Knobloch Actives CX Carbon Pure Sterling Silver MHT 400SSC, Full Set

Really expensive but excellent strings for recording or important performances. Overtones, sustain and excellent intonation. They also last longer than a regular set but not as 3 times as they price might suggest. I will buy them again for key dates and recordings.

My friend, a professional classical guitarist, told me about these strings many times, and I had a couple of opportunities to try them on her guitars. I loved the sound, the projection, and the feel - not too hard, not too soft, not too thin and not too polished - just right in every way. However, I objected to the price and couldn't justify buying a set. So she gave me one for my birthday! - over two years ago - and I had them on my Christopher Carrington custom until tonight! They lasted five times longer than any of my other strings - and I have tried many, from all the best brands. Tonight, I put another set on my best guitar, and no longer consider them too expensive. The silvery tone, the longevity, the staying in tune - in a league of their own.

Firstly, the carbon trebles are brilliant, I didn't like carbon strings before I tried Knobloch. But these basses left me a little underwhelmed. Sure they sound great and feel very nice, but its the durability that is lacking. And for the price I would hope they'd last a while longer.

After just 5 weeks of near daily playing, there are already several splits over frets on the 4th and 5th strings. This was a bit shocking, I rarely get splits in the windings with other strings, including the regular Actives. And the tone has dulled, which seems typical of all strings but I was expecting a bit more longevity.

So, lacking any extra longevity in tone, and being LESS durable than their regular Actives basses, I am not sure there is any point in buying these other than to impress people with how much money you have to burn. But don't take my word for it, try them out yourself! Your mileage may vary

I've waited for the strings to run their course before reviewing as I wanted to see how long they would last. Most strings for me last about six weeks and the basses were on for seven, the trebles for five or six weeks. Instead of a day or so to break in the bass strings, these took about a week! The sound of the bass strings are like changing to new strings, but more prolonged and the tone to my ears is bright and deep, with less mid range, but good punch in the deep bass. This is for flamenco, so I immediately noticed that rasquedo's were easier and faster to do, perhaps because of the polish or smoothness of the string. The overall tone is also a little louder and I love the sound. The trebles, I had tried before (and liked) and with the silver basses, really sounded great together. The only weakness is the price, but here's my logic: people spend thousands of dollars to get a guitar that sounds great, but then put cheap strings on it. Some may not hear a difference, but if you do, then I highly recommend trying these out. The danger being that if you hate them, you will have wasted your money, and if you love them, you may not want to be without them! I will be purchasing another set soon!

I love these strings. I actually purchased them for a cheap flamenco guitar. The guitar needed to have a louder voice and yet be ever so warm and soft when I change over from playing flamenco music to modern or classical music. These strings are "Perfect". They can be loud with an extended voice or soft and warm.