You may have noticed lately that a few model names for strings from the D’Addario brand have “BT” at the end of it, such as EXL160BT.
What does BT mean? It means Balanced Tension. In a nutshell, what this is supposed to do is provide greater control and better playing comfort. And what does that mean? It means (again, supposedly,) that you’ll have better control over string dynamics, and on a comfort level, bends on any string should be much more consistent. For example, a bend on an A-string should feel the same as on the G-string and not be wildly different from each other as is normally the case.
Do BT strings really give you better control and comfort?
That’s where you come in. This is something different from D’Addario, and your opinion would be greatly valued, because this is one of those times where a community opinion would matter more than just ours.
Do we sell Balanced Tension sets?
Yes (scroll down to “Balanced Tension Sets” on that page.) But even if you don’t buy from us specifically, we want to hear your opinion on these strings anyway. Do you personally notice any real difference between balanced tension compared to a regular set? Post a comment or two and let everyone know.
Love ’em. Put them on a newer Am. Dlx. Jazz and they’re great.
I have using the BT 120 set for abount 6 wk.I have to say they my be the best strings i have used.I have been playing for 40 yrs and have tried them all.
I was making my own Balanced Tension Sets for over 15 years using single strings.
At last you discovered that is the way string sets should be……………….
Would love to see them get the desired tension without having to change the gauge. It can be done if you’re willing to experiment with different size cores for smaller/bigger strings.
Now how about medium and short scale versions ? We’ve had a lousy choice for decades. Even finding singles to make our own set has been difficult, ESPECIALLY medium scale.
PLEASE give us medium and short scale versions too ! Getting tired of trying to find singles to put my own sets together. Current offerings in these scales are WAY unbalanced,
CircleK strings has been doing this for a while now.
i need super long scale and 5 string (170-5SL), it appears that neither are available in BT. true?
So why have manufacturers been selling unbalanced sets all these years?
I’ve emailed almost all the string makers and ask why they made such unbalanced sets. Most didn’t reply. Two said because the other string makers do so it must be what musicians want. ( although in 40 years of playing I,ve never met a player who felt their string guages were perfectly balanced ) LaBella was the only one to give a reply, saying they used to make better balanced sets, but for some reason musicians thought their guaging was off because the other makers all produced the same guages, ex: 50-105, which is awful guaging. ( the D string has the most tension, the A less, and the E even less. Makes no sense in any unerverse ) I personally prefer progressive tension guaging, where, from high to low, each string has slightly more tension than the last. This feels and sounds more natural to me, but that’s my own taste. ( ex: 40-55-75-105 ) Maybe the string makers will start making what the players want someday.
With vintage equipment, there was a reason for unbalanced tension. The lower-tension strings on the low end had more excursion and thus produced greater fundamental, which helped compensate for low-end rolloff inherent in earlier amplifiers. Essentially, they balanced volume at the expense of balanced tone from string to string. With today’s amplification technology balanced string sets generally provide the best uniformity of tone and volume across all strings.
1, 2, 3, 4… Where is 5?.. Where is 5?!!
PIanos have been scaled to have even tension across the entire scale for a lon time. It is surprising that guitar strings are not. I bouth a set of 5 string BT D’Addarios, and will be using them the next time I change strings.Patrick Notabot
Let me guess…twice as much as their other strings?