string longevity

lennies,

Welcome back, glad to hear you are still playing the guitar.

These are just my thoughts on Phosphor Bronze guitar strings, my favourite and I generally play with the strings tuned down half a step, and leave the tuning the same when stored away.

When you first fit a new set of strings, they definitely sound bright, some people like the new bright sound some don't, I do.
Then after a few days playing (about 12 hours) the brightness goes, and you get the true sound of the strings.
Then the strings start to discolour, but still sound the same, that after a few weeks more playing the strings look terrible, and generally speaking most people change their strings, but if you listen very carefully they still sound the same.
I'm guilty of changing my strings when they still have a lot of life left in them, in reality I don't think I have ever worn a set of strings out, I've tried to but given up because they look like they should be taken off.
I've got a few guitars, always have two out on stands and the rest stored in hard and soft cases, I think the strings last just as long but they discolour faster left out on their stands.
For long lasting guitar strings it's got to be the Elixir make, but you either love them or think there OK.

lennies,

Only to day I had a change of guitars, and got one out of it's soft case, it was the first time I'd played it for about four months, and four months ago I'd just fitted a new set of strings, anyway got the guitar out of the soft case and it was still in tune and they sounded like new strings, nice and bright.
Yes totally agree that standing in front of the guitar you get the true sound of your strings, I have noticed people don't stand in front of my guitar for very long, don't know why.
Just recently had a preamp pack in, so I removed it, and the hole that it's left in the guitar acts as a sound port, and I'm quite impressed with the sound of the guitar now.

aristophon,

 Was eating me porridge whilst reading this post, it made me chuckle,  that resulted  in porridge all down the front of me tee-shirt,  or it might have been just old age.

lennies, Derick, aristophon, I change strings because I want to hear how new ones (different brands and gauge)sound-
that said, when I was doin business with GC I changed em soon as I got home because they looked like crap, and felt like crap and the sound was less than impressive. So, I can't speak to longevity- that would be TonyK since he changes his strings at least once a generation

This is a difficult question to answer cuz the answers are both subjective and objective due to the variables involved.

What are some of the objective variables?
 - Do you live in an environment that's more humid or less humid?
 - Do you use coated or non-coated strings?
 - Do you have dry, low-ph skin or oily high ph skin?
 - What's your play style; how do you "attack" your strings?
 - How do you store your guitar when not in use?
  (I'm sure there's more but these are just the few obvious ones I could think of off the top of my head)

What are some of the subjective variables?
 - Your preference in sound.  Do you like the sound jangly new strings?
 - Your preference in sound.  Do you like the sound of more balanced or mellow "played in" strings?
 - Your preference in looks.  Do you mind how they "look" after awhile when they get dark or etc.  Or does that not bother you at all?
 - Your preference in variety.  Do you like to "change it up" often?
 - Your preference in variety.  Do you like to find what you like and stick to that consistently?
  (Again, I'm sure there's more, these just firstly off the top of my head).

These variables will highly influence and affect what you perceive as far as "are these strings still any good."

So, with subjective and objective variables in the equation all one can do is research the objective and combine that with the subjective personal preferences and find the answer that makes  you  the happiest.