Cleartone Strings Signs Selectron as Its New UK & Ireland Distributor

Selectron UK Ltd announced on July 15, 2026 that it is now the exclusive United Kingdom and Ireland distributor for Cleartone Strings and Star Picks, per the official partnership announcement carried by the Music Industries Association. The deal covers Cleartone's Electric, Acoustic, and Bass string series, the EQ Acoustic Strings line, and the full Star Picks range. Stock is already in the UK, and Selectron says it has started introducing both brands to its dealer network.

Per the official announcement, the partnership also "aligns the UK and Ireland operation with Cleartone's established North American distribution network through JAM/KMC," framing this as one coordinated global push rather than a one-off regional swap.

This isn't Cleartone's first UK and Ireland distribution deal. Strings & Things Ltd announced its own exclusive UK and Ireland run with Cleartone in April 2025, with stock landing that June. That arrangement lasted a little over a year before Selectron took over. Neither announcement explains the switch. Distributor changes are routine in the instrument trade, and they rarely come with a public reason attached.

Cleartone traces back to Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers, who launched Everly Strings in 1998 chasing more durable guitar strings than what was on the market. In 2008, after years of development, Everly introduced a coating treatment built to extend string life without dulling tone, and the brand became Cleartone. The company still calls it the No-Feel Coating. Cleartone's own site describes it as a twice-patented, award-winning treatment thin enough that strings "feel and sound like traditional uncoated strings" while lasting 3 to 5 times longer. Every set ships from Cleartone's Utah facility, built with US-sourced core and wrap wire.

Star Picks are Cleartone's house guitar pick line, built around a patented star-shaped grip cutout the company brands "The Last Guitar Pick You'll Ever Drop." Cleartone's own product page lists them in Delrin, made in-house in the US, in six gauges from .50mm up to 1.14mm plus a mixed "Rockstar" variety pack, running $5.99 to $7.99 for a 12-pack. It's a smaller business next to the strings line, but bundling both under one distributor is exactly the one-stop-shop pitch Selectron's CEO made in the announcement: fewer suppliers for a dealer to manage, more reason to actually stock the smaller brand instead of special-ordering it.

For UK and Ireland dealers, this is the whole story: one distributor for both Cleartone strings and Star Picks, plus the marketing support and product demos Selectron is promising. That combination tends to get more shops actually carrying a smaller brand on the shelf.

For US buyers, who make up most of CYS's readers, nothing here touches you directly. Cleartone's US distribution runs through KMC, separate from this UK and Ireland deal, and Cleartone's 9410 electric set is still the same Amazon listing it was last week. What the deal is actually worth to a US buyer is a read on the brand: a smaller US string maker landing a second committed international distributor inside 15 months is a company growing, not one you need to worry about disappearing off shelves.

We've already put Cleartone's flagship electric set through a full review, and the pitch holds up. It's a coated string built for players who tried Elixir Polyweb, hated the slick polymer feel, and gave up on coated strings entirely. Cleartone's own current numbers put the lifespan extension at 3 to 5 times over uncoated, competitive with Elixir Nanoweb and D'Addario XS, and closer to uncoated in actual finger feel than either.

Strings & Things' 2025 announcement also cited testing claiming up to 36% louder output and 48% more sustain over uncoated strings. Cleartone's own current site doesn't repeat that specific figure, so treat it as a 2025 marketing claim rather than a standing spec.

If you've never tried a coated set because the polymer texture bothered you, this is the one built specifically to solve that problem. For the full coated-vs-uncoated tradeoff, tone, lifespan, and the actual cost math, see our coated vs uncoated breakdown.