernie Balls for me while they don't last super long, just sound great from the start to make it through a song or record. I'm not sure if they need some serious breaking in, or if this is just how these strings are made but it's a hard no for me.I'd say 4 out of 5 because maybe someone likes my flaws. As well they do sound the same as they did after around 7 hours of playing. So you can certainly get a few gigs out of them if that's your thing. I change strings generally twice a song to keep the fullness on a track that's professionally going out. I change them once per song on an album that's rather serious. Then once per album on a band that isn't going for the full professional experience with the cost included. I don't think I'd need to do that with these on that note.My experience.

I"m guitar playing that has been playing a left hand fender mustang since about 2012, But at the start of march of I decided I wanted to learn to play guitar right handed like everyone else so I bought a dean custom 450 guitar but I think it might of had 10s on it so I put 9s on it but it still didn't quite the way I like and I couldn't really cope with the tension on my hands anymore.So I got these Revered Willy guitar strings 7s. They feel really light and nice and easy to play. They do buzz but I don't really notice much when I'm running distortion. I've still got to let the guitar get use to the lighter strings and see where things go.I've have used these in the past in my lefty les paul 100. It felt really good but I didn't get the set up on it right so it had some intonation issues.That could of been resolved by a guitar tech setting it up. Although most guitar techs will look at you like your crazy for using such light strings.So I do my own guitar setups. Its a learning experience. I wouldn't want to do on a 1000+ guitar.I play in standard E standard tuning. I lean to rock/blues but I'm trying to expand more with rocksmith 2014 which I've been using since the first rocksmith came out.To end this review my opinion is guitar is the time you put in practicing lighter strings can lead to more guitar practice since the hands don't get as tired as fast with 9s or 10s. I recommended the 7s to someone just starting out with guitar and to take things slow and easy and develop technique.Then think about going to heavy strings if you feel these are too light.Have a nice day and THANK YOU DUNLOP FOR THE LIGHT GUITAR STRINGS!!!