Elixir Strings was born in 1995. Although we were working with guitar strings already, they weren’t anywhere near a guitar. Instead, we were using them as convenient test subjects in our attempt to develop a better variety of push-pull cable. As part of this work, our research team was coating the strings with polytetrafluoroethylene, which you can just call PTFE in order to save some breath for your next show. The coated strings worked quite well as cables, but they sounded terrible as guitar strings. (Picture a guitar strung with day-old spaghetti.) Still, the mere idea got a couple of guitarists among us thinking… What if we could alter the coating and tinker with the process so the strings sounded great? Could we make a coated string that actually got called back for an encore?

It’s always been more than just putting the parts together. It’s coming up with ideas, testing principles and designing a masterpiece. For us, that has meant over 30 years of innovation, starting with the unmistakable shape of our offset soundhole. We agonized over the challenges of inventing a bracing system that goes beyond structure to actually deliver vibration. And we created a cantilevered neck that is unwavering and stable. Most of all, we listened to the musicians. A great song stands the test of time. A great guitar does the same.