The Best and Most Popular Acoustic Guitar Strings

When I think of guitar strings, two brand names come to mind – D’Addario and Elixir. I’ve used both on my guitar. (I prefer the D’Addario, but don’t let that sway you.) But there are (at least) two other good, popular brands to consider – Ernie Ball and Martin – when it comes to acoustic guitar strings.

This article is more of a compilation than a review of these guitar strings – both 6-string and 12-string guitar strings. You know what you want, right? Then again, maybe you didn’t know all the options available to you. In any case, what follows is a listing of all the more popular brands and styles of guitar strings in one place so you can pick and choose to your heart’s content.

Note that the amount (1-pack, 3-pack, etc.) that you can purchase for a given set of strings may vary from time to time, depending on stocks at Amazon.

For electric guitar strings, see this article.

D’Addario Bronze Acoustic Guitar Strings

Click the link just below to get any of the following sets of strings at Amazon. (They’re all found on the same sales page.)

In each set, the top two strings are made of plain steel, while the bottom four are nickel wound for the EJ10, EJ11, and EJ12, or bronze wound for the EJ13 and EJ14.

Use the table below to compare each set of 6-string guitar strings.

Stock #	EJ10	EJ11	EJ12	EJ13	EJ14
Weight	Extra light	Light	Medium	Custom Light	Bluegrass
Packs	1, 3	1, 3	1, 3	1, 3	1
High E	.010	.012	.012	.011	.012
B	.014	.016	.017	.015	.016
G	.023	.024	.026	.022	.025
D	.030	.032	.035	.032	.035
A	.039	.042	.045	.042	.045
Low E	.047	.053	.056	.052	.056

You can also find one style of 12-string guitar strings on the page at the link above. The “p” stands for “plain (steel)”, and the “w” stands for “(bronze) wound”.

EJ36 – Light, available in a 1-pack

Plain Steel .010/.010, .014/.014
Bronze Wound .023/.008(p), .030/.012(p), .039/.018(p), .047/.027(w)

D’Addario Phosphor Bronze Acoustic Guitar Strings

Click the link just below to get any of the following sets of strings at Amazon. (They’re all found on the same sales page.)

In each set, the top two strings are made of plain steel, while the bottom four are phosphor bronze wound. The same is true for each pair of strings (except as indicated) for the 12-string guitar strings.

Use the tables below to compare the sets of 6-string guitar strings.

Stock #	EJ15	EJ16	EJ17	EJ18
Weight	Extra Light	Light	Medium	Heavy
Packs	1, 3	1, 3, 10, 25	1, 3, 10, 25	1
High E	.010	.012	.013	.027
B	.014	.016	.017	.039
G	.023	.024	.026	.027
D	.030	.032	.035	.039
A	.039	.042	.045	.049
Low E	.047	.053	.056	.059

Stock #	EJ19	EJ24	EJ26	EJ42
Weight	Bluegrass	True Medium	Custom Light	Resophonic
Packs	1	1	1, 3, 10, 25	1
High E	.012	.013	.011	.016
B	.016	.017	.015	.018
G	.025	.024	.022	.028
D	.035	.032	.032	.035
A	.045	.042	.042	.045
Low E	.056	.056	.052	.056

Since this style has several options 12-string guitar strings, I’ll give you a comparison table for them too. The “p” stands for “plain (steel)”, and the “w” stands for “(phosphor bronze) wound”.

Stock #	EJ37	EJ38	EJ39	EJ41
Weight	Med. top, Heavy bottom	Light	Medium	Extra light
Packs	1	1	1	1
High E	.012/.012	.010/.010	.012/.012	.009/.009
B	.016/.016	.014/.014	.016/.016	.013/.013
G	.025/.010(p)	.023/.008(p)	.025/.010(p)	.021/.008(p)
D	.032/.015(p)	.030/.012(p)	.032/.014(p)	.029/.011(p)
A	.042/ .022(w)	.039/.018(p)	.042/.020(p)	.036/.016(p)
Low E	.054/ .030(w)	.047/ .027(w)	.052/ .030(w)	.045/ .026(w)

D’Addario Pro-Arte Nylon Classical Guitar Strings

Click the link just below to get any of the following sets of strings at Amazon. (They’re all found on the same sales page.)

The bass strings have a nylon core with a silver-plated copper winding.

Use the table below to compare each set of strings.

Stock #	EJ43	EJ44	EJ45	EJ46
Tension	Light	Extra hard	Normal	Hard
Packs	1, 3	1	1, 3	1, 3
High E	.0275	.0290	.0280	.0285
B	.0317	.0333	.0322	.0327
G	.0397	.0416	.0403	.0410
D	.028	.030	.029	.030
A	.033	.036	.035	.036
Low E	.042	.045	.043	.044

Elixir Phosphor Bronze Guitar Strings with NANOWEB Coating

Click the link just below to get any of the following sets of strings at Amazon. (They’re all found on the same sales page.)

Even though it’s a coating, the NANOWEB coating is supposed to give you an “uncoated” feel.

Use the table below to compare each set of strings.

Stock #	16002	16027	16052	16182	16102
Weight	Extra light	Custom light	Light	HD light*	Medium
Packs	1	1	1, 3	1	1
High E	.010	.011	.012	.013	.013
B	.014	.015	.016	.017	.017
G	.023	.022	.024	.025	.026
D	.030	.032	.032	.032	.035
A	.039	.042	.042	.042	.045
Low E	.047	.052	.053	.053	.056

*Especially for Taylor guitars.

Here you can also get Elixir 12-string guitar strings (16152) in these gauges.

.010/.010 .014/.014 .023/.009 .030/.012 .039/.018 .047/.027

Martin Authentic Acoustic Guitar Strings

Click the link just below to get any of the following sets of strings at Amazon. (They’re all found on the same sales page.)

Use the table below to compare each set of 6-string guitar strings.

Stock #	MA130	MA140	MA150	MA170
Weight	Custom Silk and HT Steel	Light HT Bronze	Medium HT Bronze	Extra light
Packs	1	1, 3	1, 3	1, 3
Low E	.0115	.012	.013	.010
High E	.047	.054	.056	.047

Also available on the same sales page…

Custom Light HT Bronze (MA175) in a 1-pack or 3-pack gauged from .011 for the high E string to a .052 for the low E.

Bluegrass HT Bronze (MA240) in a 1-pack gauged from .012 for the high E string to a .056 for the low E.

12-string options include 1-packs of…

Extra light HT Bronze (MA180) gauged from .010 on both high E strings to a .047 and .027 on the low end.

Light HT Bronze (MA190) gauged from .012 on both high E strings to a .054 and .030 on the low end.

Ernie Ball Earthwood Phosphor Bronze Guitar Strings

Click the link just below to get any of the following sets of strings at Amazon. (They’re all found on the same sales page.)

Use the table below to compare each set of 6-string guitar strings.

Stock #	2144	2146	2148	2150	2151
Weight	Medium	Medium light	Light	Extra light	Rock & Blues
Packs	1	1, 3	1, 3	1	1, 3
High E	.013	.012	.011	.012	.010
B	.017	.016	.015	.014	.013
G	.026	.024	.022	.020	.017
D	.034	.032	.030	.028	.030
A	.046	.044	.042	.040	.042
Low E	.056	.054	.052	.050	.052

Finally, you can get this 1-pack of Light (2153) 12-string guitar strings here too gauged as follows:

.009/.009, .012/.012, .020(w)/.009, .026/.012, .036/.020(p), .046/.026