These strings are expensive, there is no doubting that. However in my opinion they are worth every penny. Many guitarists neglect the importance of string choice, and just go for whatever is cheapest. However when you have spent so much money on your instrument, why bother fitting the cheapest strings!? Also guitarists forget how spoilt we are with cheap strings, any other string instruments strings cost many times more the amount of a set of guitar strings! Anyway, these Thomastiks sound fantastic, they're made from a much tighter wrap of nickel than average strings so they're much easier on the fingers, also the gauges may appear odd at first, but actually when you play the guitar you'll notice how even the tension is across the set (a big problem for most brands of strings is that the treble strings are much flimsier than the bass strings/the bass strings are too heavy to play comfortably). These thomastiks feel perfect and the sound is just something else. They have a certain warmth and clarity that I've not heard in any other set of strings. They also have a nice silk wrap at the end of the string which does look pretty classy.