👕 Get New Ernie Ball Merch Now!
  • Ernie Ball
  • Music Man
  • Sterling by Music Man
Majesty Premium Select

Brand new package, rusty strings

A

acsalmeida

New member
Joined
Dec 21, 2014
Messages
2
Dear friends from Ernie Ball. I opened a new packaging and the strings are completely rusted. The package was sealed, but the strings are rusty. I've never seen it before. The package expires? I am sending some pictures:

Rusty_ernieball.jpg
 
we test strings under pressure submerged in water 12 times a day to insure a perfect factory fresh seal.... This is the first set Ive seenin poobably 7,000,000 sory contact customer service and we will make it right
 
Ive never had a bad ernie ball string let alone a rusty set. I wonder if the packet had somehow become penetrated by something causing moisture ingress
 
I bought 8 packets of Ernie Ball Super slinky strings which I kept on a shelf next to an opened packet that I had used just one string from to replace a broken one. The first new packet I opened, the three thinnest strings had short (10mm) rusted sections all the way down them. In my opinion they must have been that way when they left the factory because the opened set have been there open for 12 months, and they are not rusted at all, I checked.
I've since opened a second packet of the eight, and it is the same as the first, short (10mm) rust marks on the e,b and g strings. I am using them as it seems a shame to waste them, but until I am convinced that this is not normal for Ernie Ball strings now I have changed to D'Adario. Too expensive to have them rusted straight out of a sealed packet. It's a shame, as I've always liked Ernie Ball strings and have been buying them for the last 17 years.
 
Aha, having done a quick google search, it would appear that rusty strings out of a new packet has been a well reported issue. What isnt yet clear to me is whether this is an issue that has been resolved, or whether it is still a problem. I guess it is possible that the 8 packs I bought were produced at the time of a problem with the product and the shop was selling old stock. It would be nice to know if there is any way of knowing which packets to avoid buying :)
 
I have a set of M-Steel 10-46 right now and the (high) E & B strings have little sections on each of them that have discoloration...almost black looking...small, like 1/8" long but here & there all the way down the length of the strings. I bought two packs of them, haven't opened the second pack yet so don't know if those are good or not.

I was waiting to see if I got chosen to receive a pack of the new Paradigms before I decide if I am going to go back to the NYXL strings, which to this point are my favorite strings. I was thinking that maybe the Paradigms I'd like as much as the NYXL's but it seems like the Paradigms are going to cost more than NYXL's, so I may just switch back to them.
 
beej said:
Please contact the customer service folks. They can help you out.
Click to expand...

Well I did that: A few times.

The first time, due to an unwound string with sharp corners, got no reply.

The second time, due to the Black Spots problem, restating the unburnished string from the first time, I got two packs of strings through the post (I gave my address) - And no reply.

And the Third time, early on Tuesday 21/03/2017, due to a discoloured, dark pitted, odd sounding and brittle G string, asking for a reply with an email address so I can send photos, I got... You guessed it - NO REPLY! [Edit] Photo added to this post.

That is Three Consecutive duff sets of Super Slinkys, bought in different places, at different times, after 40 years of never having had a bad string from Ernie Ball. Which was just as well, seeing as your Customer Service dept seems to be asleep or dead, along with Quality Control. :-I

I can see it even in this picture!
IMG_20170321_001015.jpg

For those who can't:
IMG_20170321_001057.jpg
 
Last edited:
This is getting /quite/ annoying, and another "Factory Fresh" set of strings -the Fourth (4th!!!) consecutive set of Super Stinkys is rotten. Purchased from one of Cardiff's oldest and most respectable music shops, these little beauties have badly rusted (photos to come as part of this post, if I can make it work) .009, .011 and 0.16 strings. I really can't be bothered looking at the rest as I'm not going to use them.

Just to be clear. 4 CONSECUTIVE Packs of Super Stinkys, bad, NOT A SINGLE GOOD PACK amongst them. Not even the possibility of making up a good pack from the last 3 packs, as all of the the G strings are bad. (it may have been the G that was a sharp sided somethingagon rather than a solid cylinder, on the firs bad pack. I can't remember. I don't care about that any more.

Want them back for Quality Management? No good to me, just another waste of time (which is money!) and money (which is time, by the way!) and another disappointed rocker, whos SG is stuck here with no strings. He's had a really long wait, while I de-potted the pickups and rebuilt them, precision levelled and polished the frets to get the"Rizla" action he wants, and he is gonna be /SO/ mad, as he wanted to take it away this weekend. Oh I could try opening another pack (the one you sent me a few weeks ago, and probably the last pack I will ever see, the way things are going)..

