What strings does Billy Strings use? The coated medium set behind the flatpicking

Billy Strings announced his most personal record this morning. So Much For Goodbyes, his fifth studio album of original songs, arrives August 28 on Reprise Records, co-produced with T Bone Burnett and shaped by the loss of his mother, whose artwork became the cover (Live For Live Music). It lands him back on stage within days, his first full shows since a broken leg in April. Every one of those shows will run on the same string, so here is the answer to the question a flatpicker in the crowd always asks.

The string is documented, and it is no mystery. D'Addario lists Billy Strings on its own artist page with his exact set: XS Phosphor Bronze, medium gauge, .013 to .056 (D'Addario). His own words are printed right next to it: "Gotta have that medium gauge, gotta have that coated, because we sweat like crazy. And they don't break." That is the whole buying answer in one sentence, and it happens to double as a lesson in why bluegrass strings are the way they are.

The honest caveat comes first, ahead of any link, because it matters more than the set. Billy's sound is his flatpicking. The right-hand speed, the pick control, the timing built over a life on the instrument, that is where the tone lives. The string is the documented hardware, not a shortcut to the lead. Buy it because it is a genuinely good bluegrass set, not because it will hand you his cross-picking.

Start with the gauge, because it is the choice that matters most. A .013 to .056 medium set is heavy for an acoustic, one full step up from the .012 to .053 light gauge most flat-tops leave the factory wearing. Bluegrass flatpickers choose medium on purpose, and the reason is physical: a heavier string swings more mass, so under a hard pick attack it drives more volume, more low-end punch, and more projection out of a dreadnought. In a genre built on acoustic instruments fighting for space in a jam with no amplifier, that extra output is the difference between leading a break and disappearing under the banjo.

Billy plays about as hard as a flatpicker can, so the medium set is doing real work for him. The trade is tension. Mediums pull harder on the neck and take more finger strength to fret and bend, which is why they are not the right first set for a beginner. If a full medium fights your hands, a light-medium or a plain light set keeps some of the punch with less strain. Our guide to acoustic string gauges by body shape matches the gauge to your guitar, and it is worth reading before you jump to mediums just because your hero plays them.

The second half of Billy's spec is the part beginners skip and pros swear by: the set is coated. D'Addario XS is the company's treated acoustic string, sealed against the sweat, oil, and grime that kill an uncoated set. Billy's reason is not tone, it is survival. He sweats hard, he plays hard, and he has talked about burning through strings and snapping G strings before he settled on a coated D'Addario that holds up night after night (Premier Guitar).

For a touring flatpicker this is not a small detail. An uncoated phosphor bronze set can go dull in a single sweaty show; a coated set keeps its brightness for weeks. You pay more per pack, but you change strings far less often, and the tone stays consistent from soundcheck to encore. That is the exact math a gigging player runs, and it is the whole case for coated strings laid out in our coated versus uncoated acoustic strings breakdown. If you sweat through sets or play out a lot, Billy's logic is your logic. If you are a living-room player who changes strings a few times a year, an uncoated set like the EJ17 above gives you the same tone for less money.

If you want his literal set rather than the uncoated stand-in, it is the D'Addario XS Phosphor Bronze Medium, XSAPB1356, the coated version of the same brand and gauge. It costs more per set; the EJ17 above previews the same gauge and voice for less money, so start there if you are just testing whether medium gauge suits your hands.

The other half of the documented Billy Strings rig is the guitar, and it is not a Martin, at least not first. His main stage instruments are Preston Thompson dreadnoughts, built by the Oregon shop that made his signature model (Preston Thompson Guitars). Martin does make a D-28 Billy Strings signature dreadnought for players who want a production guitar tied to his name, and it ships with phosphor bronze mediums in the spirit of his own setup (Martin Guitar).

We flag the guitars for honesty, not to sell them. A hand-built Preston Thompson is a boutique instrument most players will only read about, and even the Martin signature is a serious purchase. The string is the part of this rig you can actually buy today, which is exactly why a strings desk can answer the Billy Strings question usefully where a guitar roundup cannot. You can put his string on your dreadnought tonight. You cannot buy his hands, or his ten thousand hours of flatpicking. For the full breakdown, the K&K pickup wiring, the 1945 D-28 with a friend's ashes inside it, and the rest of his documented stage rig, see our complete Billy Strings profile.

Strip it to the buyable path and it is short. Put a fresh medium phosphor bronze set on a solid-top dreadnought. Billy's own choice is the coated D'Addario XS medium; the uncoated EJ17 is the same brand and gauge for less money and is the honest place to start.

D'Addario EJ17 Phosphor Bronze Medium on Amazon

From there, the work is not in the cart. Spend the time on the flatpicking motion, the alternating pick strokes and the cross-picking that actually separate a bluegrass lead from a strummed chord. Keep the strings reasonably fresh, since a dull acoustic set robs a dreadnought of the very projection you bought mediums for, and if you sweat or gig, pay up for the coated version so the tone holds. If you are still deciding how warm or bright you want the guitar to sound, our guide to warm strings versus bright strings walks the phosphor bronze versus 80/20 decision that sits underneath every acoustic set. And the rest of today's guitar news, including the album that prompted this piece, is in today's briefing.

The lesson is the one that runs through every artist story on this desk. The guitar gets the headline. The string is the part you can buy. The sound, in the end, is the player.