« Keep Them Fresh »

I have been using the Martin SP Lights on my guitar since I purchased it in 2002. I have a mid-level Martin Guitar, the DM. I am not a professional, expert guitarist. However, I have been playing for ~15 years. I do a lot of recording, and I try to be as intentional and detailed about the tone of my guitar as possible. I change the strings on my guitar once a month. I probably play the guitar 3-5 hours per week. For the longest time I was loyal to the SP lights. I could definitely tell a difference when I put a new set of strings on after a month. They always sounded cleaner and had longer resonance/sustain. I think this is mostly due to the build up of dirt and grime that can occur on guitar strings. More often than not, I clean the strings by wiping them down after I play. Nonetheless, I would change them whenever I was going to do a new recording.
Recently I tried out Elixir strings. After playing Martin SP's for so many years I was loyal to the SP's and have always thought that spending the extra money on strings wasn't worth it as long as I kept fresh strings on the guitar. I really like the sound of the Elixirs, and I thought they added a little something extra than my regular fresh set of SP's. I went to a local music store to pick up another set of Elixirs, but they only had Martin SP's in stock. I purchased the SP's and put them on the guitar. Honestly, I was a little disappointed with the SP's. I thought that the fresh set didn't sound as detailed and bright as the Elixirs. The tone on the SPs was definitely darker (which some people will probably like, if that is your style of music). But for me, I think in the future I am actually going to switch to the Elixirs.