D’Addario NYXL1164 Review – Great Sound & Feel but Tad Overpriced!

Hello there, and welcome back to yet another guitar string review article. This time we will check out the D’Addario NYXL1164 guitar strings for 7-string guitars.
As you may know, I’m a big fan of trying as many guitar strings as possible so I can deliver a fact and experience-based opinion to my visitors.

Although this is pretty costly, I can’t resist experiencing all these guitar strings and sharing my opinions with you.

When I got my Schecter Hellraiser Hybrid PT-7, I also ordered some extra set of strings to try as I was a complete stranger to 7 string guitars. So back in the day, I had the chance to try and test D’Addario NYXL 09564SB which was a 9.5 to 64 gauge. However, I wasn’t able to test it thoroughly as I broke the high E string in a couple of weeks.

Although I really love how it sounded and played, I was still questioning if I should go for a heavier set overall as my guitar has a longer scale length than standard guitars.

While ordering my gear and accessories from Thomann, I also bought many guitar strings to try (including 11-64 gauge!). I received my order containing D’Addario NYXL 1164 strings in the summer of 2023 and finally restrung my Schecter Hellraiser Hybrid PT-7 and created this piece of content for you!

TL;DR

I think D’Addario NYXL 1164 is pretty good choice for your 7 string guitars. Especially, if you are into lower tunings such as Bb standard.

The problem with NYXL series strings is that I believe they are a bit overpriced. It may due to the brand is an American one but I’m a consumer based in the EU.

But still, I find their pricing a bit over the top. For the same price, you can easily get Elixir 7 string guitar strings set and you can use them for a lot longer. However, Elixir 7 strings usually do not offer a lot of options when it comes to the different string gauge combination. For instance, there’s no 11-64 gauge in Elixir catalogue.

Having said that, D’Addario NYXL 1164 is a very popular guitar string set that has received 4.8/5 out of 195 user reviews and ranked in 3rd position among hundreds of competitor models and brands in the 7 string guitar string category.

cigilovic.com still recommends D’Addario NYXL 1164 for guitar players who don’t prefer coated strings. Mind you, this NYXL series is not a coated string series so expect it to change colours pretty quickly.

About D’Addario

D’Addario is one of the most respected and well-known companies that manufactures musical instrument strings and accessories based in the USA.

Believe it or not, D’Addario’s story dates back to the 17th century! D’Addario family began manufacturing strings for musical instruments in Salle, Italy and this tradition of musical instrument string-making was passed down to upcoming generations.

In the early 20th century, the family immigrated to the USA and also brought their centuries-old tradition with them. In 1973, D’Addario & Company, Inc. was officially founded in Farmingdale, New York.

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With Jim D’Addario‘s leadership, the company expanded its product catalogue and pioneered many manufacturing techniques by quickly adopting the current technologies. During this era, the company introduced legendary classical guitar strings, Pro-Arte and electric guitar strings, and XL which became quickly the industry standard in the MI industry.

D’Addario company has been steadily growing since the 1990s and until to this day, they have expanded the company presence around the globe and established manufacturing and distribution networks around the world. D’Addario also acquired multiple well-known brands such as Planet Waves, and Evans (drum heads) and positioned themselves as a leader in the MI industry.

D’Addario NYXL1164

D’Addario NYXL1164 features a nickel-plated steel wrap wire and claims to be a premium uncoated electric string. This series offers a higher break strength, enhanced tuning stability and accentuated mid-range response.

According to D’Addario, the enhanced mid-range response is in the 1 to 3.5kHz range and it claims to offer more presence and crunchiness to your guitar tone, thus resulting in a guitar tone that cuts through the mix easily.

The company also uses Fusion Twist technology and claims that the tuning stability of NYXL series strings is 131& better than standard strings. The NY steel core wire that is used in the entire NYXL series also offers up to 40% stronger strings which promotes easier and safer string bending.

As with all D’Addario strings, the packaging is pretty good and on the back of the package, you have an overview of the string gauge, colour codes and tension which come in both measurement units (inch vs mm, lbs vs kg).

D’Addario NYXL1164 features the following gauges for the set 11 – 14 – 18 – 28 – 38 – 49 – 64.

As I mentioned, one of the coolest things about D’Addario strings is that they also come with standardised colour codes for each string. So when you buy any D’Addario strings, you will always easily identify which is which! 🙂

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Inside the package, you will find a sealed plastic pack which is another great feature from this lovely company. The package is inhibited from oxygen so when you receive your guitar strings, you will always have the factory-fresh strings.

