Ernie Ball 8-String Slinky (.010–.074) review: the reference nickel set for F# standard

Ernie Ball's 8-String Slinky is the company's plain, no-frills nickel-wound answer to "what strings go on an 8-string guitar." SKU 2625, MPN P02625: .010, .013, .017, .030, .042, .054, .064, .074, confirmed live on Ernie Ball's own product page. It ships alongside four other extended-range Slinky SKUs on that same page (a second 8-string set, a Skinny Top Heavy Bottom 8-string, a 9-string, and a 12-string), and the two 8-string nickel sets in particular are easy to mix up.

This is the reference set CYS already points to across its own 8-string gauge guide, F# standard and Drop E tuning pages, and the Kiesel Antares breakout, all of which cite this exact ASIN. This page exists so those citations have a real review to land on instead of just a bare inline product card.

This is the page's whole reason for existing: Ernie Ball sells two different nickel 8-string sets with almost identical names, and neither the manufacturer's own product page nor any retailer listing spells out the difference in one place.

Ernie Ball's own description of this SKU is plain: "Nickel Wound Electric Guitar Strings are made from nickel plated steel wire wrapped around tin plated hex shaped steel core wire. The plain strings are made of specially tempered tin plated high carbon steel producing a well balanced tone for your guitar." That's this set, the 8-String Slinky, P02625.

The other one, the 8-String Regular Slinky (P02629), is newer. Guitar World covered its launch on September 17, 2021, timed to coincide with the announcement of John Petrucci's 8-string Ernie Ball Music Man Majesty, "so it makes sense that the firm is ensuring its flagship Regular Slinkys are available for its own instrument range," per the article. Same .010 to .074 label, same 39.5-inch string length, but a different wound-string progression: .0165 and .024w in the third and fourth slots instead of .017 and .030, and a longer 37-inch taper on the .074 instead of this set's 30-inch taper.

If you're ordering by SKU number, 2625 is this set. If you only have the gauge in hand (".010-.074"), check the full breakdown against the table above before you buy, since both sets share that same headline number.

F# standard (F#-B-E-A-D-G-B-E) on a 27-inch scale is what this gauge is built for. The .074 low string sits around 16 lbs of tension there, the same reference figure CYS's own 8-string gauge guide gives for any 27-inch 8-string in F# standard. Every mainstream single-scale 8-string production guitar, Ibanez RG8, Schecter Damien-8, Jackson DK8, ships tuned here.

Drop E (E-B-E-A-D-G-B-E, a whole step under F# standard) is where this set gets asked to do more than it was built for. It's workable, not ideal: a longer-scale multi-scale 8-string and a medium touch can carry a .074 low E, but the firmer, purpose-built answer is a 9-80 or 10-84 set instead, per the same gauge guide. If Drop E is your default tuning rather than an occasional detune, size up.

Multi-scale (fanned-fret) 8-strings, Strandberg, Kiesel, some Ibanez models, run a longer bass-side scale than 27 inches, which adds tension back to the .074 and makes it feel firmer than it does on a single-scale 27-inch neck. That's a plus for Drop E, a minor stiffness tradeoff for players who want the lightest possible feel.

Nobody documented, and this page won't guess one in. The 8-string players with the deepest public rig documentation are all on other gear: Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes (Animals as Leaders) run D'Addario NYXL 8-string sets, Stephen Carpenter (Deftones) runs Ernie Ball Paradigm coated 8-string, and Fredrik Thordendal (Meshuggah) is on DR Strings, not Ernie Ball.

That's not a knock on this set, it's what "reference" means. The 8-String Slinky is the set Ernie Ball sells for players who don't have a signature deal or a custom spec, the default you reach for when you just bought your first 8-string and want the uncomplicated, off-the-shelf answer rather than chasing a specific artist's exact rig.

• First 8-string purchase. No decisions to make beyond confirming your scale length; this is the reference gauge for the 27-inch production standard.
• F# standard on a single-scale 27-inch 8-string. The .074 sits at the tension this set was built for.
• Players who got confused by Ernie Ball's near-identical SKU names. If you just want the original nickel 8-String Slinky and not the newer Regular Slinky or the Skinny Top Heavy Bottom variant, this is SKU 2625.
• A baseline before going custom. Worth stringing up once before you order a build-your-own single-string 8-string set, so you know what you're deviating from.

• Drop E as your default tuning, not an occasional detune. Step up to a 9-80 or 10-84 set; this .074 is the lighter of the two workable Drop E answers.
• Players who specifically want Cobalt's higher output and tighter low end. Ernie Ball doesn't build a Cobalt 8-string at all, in this gauge or any other.
• 25.5-inch single-scale 8-strings. Rare, but the .074 loses tension and articulation at that shorter scale; step to a heavier custom low string instead.

The 8-String Slinky is Ernie Ball's plain answer to "what do I put on an 8-string." No signature story, no alloy story, just a nickel-wound .010-.074 set sized for F# standard on the 27-inch scale nearly every production 8-string ships with. It's also the more easily confused of Ernie Ball's two similarly named 8-string nickel SKUs, so if you're ordering by gauge alone, double-check you're getting 2625 and not 2629.

If you already know you want Cobalt or a coated line, look elsewhere; Ernie Ball doesn't build either in 8-string yet. If you just want the default, uncomplicated set that matches what a stock 27-inch 8-string guitar expects, this is it.

Ernie Ball

8-String Slinky Nickel Wound (.010–.074)

.010 – .074

Price tier: $$$

Why this one: The off-the-shelf reference 8-string set for F# standard on a 27-inch scale.

F# StandardDrop EDjent

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