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Your cart is empty.4.7 out of 5 stars
- #523 in Musical Instruments (See Top 100 in Musical Instruments)
- #15 in Electric Guitar Strings
Product Description
XL Chromes are our warmest, mellowest electric guitar strings. Beloved by jazz guitarists, as well as blues legends like Gary Clark Jr., these flat wound strings provide the smoothest feel and warmest tone, while allowing movement across the fretboard with no finger noise. Made with a high carbon steel core, Chromes’ stainless steel flattened ribbon wire is expertly wound onto a series of interlocking under-windings, then precisely polished for unparalleled smoothness and a sound which blends beautifully into any mix. 11-50 Jazz Light is our best selling gauge of flat wound strings, delivering the optimal tension for traditional jazz playing.
From the Manufacturer
ECG24, D'Addario's best selling gauge of flatwound strings, delivers a balance of smooth feel, warm/mellow tone and optimal tension, ideal for traditional jazz, rockabilly twang, R&B and some pop/rock styles.
D'Addario Chromes are wound with flattened stainless steel ribbon wire which is polished to an incredibly smooth surface. Chromes deliver a distinctive damped but tone-rich sound that only flatwounds can produce. D'Addario Chromes are the world's most popular flatwound strings.
D'Addario, the world's largest manufacturer of musical instrument strings, is known as The Players Choice with a reputation for unsurpassed quality and consistency. D'Addario's innovative, packaging reduces waste and provides protection from corrosion. All D'Addario strings are manufactured in the U.S.A. using proprietary, digitally controlled, state-of-the-art machinery for unmatched performance, set after set.
Bill Truran
Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2025
When he plays, he actually plays bass (his thumb) leads the other fingers and percussion strumming with his finger nails. The total sound is amazing. notice how thik these strings really are.
ProfComb
Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2025
I continue to try various flat wound strings and come back to D'Addario Chromes. They hold tone well and always are consistent in quality. The fat tone is evident, especially in the 10-48 set, which helps my older fingers! The lighter strings help for bending, though the repertoire I play on a big D'Angelico doesn't call for too much bending. They also are widely available, so it is easy to pick up spares. Highly recommended.
Randall R. Scott
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2024
I keep going back and forth between roundwounds, half-rounds, and flats. Don't be afraid of these heavier gauge flats. If you have an assertive style of playing, as I do, they're great. You can lower the action and still get no buzz. They're not "pitchy," as lighter strings are, and yet you can still achieve enough vibrato with your left hand. Chromes don't sound "plinky" on my archtop like the rounds and half-rounds do, and I love it. Again, I go back and forth, but these 13-56 Chromes are wonderful -- a great string!
mdkxp
Reviewed in Canada on September 22, 2024
In the past two years, I've changed everything about my guitar playing. My primary guitar (short scale Jagmaster to long scale Jazzmaster), my amps (from Fender modelling amp to Jazz Chorus + Marshall combo), my pedals (basically none to a large board with a dozen of them), and my strings (from lights, as low as 7s at times, to 10s, also changed brands). Now, I believe the evolution of my guitar preferences has finally completed, with the last change, back to D'Addario brand strings, and specifically to the Chromes flatwound strings.Anyone with a Jazzmaster knows that the pickups are pretty generous with the high end. Before getting my first one, I never touched a tone knob before. Now I find myself needing to use it so my ears don't get stabbed to death. However, these strings really mellow that quite a bit, to the point where I could probably leave my tone knob at max and just adjust my pedals or amp settings, ever so slightly.On top of the more mellow sound compared to rounds, these feel great on the fingers. At first I wasn't sure, but a few days in and I'm finding it hard to pick up any of my other guitars because of the relative roughness. I did try D'Addario Half-Rounds as well, but they feel even worse to me than round-wound; they almost have a gritty, nail file type feeling to them. So, as quickly as the half-rounds went on to my cheapest Jazzmaster, I think they will be coming off and flats will go on.I primarily play heavy metal, and I think these sound good, but it'll depend what sound you're going after. Maybe you want the string noise and a bit more harmonic content rather than fundamental note, so you should stick to round wounds. But these are worth trying at least once, I think. Yeah, they cost more, but I've heard they last a lot longer. I haven't had them long enough to vouch for that. But I really love how they feel so I'm sure I'll find out in due time.Only question remaining is, what do I do with these 5 packs of Ernie Ball Slinkys that I've got sitting here unopened?
Kunde
Reviewed in Germany on September 10, 2024
Meine Ibanez Af 75 bs klingt damit unverstaerkt wie eine westerngitarre... das ist das erste ma,l dass ich ueberhaupt Saiten fuer meine jazzgitarre habe mit denen ich auch akkustisch spielen kann... ich bin begeistert, mit verstaerker klingts auch sehr geil. die bespielbarkeit find ich auch echt gut. kauf ich auf jedenfall wieder!
