I've been playing for nearly 15 years now and the best strings I've used are Ernie Ball Super Slinky's (9's - the pink pack). They stay in tune after you stretch them out (takes up to three days to do it properly) and most importantly the tone is spot on - great sustain and nice bright full sound. Slinky's are very easy to bend and take a lot of punishment, they only really break if you abuse them.