Yes they rusted quickly, and the first string would pop on a whim. The one drugstore in our town that carried the strings had one drawer with sets and another drawer with the high E strings. One could buy any string individually, though. The neck on my first guitar was badly bowed (not the best for 9-year-old fingers). Add those strings to the mix and one had to be pretty determined to learn to play. The first set of another brand I got (at a music store 60 miles away) felt like satin.