Dull, dead-sounding new string (.056)- a dud?

[guitguy28]

I recently restrung my Strat. I bought each string individually because I mix up the gauges according to my preference.

Anyway the low E was a .056. Compared to the other strings (the guitar is tuned to standard) it sounds dull and lifeless and totally lacking in sustain.

Is this a problem with the heavier gauges, that it would sound different?

Or could it be because perhaps it had been sitting around for a very long time, maybe in the owner's shop for many years?

Or could it just be a dud string or something?

[mc5nrg]

Have you used this gauge string before w/no problems?Is it sitting properly in the nut slot?Same brand and type of string as the other strings?If its not a nut issue could just be a bum string.

[The Golden Boy]

I'd lay dollars to doughnuts you got a dead string. I'd heard of dead strings, but as often as I broke A and D strings and as often as I changed strings on my guitars and on my basses- I had never run into a bad string in 25 years. Some dead out of the package, but not a "bad string." One day last year I got a string that wouldn't intonate for anything. I was tearing my hair out- and it turned out to be a bad string.

[T.Wesley]

It happens. I bought several packs of bass strings from a local shop a few months back that all had bad A strings in them - the sounded fine but lasted less than 2 hrs of playing time before breaking.

--chiba

[Killa-B]

If you bought singles and put them together to make your set, you could have bought a cheap brand of string or just a different brand for that big E.