Strange case of dead string

[WilliamG]

Over in the Cobra Pit, someone said we needed more "action" on the forum. This is pretty lame, but here goes:

I wanted to try DR Zebra strings on my Crowdster +2. About 5 months ago, I ordered two sets (one 12 and one 11) from an online string company. Zebra DRs are not common in local stores. I put the first set on, but two of the six strings were "dead." They instantly failed to ring out while the others seemed normal. When I pulled the first set off and installed the second set, I got the same thing -- only with different strings. I pulled them off and installed Elixirs. I emailed the online retailer and relayed my experience. Without prompting, they immediately put two sets of DR Zebras in the mail to me and apologized. Really good customer service.

Fast forward to today. I got around to trying the new sets of DR Zebras. The same thing. I put on the E then the A and the A was "dead." I went ahead and put on the D. It seemed fine. But I just stopped and took them off. This makes me think I am kind of nutty. I tried to make a video --

https://youtu.be/zti0WRdqB2g

Not sure exactly how to imbed the video so the link is above. If anyone takes the time to check it out, feel free to tell me I don't know what I am talking about. But that A string sounds "dead" to me.

[BFC]

That's weird. I can't say I've ever experienced that with any brand of strings.

[kevin h]

I tried a couple of sets of DR strings years ago and had the same experience. Each set had at least one string that was just plain dead. I never bought them again.

Since then I have read a couple of posts on another guitar forum where players mention the same issue.

[tom]

if someone wants their guitar setup for DR's, we always tell them to send at least 2 sets of strings. that's all i'll say about that.

[Pietro]

Zebras are horrible strings. They are NOT good for Crowdster at ALL. I had 3 sets given to me, tried one, threw the other two in the trash. no lie.

Not a DR fan much anyway, I've tried two or three sets and yuk, but those Zebras were a special kind of awful.