I used to use Elixirs but now all my instruments are strung with Newtone phosphor bronze strings. Because Malcolm Newton uses a round core wire rather than a hexagonal one, they tend to accumulate less moisture and last well with an excellent sound. Considerably cheaper than Elixirs too (I order them direct from Malcolm and tend to buy about 12 - 16 sets in my own custom gauges (he will make up sets with the gauges you specify as well as having a number of "standard" sets) at a time to keep postage to a minimum). All his strings are still made by him personally.

I tend to find steel wound strings a bit lacking in character and clangy although they last forever. In the days I used to have a tenor banjo, I tended to use nickel-wound strings on that,)

Peace

moo