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Whats up @MartyP ? Great question. I spent a good deal of time figuring this out early on in my journey. What I have seen and heard: strings do change over time. Different strings age differently. Santa Cruz strings, as much as I complain about their high price, have a coating process different from others. Santa Cruz coats the metal wrapping before the strings are wound. If it is longevity you are looking for this is probably the best option. Other end of the spectrum is my personal favs, D’addario phosphor bronze. These strings will change tone even when they are not played. The bronze oxidizes and losses some of the sparkle over time. I get about 100 hours out of the Phosphor-bronze strings. There are folks who prefer the more percussive sound of the “dead string”. More often than not I will unintentionally break a string somewhere in that time frame and be forced to change out the strings anyway. I love changing the strings on my guitar. It is my chance to look inside, peek under the hood as it were, do a good exterior clean, paying special attention to the fret board, check the fasteners on the tuning machines. It reminds me of when I would spend hours under the hood of my car, when I was a kid, just messing around, getting the lay of the land.