Aaaand I don't have permission to upload images to your server!.. Yeh, that's competent. :-/

Just pretend you are looking at 3 pics each of a rotten string in a stained pack.

[Edited mins later]
E1
IMG_20170324_103606.jpg

B2
IMG_20170324_103621.jpg

G3
IMG_20170324_103643.jpg



Yours somethingly,

Disappointed of Cardiff, Wales.
 
Last edited:
Folks, let's quickly review the options...

1) Go back to your store. You have a warranty and your proof of purchase. In Europe (and the UK, at least for the next two years) your contract is with the store. If you have a problem, they have to fix it at no cost to you.

2) If your store won't or can't help you, contact your regional/national distributor. In the US that is EB directly. In the UK, that is Strings & Things.

3) If the above don't work, contact the EB directly. And while most people are very happy with EB's customer service (the guitar and bass forums are full of people praising them) clearly that doesn't always work (and no company ever exscapes these issues completely, alas). Just keep trying. Remember you can also call them directly too. See links in my signature below.
 
Last edited:
Guitarzen said:
Aaaand I don't have permission to upload images to your server!.. Yeh, that's competent. :-/
Click to expand...

Actually it is. It's an important anti-spam measure. We'd be flooded without it. New users with less than five posts posting links or photos do not have automatic permission. A little inconvenient at times but sadly necessary.
 
DrKev said:
Actually it is. It's an important anti-spam measure. We'd be flooded without it. New users with less than five posts posting links or photos do not have automatic permission. A little inconvenient at times but sadly necessary.
Click to expand...

Oh, well that's not working then. It was simply that, as I went off and found/imported the right photos, and thought about what I was posting, and why, the server timed out the session. Probably as a "security measure" or somesuch.>
~
 
"Customer service" eh?

For some of us, it simply isn't convenient to run back and forth the music store every time (FOUR Consecutive Sets, is what I said) we get a duff string, and argue with the guy in the store, who's also fed up of it, and then get back, put the string on, and find the tone doesn't match in with the rest of the set. It's the 21st century, and the interwebz wasn't made just for kittens and porn.

That would have been FOUR DAYS OF MY LIFE WASTED, not to mention more G.A.S.

The bigger picture is, that the company that's been making the strings I've been mostly-using since 1976 seems to have suddenly lost the ability to put strings that are quality-managed non-rotten into the "Element Shield" package in the dry deser air of Coachella, and, even more pertinently also seems unable to make a simple email reply to the quiet nudges (as I have stated I have already contacted them 3 times, i.e. until I'm blue in the face, and it's a one-way conversation) of a /concerned customer/ who wanted to help the company fix the companies problems, that I have been sending, before /having to/ resort to the forums.

Keep it up, I don't think EB are going to be seeing much more praise the way this fiasco is going. :-I

... or many more paychecks!
 
Last edited:
I live in the U.K and I've had excellent customer service from Ernie ball regarding any problems I've had.
Those strings to me look like they've been exposed to moisture or haven't been kept in very good conditions. I use cobalt hybrids and they are superb strings. Apart from an e string coming unwound on installation (which was replaced by EBMM) I've had no issues.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
steevo said:
I live in the U.K and I've had excellent customer service from Ernie ball regarding any problems I've had.
Those strings to me look like they've been exposed to moisture or haven't been kept in very good conditions. I use cobalt hybrids and they are superb strings. Apart from an e string coming unwound on installation (which was replaced by EBMM) I've had no issues.
Click to expand...

Lucky you. Oh I had 41 yearsof ot having any problem big enough to even mention. Then 4 bad sets - all in sealed packs, none terribly old, and one pack purchased days before. It's quite a mystery. As the packs are sealed, top of the list are bad manufacture or counterfeiting.

The manufacturer seems complacent, unconcerned even, which is what is troubling me.

Stocking from other manufacturers today, and from different stores. It feels a little odd after 40 odd years, to be putting other brands on my own guitars, but I have no option. :-(
 
I've had no problems getting my factory rusty strings exchanged either. I have, however, better things to do. That's why I've started using a different brand until I'm convinced that whatever issue exists in the manufacturing or packaging process has been rectified.
 
Further to this, I'm pleased to say that EB have gotten in touch this morning, and I'm cautiously hoping that, as they probably want to stay in business, they will quickly get to the cause the problem and resolve it. :-)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Flex Capo
Back
Top