Anyone bought strings off Ali Express?

All things guitar, Les Pauls, Strats, Teles, Tokai, Ibanez etc. etc. etc.

Moderators: Slowy, Capt. Black

User avatar
matman
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 1695
meble-kuchenne.warszawa.pl
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:01 am
Location: the Tron
Has liked: 289 times
Been liked: 49 times

Anyone bought strings off Ali Express?

Post by matman »

I was looking on Ali Express and they have (supposedly) Ernie Ball, Elixer, and D'Addario strings on there for about 4 bucks a set. I figured that it was worth a punt at that price even if they're fake since I just play at home (and strings are strings...unless they're not). I tried a few different sellers and brands just to see what's out there.
"The large print giveth and the small print taketh away" - Tom Waits

User avatar
Molly
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 24937
Joined: Sat Dec 21, 2013 12:17 pm
Has liked: 2482 times
Been liked: 2794 times

Re: Anyone bought strings off Ali Express?

Post by Molly »

I suspect they'll be shit knock-offs.

User avatar
MiniForklift
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 1823
Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:34 am
Location: Location Location
Been liked: 364 times

Re: Anyone bought strings off Ali Express?

Post by MiniForklift »

They’ll probably take a year to turn up
β€œπ‘πžπšπ₯𝐒𝐭𝐲 𝐒𝐬 𝐭𝐑𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐒𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐑𝐚𝐭 π₯𝐒𝐞𝐬 π›πžπ­π°πžπžπ§ 𝐝𝐒𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐒𝐧𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 πžπ±π©πžπœπ­πšπ­π’π¨π§β€

User avatar
Bg
Site Admin
Posts: 43187
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2003 12:13 am
Location: Auckland
Has liked: 2254 times
Been liked: 3873 times

Re: Anyone bought strings off Ali Express?

Post by Bg »

They’ll probably take a year to tune up
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.

User avatar
Zaulkin
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 5426
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 4:01 pm
Has liked: 737 times
Been liked: 511 times

Re: Anyone bought strings off Ali Express?

Post by Zaulkin »

I bought some cheap strings off there hoping they'd be okay for students/instruments at school.

They were terrible. I bought 10s and they were more like 8s or less.

They weren't marketed as Ernie Ball or anything though, just a random brand.

User avatar
Miza
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 2302
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:07 pm
Location: Hamilton
Has liked: 752 times
Been liked: 252 times

Re: Anyone bought strings off Ali Express?

Post by Miza »

I bought two sets of ernie ball slinky hybrids off Aliexpress. Yeah they take ages to arrive (usually within 3 months). So if you need them for a gig this weekend, might not be the best bet!

No reason to think they are fake tho. Id have to examine the pack next to another one to be sure.
Nothing to see here.

vintage52
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 1616
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2007 8:01 pm
Has liked: 363 times
Been liked: 128 times

Re: Anyone bought strings off Ali Express?

Post by vintage52 »

Bought some Fender ones off a dude on TM that he had bought from Ali Express.

Packaging was full of spelling errors and the ball ends were all one colour even though the packaging showed coloured ends.
Wellington

User avatar
Polar Bear
Burns BHM
Posts: 6303
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2003 12:53 am
Location: Wellington
Has liked: 340 times
Been liked: 342 times

Re: Anyone bought strings off Ali Express?

Post by Polar Bear »

The Elixirs that I've seen from Ali are 100% fake too.
Zephyr - Wellington's Leading Covers Band

http://zephyrband.co.nz/
https://www.facebook.com/ZephyrBandNZ

vinylguy
Fender
Fender
Posts: 512
Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2020 2:24 pm
Has liked: 8 times
Been liked: 52 times

Re: Anyone bought strings off Ali Express?

Post by vinylguy »

Seriously ? Why bother ? A set of strings is like what $10 to $15 and you can buy them in bulk off NZ sellers on TM and get them in 2 to 3 days time. Why would anybody in their right mind even consider risking getting fakes off Ali to save 5 or ten bucks ? Rant over. (sorry I work in retail and its been one of those days...)

User avatar
robthemac
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 8518
Joined: Sun Apr 28, 2019 3:47 pm
Has liked: 1102 times
Been liked: 1419 times

Re: Anyone bought strings off Ali Express?

Post by robthemac »

vinylguy wrote: ↑Wed Apr 13, 2022 7:22 pm Seriously ? Why bother ? A set of strings is like what $10 to $15 and you can buy them in bulk off NZ sellers on TM and get them in 2 to 3 days time. Why would anybody in their right mind even consider risking getting fakes off Ali to save 5 or ten bucks ? Rant over. (sorry I work in retail and its been one of those days...)
Yeah.... $80 for ten sets from my local is fine by me to be honest.
Jops wrote: ↑Sun Sep 18, 2022 7:46 am Spring is the comic sans of reverbs anyway.

User avatar
jeremyb
Chorus of Organs
Posts: 40879
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 9:03 am
Has liked: 7686 times
Been liked: 4157 times

Re: Anyone bought strings off Ali Express?

Post by jeremyb »

Its likely there will be some OEM leftovers on there so some legit ones... but apart from packaging fails how else would you tell? best to just buy local, if you don't play much its not like its an expensive thing to replace ;)
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

User avatar
Starfire
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 4404
Joined: Sat Jan 02, 2010 9:20 am
Location: Te Whanganui-a-Tara
Has liked: 243 times
Been liked: 596 times

Re: Anyone bought strings off Ali Express?

Post by Starfire »

Yeah, a 3-pack of Slinkys from Guitarstuff will do me. He's got some like $6 strings if you want to be cheap about it. Probably the same as the fake ones on Aliexpress anyway.

I've only got the one guitar, though. Beloved as it is, it'd be lucky to get a new set of strings once a year.

User avatar
matman
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 1695
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:01 am
Location: the Tron
Has liked: 289 times
Been liked: 49 times

Re: Anyone bought strings off Ali Express?

Post by matman »

Yeah I get the point about buying local. The main reason for giving the cheap route a crack was that one of my boys has been getting right into playing (which is awesome) but he seems to sweat battery acid and we've been going through strings like tinfoil at a vaccine protest (which is unawesome).
"The large print giveth and the small print taketh away" - Tom Waits

User avatar
jeremyb
Chorus of Organs
Posts: 40879
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 9:03 am
Has liked: 7686 times
Been liked: 4157 times

Re: Anyone bought strings off Ali Express?

Post by jeremyb »

matman wrote: ↑Wed Apr 13, 2022 9:00 pm Yeah I get the point about buying local. The main reason for giving the cheap route a crack was that one of my boys has been getting right into playing (which is awesome) but he seems to sweat battery acid and we've been going through strings like tinfoil at a vaccine protest (which is unawesome).
Coated strings like elixirs are the way to go, you could also try fast fret :)
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

User avatar
JoeBlow
Gibson
Posts: 804
Joined: Tue Sep 14, 2021 11:20 am
Has liked: 332 times
Been liked: 207 times

Re: Anyone bought strings off Ali Express?

Post by JoeBlow »

I like the longevity of elixirs, but they feel like they have more tension under the fingers - more resistance, like they're tuned a step up.

Post Reply