I change often so I like them cheap. Used to buy in bulk from MF the rouge 11 15 18 26 36 50 by the dozen. Well they aren't carrying them anymore so I'm searching for a new option. Might even go down to 10's as I'm nearly 63 years old, simply to preclude doing any damage to myself.  Any thoughts of sources for bulk strings would be useful.

fireberd
Other brands I have to do a lot of retuning of the changes and even one brand that will remain unnamed was like rubber bands and I could not get it to tune or "stay in tune". 

I’ve also had problems intonating one brand, and the “reduced/equal tension” sets as well. For whatever reason there often just isn’t enough saddle travel in a Gibson bridge to get the intonation spot on. Or what passes for “spot on” on a guitar.

I generally go with the “the guitar decides the gauges” principle - which for me seems to mean 10-46 on Fenders and 9-46 on Gibsons. The shorted Gibson scale length implies a heavier string being a good idea to match the tension on the Fenders, but for whatever reason I much prefer 9-46. As did Les Paul.

As for makes, Fender pure nickel wrap are both good and the cheapest pure nickel wrap out there. I used Gibson strings for years on my Gibsons, but since Gibson dropped Brite Wires I’ve switched to Ernie Ball.

For slide in E and D it’s pretty much whatever I can get in 13-50something.

I know some have had good luck with www.juststrings.com bulk strings.
 
 

Every year or so  I replace the strings on my guitars.  Whether they need it or not.

tom1
Every year or so  I replace the strings on my guitars.  Whether they need it or not.

Bass strings will last three years.
 
If you let them.

Man would I love to get my hands on a pedal steel. I've never played one but I LOVE the sound.
 
I'm also certain I could make horrifyingly unnatural noises with one.
 
Difficulty: I suck with a slide but I don't think I've had a proper instrument to really go anywhere with it. The stationary/face up orientation of the PS seems like the ultimate slide guit config. The bendy pedal stuff just makes it exponentially cooler.

I like 011 strings, but they are a bit too tight for me.
And very important for me is that strings do not break, so I use Ernie Ball Paradigm 010.
 
In one my bands the singer now asks if we can tune down to Eb. His voice is aging.
Tuned in Eb I will go back to 011

I recently tried some "String Joy" strings for my ancient Gibson acoustic and they are very nice. Too much packaging but you have to get something extra with a $15 pack of strings. There's the box, paper wrap,  a plastic package with 6 other packages inside of it and a thank you card. They run the company out of Nashville. My 1930 Gibson is very delicate so I need uber light strings and String Joy makes a few options that work well.

bapu

tom1
Every year or so  I replace the strings on my guitars.  Whether they need it or not.

Bass strings will last three years.
 
If you let them.

Carol Kaye claims to have never changed the strings on her basses. She just traded in the bass she had against a new one every couple of years when the old one had been played enough to need fret-work doing. The idea being to never have to turn down work because her bass was at the luthiers.
 
I used to change round wound bass strings once they tarnished or felt rough, otherwise they tend to file grooves in the frets and fingerboard. Then I switched to flat wound for more low-end thump and less twang- they seem to last for ever.

Acoustic: Gibson Ultra Lights (.11-.52)
Electric: Fender Nickelplated Steel Super 250s (.11-.49)
 
Would experiment with others but $$ prevent me from potentially wasting them.