GE has not made decent C-7 and C-9 strings in quite a while. The last good sets were the Super Coat 30-light strings that were last made around 2000. They used high quality strings with full 12-inch lamp spacing. The bulbs had a very heavy (triple dip) coating that made the colors very rich and dark. After that, GE sold their Holiday Lighting brand to Santa's Best that has put the GE name on some products of low quality. The current C-7 and C-9 strings use a paltry 6 or 8-inch spacing. The great US-made sets of yore, from the '60s through the mid' '70s, had a nice 15-inch spacing.