This way the company can ensure that there will be corrosion issues when a customer opens up a new pack! I think this is a must-have feature for every guitar string manufacturer. However, there’s no guarantee that other guitar string manufacturers will also implement this.

D’Addario also has a pretty cool approach to marketing and their strings always come with Player’s Circle Code inside the packages. You need to simply open an account on the D’Addario website and enter these codes to earn points. This way, you can build up a lot of player points and you can use them on their shop (only available for purchases on their official website).

D’Addario NYXL1164 Review

As I mentioned, I got these strings because I already had a pretty good experience with D’Addario NYXL 09564SB. However, I was able to break the high E string in a couple of weeks so I couldn’t really come up with a brief test video and an article.

In the meantime, I stocked up a lot of Elixir 7 strings but have never used them on my Schecter. I was instead using Pyramid 7 String guitar strings as they were very affordable and offered a huge value/money.

Since the Pyramid 7-string set featured 10-56 gauge and felt really easy to play, I did not hesitate much to try D’Addario NYXL 1164 on my 7-string guitar.

After going through an in-depth cleaning and maintenance session on my lovely Schecter Hellraiser Hybrid PT-7, I finally decided to give it a go and restrung my guitar with NYXL 1164 set.

I believe I was thinking of going for lower tunings with this set and just trying how my guitar would react. Because, when I tried to lower the tuning with a more standard 7-string set, I always had tension issues with lower strings.

Also, even on standard tuning, the low E doesn’t feel like on a standard scale guitar. Having said that, when I tried going down a whole step with these strings, I pretty much had the same result.

I tried to get used to it for a couple of days but did not work out for me. So I retuned my guitar back to Bb standard tuning. I think this set feels amazingly good for Bb standard tuning on a 7-string guitar.

Mind you, when you go for bigger gauges, especially on the thick bottom strings, it gradually becomes more difficult to play. Of course, this is my opinion and how I perceive the sensation of playing a 7-string guitar.

However, I think unless you are into extreme genres that require very low tunings, you should stop there and just question if you are to play a bass guitar or an electric guitar :). But it is still a lot of fun to play these thicker gauged strings on a 7-string with lots of distortion!

As I mentioned in the beginning, I find the NYXL series is a bit overpriced. They are basically trying to sell you pretty good but uncoated strings for more money than an industry-standard coated string would cost.

When I tried D’Addario NYXL 09564SB back in the day, I felt the same, maybe even worse because it was even more expensive. Currently, 1164 is priced at €16.90 whereas 09564SB is €18.90.

So to be brutally honest with you, I would probably not buy this again unless I have to and possibly never stock them in bulk.

To show you how these strings sound fresh out of the box, I recorded this video below. Excuse my random playing, things I play are usually not the most interesting and not much planned in this video :).

I used my Schecter Hellraiser Hybrid PT-7 along with Marshall JVM401H, Two Notes Torpedo Captor X SE and Boss SD-1 (as a clean boost). The only post-effect added is the Waves Reverb.

D’Addario NYXL1164 Sound Demo & Test (no talking)

Verdict

I think D’Addario NYXL 1164 is a pretty good choice for your 7-string guitars. Especially, if you are into lower tunings such as Bb standard. In my opinion, they sound and feel pretty good and this is probably why people love these strings so much!

D’Addario NYXL 1164 has managed to become a very popular guitar string set that has received 4.8/5 out of 195 user reviews and ranked in 3rd position among hundreds of competitor models and brands in the 7-string guitar string category.

The problem with NYXL series strings is that I believe they are a bit overpriced. It may be due to the brand being an American one but I’m a consumer based in the EU.

But still, I find their pricing a bit over the top. For the same price, you can easily get Elixir 7 string guitar strings set and you can use them for a lot longer. However, Elixir 7 strings usually do not offer a lot of options when it comes to the different string gauge combinations. For instance, there’s no 11-64 gauge in the Elixir catalogue.

This definitely gives the D’Addario NYXL series an edge over the competitors. I still recommend D’Addario NYXL 1164 for guitar players who don’t prefer coated strings. Mind you, this NYXL series is not a coated string series so expect it to change colours pretty quickly.

But personally, I wouldn’t stock these strings and probably stick to Elixir 7 strings as I’m not a big fan of extremely low tunings of extended-scale guitars.

Thanks for visiting my blog and supporting me so far! I will hopefully see you in the next review here!

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