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Michael Benner
Aloha
USA
5 Posts |
 Posted - 08/09/2011 : 9:44:13 PM
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I've recently switched from Phosphorus-Bronze (PB) to 80/20 Medium gauge Martin strings on my HD-28. Supposedly, they're brighter than PB's at first, but mellow out quickly.
Obviously, it's a matter of personal preference, but I'm wondering what other slack key players think about our choices in wound acoustic guitar strings -- alloys, gauges, brands, etc. Mahalo from Kula.
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Trev
Lokahi
United Kingdom
265 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2011 : 12:57:08 AM
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The subject is highly personal, and will depend on your body chemistry, your fingers and your ears.
Some people think 80/20s are brighter, some think they’re more mellow. Some people think one type works better with mahogany/spruce guitars, some think another works better with rosewood/cedar. Give them a go, and see which you like better.
As for brands, some people like Elixirs, which are coated in Goretex or similar, because they last longer than normal strings. Some people hate them because of their ‘slippery’ feel. I think they’re perfectly OK, soundwise, but after having a run of G strings breaking while the set was still new, I became a bit disillusioned with them.
However, for people with corrosive sweat, they’re a gift from the gods. My friend has this affliction, and normal strings only last him about a week. Uncoated strings last me for several months – I only change them when I perceive they sound dead. A professional in my town changes his strings not only before every gig, but again during the interval! I think this is ridiculously fastidious, myself, but there you are. Perhaps he doesn’t pay for his own strings?
Some people like the bright ‘zing’ of new strings. Others find this too bright, and prefer the strings to ‘bed in’ a little. One of my guitar heroes reputedly used the same bottom E string for the entire duration of World War II!
It’s difficult, these days, to find a ‘bad’ set of guitar strings. The technology has come on since the early days, and the consistency has greatly improved. When I was last in America I bought a set of strings in a tin from a large ‘Target’ emporium. I didn’t expect them to be any good, but I thought they’d do for spares, they were very cheap by UK standards, and I thought the tin was quite snazzy. The strings turned out to be absolutely fine.
Personally I favour Newtone strings. To my ears and fingers, they’re head and shoulders above anything else. They’re hand made, locally made (for me – obviously for nobody else on this board!), and have round cores, instead of hexagonal, like all the others brands. They’re very long lasting and sound great. I’ve currently got a set of ‘double wrapped’ ones which greatly reduce squeaky finger noise!
However, I’ve never tried Thomastiks – all the fiddle players I know use these exclusively, and I’ve been hearing that their mandolin strings are amazing. I intend to try them ‘one day’, but they cost the equivalent of $52 a set, (three times what a normal set would be,) I’m not in a big rush!
I also think it’s true that you only notice the difference in strings for the first few minutes after you put them on. After that, you forget all about it – you’re just thinking about the music.
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Trev
Lokahi
United Kingdom
265 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2011 : 01:03:46 AM
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| The guy who changes his strings at half time? I've checked and he's a D'addario endorsee, so no, he doesn't pay for his own strings! |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2177 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2011 : 03:42:53 AM
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| Try a variety of strings. Like Trev said, your own body chemistry will tell what sounds good and lasts. I can't use nickel wound strings. I had a friend that no one would let touch their guitars because of his ability to imediately deaden them. Some have the gift. |
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salmonella
Lokahi
240 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2011 : 05:20:25 AM
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Like they all said, try a few different ones and see what you think. Keep notes so you can have something to compare later.
A couple of other things to add though.
1- you might want to become familiar with the string tension calculations and do a quick check on whatever gauge strings you plan to try out. You can do some serious damage to guitars by using too heavy of strings. This is especially true if you change from slacked tunings to standard tunings or even tighter than std tunings.
2- Consider some of the less common combinations of string gauges as you go through your search. I have come to like a combination known as light top/medium bottom where the three bass strings are medium gauge and three treble are light gauge. See caution 1 above.
3 - in my case, maybe not in yours, the more I read about how certain types of strings worked best with certain wood combinations (PB with cedar for instance) the less able I was to effectively evaluate what sounded good to me on my guitars. I had some expectations. Only some of which were true.
No matter what, don't change your strings in the break between sets unless you get them for free and you have someone to give your used ones to. What a waste.
Dave |
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Allen M Cary
Lokahi
USA
158 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2011 : 11:03:26 AM
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I don't understand how anyone could routinely change strings mid gig and expect to stay in tune for the second set. Mine take a full day to settle down.
Allen |
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Trev
Lokahi
United Kingdom
265 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2011 : 01:45:36 AM
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Allen - with steel strings, if you stretch them when you put them on, they don't need that long to settle down - they're ready straight away. Nylon stings on the other hand - well they take a good long time.
The guy I'm talking about is called Martin Simpson - he's the sort who's not likely to use the same tuning for the entire set, and he's very good at tuning quickly. He's also highly meticulous about his sound, and his tuning. I think it's well over the top, but perhaps he's one of those guys whose skin makes strings go dead in the 40-45 minutes of his first set?
I imagine if they're not dead, he's got an earnest queue of guys wearing glasses who are more than willing to recycle them on their own guitars! |
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1581 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2011 : 06:00:00 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Allen M Cary
I don't understand how anyone could routinely change strings mid gig and expect to stay in tune for the second set. Mine take a full day to settle down.
Allen
Allen, my guess (if you use steel strings) would be that you leave a lot of the string wrapped around the tuning peg. Over the many years I've been fooling with guitars I've wrapped less and less of the string and gotten quicker and better tuning as a result. My latest change to even fewer wraps came just a year ago when I saw this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKwasgm1Y3g
With this technique the string comes up to pitch and stays there very quickly.
Fran
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E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
Slack Key on YouTube
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2177 Posts |
Posted - 08/12/2011 : 5:34:17 PM
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| At a workshop, Mike Auldridge said that he restrung on one evening and tuned the next morning. Works for me except in 'mergencies. |
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Acoustic strings
