D'Addario EXL157 (.014–.068) review: the traditional long-scale baritone set

D'Addario's EXL157 is the heavier half of the company's two-set answer to baritone guitar. SKU EXL157, part of the same core XL Nickel Wound line as sets like EXL110, D'Addario's "best-selling electric set," revered by players since 1974. Gauge: .014, .018, .026, .044, .056, .068, confirmed via D'Addario's own listed gauges and cross-checked against Sweetwater's and Strings and Beyond's listings for the same SKU. Wound with nickel-plated steel over D'Addario's own hex-shaped high-carbon steel core, uncoated.

This is the heavier of D'Addario's two baritone-specific sets, and the line D'Addario draws between EXL157 and its lighter sibling EXL158 is scale length, not tuning. D'Addario's own product copy positions the EXL157 for "traditional long scale electric baritone guitars, such as B-tuned Danelectros," where the lighter EXL158 targets "modern, shorter scale electric baritone guitars." Both sets, per D'Addario's own published tension charts, are calculated at the identical B standard tuning. The EXL157 is the longer-scale answer, not a lower-tuning one, a distinction worth getting right before you order, since a lot of retail copy conflates the two.

Here is the fact worth slowing down for: EXL157 shows up across a lot of gear-shop copy as "the A standard baritone set," the step-up from EXL158 once you tune below B. D'Addario's own data does not say that. The EXL157's tension chart is calculated against the same note names as the EXL158, B3 down to B1, B standard read low to high. Neither D'Addario baritone set's chart shifts to A standard.

What the EXL157 actually answers is a longer neck. D'Addario's own product copy is explicit about it: the EXL157 is built for "traditional long scale electric baritone guitars, such as B-tuned Danelectros," where the EXL158 is built for "modern, shorter scale" baritones. Danelectro's long-scale baritones are tuned to B standard, same as a modern short-scale baritone, they are just longer. A longer scale at the same tuning needs more string mass to land at a comparable tension, which is exactly what the heavier gauge across this set delivers: 172.6 lbs total, against the EXL158's 138.7 lbs, about 25 percent more pull for the same B-to-B pitch.

None of this means a heavier gauge can't work for A standard. Extra tension headroom is real, and a player who wants to tune a 27-inch baritone down to A standard could reasonably reach for the heavier EXL157 to keep it firm. That is a legitimate inference about string mechanics. It is just not what D'Addario's own spec sheet documents. If you want the set actually built and marketed for A-to-A tuning, that is Ernie Ball's Baritone Slinky (.013–.072), which Ernie Ball's own copy calls out by name for that job.

For the full scale-length and tuning breakdown across 27, 28.625, and 30 inch baritones, see CYS's own baritone gauge guide by scale length and tuning.

Ernie Ball's Baritone Slinky is the one-SKU generalist, a single heavier gauge Ernie Ball markets for both A-to-A and B-to-B tuning with no published scale-length target. D'Addario splits the same baritone problem across two lighter-to-heavier gauges by scale length instead, and this EXL157 is the long-scale half of that pair. Full review: Ernie Ball Baritone Slinky (.013–.072).

• A traditional long-scale baritone in B standard. The gauge D'Addario built and tension-rated specifically for guitars like a B-tuned Danelectro-style baritone.
• Extra headroom on a 28.625 or 30 inch baritone. The heavier gauge gives a firmer feel at the same B standard pitch than EXL158 provides on a shorter neck.
• Players who want the standard XL Nickel tone, heavier. Same wrap wire and hex core as D'Addario's mainstream electric sets and its own EXL158, just more mass.

• A modern 27-inch short-scale baritone. D'Addario's own lighter EXL158 is tension-rated for that length; the EXL157 will sit stiffer than intended on a shorter scale.
• Anyone who wants an off-the-shelf A-standard set with the tuning documented on the box. That is Ernie Ball's Baritone Slinky, not this. The EXL157's own chart is calculated at B standard.
• Anyone who wants a coated set. EXL157 is uncoated only; D'Addario doesn't currently extend its XT or XS coatings to this baritone SKU.

The EXL157 is D'Addario's answer to a longer, traditional baritone scale at B standard, not a lower-tuning set despite how often it gets described that way. Get the scale length right, a long-scale Danelectro-style baritone rather than a modern short-scale one, and this is D'Addario's well-documented, tension-charted default. Want an off-the-shelf A-standard set instead, one with the tuning actually on the label? Ernie Ball's Baritone Slinky is built for that job; the EXL157 is not, no matter how many gear-shop listings say otherwise.