The Best I Ever Had
Review by Ted on 12 Jan 2023 review stating The Best I Ever Had Strings are difficult to review because each person and each guitar is different. Even two guitars of the same model can sound and feel very different. A few years ago, I purchased a Kenny Hill Player series guitar, which is the best guitar I've ever owned. However, I still wasn't entirely satisfied and was seriously considering going all-in on a handmade instrument. I had gone through the popular string brands and tried different tensions and it always ended up being a case of choosing the strings I dislike the least. Then I came across a video by Gohar Vardanyan, in which she praised RC Recital strings. Now, I've been playing for more than a couple of decades and I'm not such a fanboy that I think that something is good just because a celebrity says so. In fact, I'm more likely to avoid products that are considered to be mainstream or are promoted by sponsored artists/celebrities. But I'd never tried RCs, and I thought it may be worth exploring outside of the mainstream, and I'm really glad that I did. It will sound like an exaggeration, but these strings made my mid-to-high level factory guitar sound much closer to a concert guitar. For the first time in my life, I experienced true balance of tone and volume across all of the strings. For the first time, the G string didn't sound dull, and we all know how bad a G string can be. For the first time, playing ponticello gave me a bright, snappy tone like I've only heard from my favorite professional guitarists. When deciding between normal and high tension strings, there was always a trade-off; Some feel better to play, some are louder, some allow more warmth, some are brighter etc.. And I could never say that I had a solid preference when it came to string tension. RC Recitals gave me the best of both worlds without any of the caveats, effectively solving every problem I ever had (string-related problems, of course) and gave me things I didn't know were possible from a sub-$2,000 guitar. For the first time, I was completely satisfied and I abandoned my search for a new, handmade instrument. Of course, I can't say whether anyone else will have the same experience as me, even if you own the same model of guitar that I do. In fact, this is the second guitar of this model that I owned; I returned the first on a warranty claim, and that first one was a pretty poor specimen compared to the one I received in exchange. Maybe I have the best one ever made. Who knows? I see so many positive comments for D'Addario strings (which I often refer to as D'ulldario) and, I have to say, I think they are absolutely awful. But maybe they simply don't suit my guitars. So all I can realistically do is speak of my own experience and say that I am incredibly happy with RC Recitals, and if you have not yet found the strings that are perfect for you, I recommend giving these a try. If they don't work out for you, then the $12 you paid bought you some valuable information. If they do work for you, then that $12 may end the eternal and agonizing search for the perfect strings, which you may not yet believe exists. Thank you, Gohar, for the recommendation, and thank you, SBM, for stocking these strings and just being generally awesome.
On RC Strings RL50 Recital MT Classical Guitar Strings, Full Set