D'Addario EXL158 (.013–.062) review: the short-scale baritone default

D'Addario's EXL158 is the company's light-gauge answer to "what do I string a modern baritone with." SKU EXL158, part of D'Addario's core XL Nickel Wound line, the same electric-string family behind standard-tuning sets like EXL110. Gauge: .013, .017, .026, .036, .046, .062, confirmed live on D'Addario's own product page and cross-checked against Sam Ash's listing for the same SKU. D'Addario calls XL Nickel its "best-selling electric set," revered by players since 1974, wound with nickel-plated steel over the company's own hex-shaped high-carbon steel core, uncoated.

This is the lighter of D'Addario's two baritone-specific sets, and D'Addario's own product copy draws the line between them by scale length, not tuning. EXL158 is "designed for modern, shorter scale electric baritone guitars," where the heavier EXL157 targets "traditional long scale electric baritone guitars, such as B-tuned Danelectros," in D'Addario's own words. Both sets, per D'Addario's own published tension charts, are calculated at the same B standard tuning. The EXL158 is the shorter-scale answer, not a different-tuning one, a distinction worth getting right before you order.

D'Addario publishes a per-string tension figure for the EXL158 but never totals it. Adding the six numbers from its own chart gives a genuinely useful number: 138.7 lbs of total string tension at B standard pitch on a short-scale baritone neck (20.9 + 20.1 + 25.0 + 25.9 + 23.0 + 23.8). That total, not any single string's number, is roughly what your neck and truss rod actually feel once the set is tuned up.

It also puts a real number on the difference between D'Addario's two baritone sets. The heavier EXL157 totals 172.6 lbs on the same math (24.3 + 22.5 + 25.0 + 37.9 + 34.3 + 28.6), about 25 percent more total pull than the EXL158. Here's the part worth slowing down for: both tension charts are calculated against the identical note names, B3 down to B1. Neither set's chart shifts to A standard. The extra 33.9 lbs in the EXL157 is D'Addario compensating for a longer traditional baritone neck at the same B standard tuning, not for a lower target pitch. If you see the EXL157 described elsewhere as "the A standard set," treat that as an inference about a heavier gauge's headroom, not something D'Addario's own product data confirms.

For the full scale-length and tuning breakdown across 27, 28.625, and 30 inch baritones, including where A standard tuning does call for a heavier set, see CYS's own baritone gauge guide by scale length and tuning.

D'Addario's own product description does double duty for the EXL158: "designed for modern, shorter scale electric baritone guitars, and is also an excellent option for down-tuning on most standard guitars." That second use case matters if you don't own a baritone at all. A standard 25.5 inch electric strung with EXL158 and tuned to B standard gets a heavier, firmer string than a normal .010 or .011 set tuned down to the same pitch would give you, without buying a second guitar.

It is still a compromise next to a real baritone neck. The tension numbers above are calculated for a baritone-length scale; drop the same gauge onto a shorter standard scale and the real-world tension at pitch runs lower than D'Addario's published chart, which is calculated for the longer neck. For heavier, purpose-built down-tuning gauges at standard scale, CYS's Ernie Ball Not Even Slinky Cobalt (.012–.056) and the down-tuned strings for doom and stoner metal primer cover that path directly. On an actual baritone neck, the B standard tuning guide covers the interval math once you're strung up.

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. D'Addario splits the same problem across two lighter gauges by scale length instead of tuning, which is the more precise fit if you already know your baritone's neck length. Full review: Ernie Ball Baritone Slinky (.013–.072).

• A modern short-scale baritone in B standard. The gauge D'Addario built and tension-rated specifically for this neck length and tuning.
• Down-tuning a standard-scale electric to B standard. D'Addario's own copy recommends the same set for this second job.
• Players who want the standard XL Nickel tone. Same wrap wire and hex core as D'Addario's mainstream electric sets, just heavier, so the attack and brightness carry over.

• A longer 28.625 or 30 inch traditional baritone neck. D'Addario's own heavier EXL157 is tension-rated for that length; the EXL158 will sit looser than intended on a longer scale.
• A standard guitar tuned to A standard or lower. This set's tension math is calculated for B standard; going lower on a baritone at this gauge asks for more slack than the strings are built to take up cleanly.
• Anyone who wants a coated set. EXL158 is uncoated only; D'Addario doesn't currently extend its XT or XS coatings to this baritone SKU.

The EXL158 is D'Addario's precise answer to a specific question: a modern, short-scale baritone tuned to B standard. It is not a generalist gauge the way Ernie Ball's single-SKU Baritone Slinky is, and it is not interchangeable with its own heavier sibling, the EXL157, which D'Addario built for a longer traditional neck at the same tuning rather than a lower one. Get the scale length right and this is the uncomplicated, well-documented default; get it wrong and D'Addario's own tension chart tells you exactly why it feels off.