Thomastik-Infeld CRK125HT Hard Tension Classic Guitar Strings, Set

I bought a set of the hard tension to use on, of all things, an old Rawdon Hall student model I've had for ages. It plays so easily and is so well set up, I wanted to see what the hard tension would feel like. Bottom line - they are very easy to play and they made a guitar that is surprisingly well built (but with not great soundboard material) sound pretty great for what it is. I have been using the medium tension Thomastik CRKs on my main guitar. The nylons have a powerful, direct sound that is great for polyphonic music. It is harder to get the classic lyrical nylon sound out of these strings, but you can come close. It will take some time to readjust your stroke to achieve it, though. I take away a star because (a) the basses are not so great sounding and (b) the price is kind of ridiculous. I ditched the basses and put in Savarez basses - voilà! Definitely worth a try, although the price is really annoying.

This is by far my favorite set of strings I’ve tried so far. Basses are strong and tight and the trebles ring out clearly.

The reason I’m giving this set 4 stars is they are not vacuum-sealed, so I really only feel comfortable buying one set at a time. I was also hoping that the trebles would last long enough to use with two bass sets so that I could mix them with some D’addario Dynacores, but they wear easily against the frets and the nut and unfortunately popped before I was able to use them very much after putting the dynacores on.

If you’re willing to fork over the money and are fine with these not being vacuum-sealed, I highly recommend them. I will buy another set as soon as I use all of the half sets I have