Kokapelli 108
Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2024
I am new to flatwounds, having just acquired a jazz box after many years of solidbodies. They threw in a new set of Ernie ball flats which I thought would be fine - wrong! In all fairness, these were 11's, while this big girl really needed 12's to make it sing. The EB strings gave the gtr a kind of banjo-like tone, which had me concerned that I had maybe bought the wrong guitar. Put the Daddario chrome 12's on and man! What a difference, these strings have it all: a certain depth of tone, sweet, full brightness entirely lacking in the EB 11 flats. I'm used to playing roundwounds, so the prices of these (either brand) are a bit hard to take - 20 bucks a set! But I will continue biting the bullet and using these chromes, as they sound beautiful on my big hollowbody!
Nylo
Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2024
I am a beginning electric guitar player and I learned that on a bass guitar, that flat wound strings are super comfortable on the fingers, especially for slides. This particular set is still a little too heavy for my fingers and when I installed all of these strings as they come, the tremolo system required extra springs and the tension rod had to be tightened in the neck. I did not like the way it played with the extra tension that made the strings hard to bend and hurt my fingers.My special trick and best solution to turn these into wonderful, easy bending, light playing strings is to not use the #48 heaviest E string. Buy a separate .008 or 0.009 gauge string to use for the first E string and then shift all of the others over. See my marked up package in my photo. This trick gives you a wonderful 8-38 or 9-38 smooth set with the following:1-E 8 or 9 (purchased separately)2-B 103-G 144-D 20w5-A 28w6-E 38w48w - not used
Lester Jensen
Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2024
Flat wound strings have a different feel and sound that I wanted for my 7-string PRS. They also reduce fret wear associated with bending notes that a wound string grinds against the frets gradually wearing the frets flat thus setting you up for an expensive re-fretting repair bill. These strings feel similar when bending but are obviously smooth when sliding up/down the neck, which I also appreciate. They are highly rated as durable - only time will give evidence of how true this is. From initial use I'd recommend these highly.
RicWellesley
Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2024
D’Addario XL Chromes Electric Guitar Strings deliver exactly what they promise—a buttery-smooth feel and rich, mellow tones. The flat-wound design minimizes finger noise and makes sliding effortless, while the polished stainless steel wrap adds a layer of sophistication to your sound. Perfect for jazz or any style requiring warmth and depth, these strings maintain excellent intonation and durability. Highly recommended for musicians looking to elevate their tone with ultra-smooth playability!
francesco tancredi
Reviewed in Italy on January 1, 2024
Corde lisce dal suono caldo, non troppo sottili e non troppo grosse, per me la scalatura perfetta. Dipende sempre da cosa ci devi fare.
Diego
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2022
These strings have a very nice low end and are great for heavy, grungey riffs. However, I find them less than optimal for normal playing, as they are difficult to bend and the high end is not very pronounced, making solos sound dull, and making playing riffs on the first three strings sound muted. I also made the boneheaded mistake of putting them on a floyd rose bridge meant for much lighter strings, so the string action on my guitar was very high with these strings. I would definitely put them on a different guitar with a fixed bridge though, as I do really like the grungey tone of the lower two strings, and they are smoother than standard strings so slides are much easier. Perhaps a hybrid setup would be optimal on something like a Les Paul. On any other 24 fret guitar though, I would stick with Ernie Ball Super Slinkies.
Customer
Reviewed in India on May 5, 2022
I’ve been a huge fan of elixir brand stings ever since I got my acoustic Taylor’s and then switched to elixirs on all my electrics. It’s been 3 weeks of using these flat wound strings and love it. The feel is easy, It’s become comfortable playing extended chords. And fingers crossed it lasts as long as my elixir’s and since their flat wound start sounding better & better as the months' pass.
Joel A.
Reviewed in Mexico on March 1, 2021
Me gustaron. Es mi primer set de flat wound. Si se sienten diferente, y están algo pesadas. Yo lo que hice fue un ajuste, combine algunas de estas cuerdas con las de otro set de rounds. La tercera la sustituí por una de otro set round wound de un calibre similar y use la tercera de este set como mi cuarta cuerda. Por lo que no use la E mas grande.Estoy contento con el resultado. Utiles y resistentes, buen sonido. Llevo ya casi un año tocando con estas y he podido sacar buenos sonidos. Lo único que comentaría es que es difícil sacar bends de tres semitonos. Recomiendo, recuerden reajustar sus guitarras (truss rod, acción, entonación). :)
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