Acoustic string journal

Mellish · July 2022

Oh I'm not expecting magical. I'd just like to experience just how good factory fresh JPs are.

Nickel strings I've never used...well tell a lie, I tried Monels if they count but didn't like 'em

Tannin · July 2022

Yep, Monel is a nickel alloy. Nickel alloy are very, very different. They have their place, and in their place they are absolutely bloody brilliant, but on the wrong guitar they are pretty damn awful.

Nickels (Martin Monels) on my cedar dreadnought were OK. Just OK. I won't fit them to it again.

Nickels on my Angel would be awful. On the rosewood Messiah, probably worse. And I doubt they'd suit the Blackwood WA May, though it just might work.

But nickels on the CO-2 ... wow! Instantly I knew that these were the right strings for this guitar. I can't see them on a Dove. They'd be silly on an SJ-200. But on a J-45, or maybe an L-00, they just might be the very thing.

Cryptid · July 2022

DR Veritas 12's - best I've tried on my C&W so far and lasted around twice as long as the Sunbeams. I got 3 sweaty gigs out of them. Will see how the SJ-200 likes them.

Newtone Heritage 11's - my Spanish-heeled folk guitar needs low tension to stay out of trouble but at 115 lbs, these are just too floppy. Huge volume drop compared to the usual JP Silk & Steel 11's (129.8 lbs) and tone has really suffered. Will try their 12's (131 lbs) next before going back to the JP.

Excellent service ordering direct from Newtone though - website said 2 weeks wait but they arrived the next morning!

Mellish · July 2022

The best results I ever got were DR Rare on a Hummingbird (hog b/s, sitka top). Really made that guitar sound amazing.

If you have a guitar with those woods, give a set a try

Cryptid · July 2022

@Mellish I've been meaning to try the DR Rares, but aren't they a bit more full and bassy than Sunbeams? I'm not sure they'd be the best match for either of my Gibsons, which tend to be warm and deep anyway, but I shall give them a whirl sometime

Mellish · July 2022

@Cryptid ; - not sure I'd describe them as bassy, though others might.

They're coated and you can feel it on the plain strings.

But bear in mind the guitar I used 'em on because other guitars, other woods, different results maybe

Cryptid · July 2022

Mellish said:

They're coated

Hmm, are you sure you're not thinking of DR Dragon Skins? Pretty sure the Rares aren't coated.

Mellish · July 2022

doh, you're absolutely right

I was thinking of Dragonskin but said Rare

Cryptid · July 2022

I'll give them a try as my strings get punished hard with vigorous strumming and acidic sweat - would like to find a coated set I'm happy with.

Mellish · July 2022

@Cryptid ; - I'm the same. I have the wrong chemistry.

I can kill even coated in the same time as uncoated, so why spend more on the former?

That's why you'll mostly find me playing uncoated. I've learned that I get no lomgevity benefit from Elixir, say

Cryptid · July 2022

@Mellish I tend to get fed up of the sound and feel of Elixirs long before they show any signs of actually needing to be replaced, but they do far outlast uncoated strings for me. Sometimes I wonder whether I should just put up with them on the guitar I gig and rehearse with to save changing strings once a week.

Mellish · July 2022

@Cryptid ; - well only you can answer that mate.

I'm going to put my John Pearse thoughts on this thread at the weekend. Maple back and sides, same as you've got so you might find that interesting

Tannin · July 2022

I rather wonder if a more significant distinction than (e.g.) maple vs rosewood or even (e.g.) OM vs dread might not be scale length? The lower tension on (say) a J-45 compared to a D-18 is the equivalent of down-tuning the Martin to Eb, and that makes a big difference to the feel and the sound of any guitar.

(Unfortunately, I don't have any short-scale guitars to test this out on ... mainly because I don't like 'em!)

(And yes, I know the Dove is long scale. From memory, the only other long scale Gibsons are the jumbos, yes?)

Mellish · July 2022

@Tannin ; - from what I've seen of Gibson Jumbos in stores, it's looked like 24.75" or thereabouts. . But that's without measuring, going by eye alone and subject to error

EDIT: ignore above. Just measured a mate's Advanced Jumbo: 25.5"

Tannin · July 2022

Blimey! Are you still awake?

Damn rabbit burrows! There went another 15 minutes I won't ever get back. Why do I even want to know which Gibsons have proper long scales? I don't even like Gibson acoustics. (Ahh ... but then I've only ever played the short scale ones, so who knows?)

Long scale Gibson acoustics (according to Dr Google):

* Dove (influenced by Epiphone, apparently)

* Advanced Jumbo.

* Some Hummingbirds.

* Some 1990s J-45s. (This was the Norlin era and they weren't "real" J-45s, they often had square shoulders as well.)

* Songwriter series
* SJ-200 (but not the J-185)

That's more than I had thought.

Mellish · July 2022

@Tannin ; - "Why do I want to know? I don't even like Gibsons".

Well that's what I thought

earwighoney · July 2022

Tannin said:

I rather wonder if a more significant distinction than (e.g.) maple vs rosewood or even (e.g.) OM vs dread might not be scale length? The lower tension on (say) a J-45 compared to a D-18 is the equivalent of down-tuning the Martin to Eb, and that makes a big difference to the feel and the sound of any guitar.

(Unfortunately, I don't have any short-scale guitars to test this out on ... mainly because I don't like 'em!)

(And yes, I know the Dove is long scale. From memory, the only other long scale Gibsons are the jumbos, yes?)

Is there any particular reason you don't like short scales?

Tannin · July 2022

Why yes. My left hand doesn't care too much one way or another, but my right hand hates it. Too loose and sloppy and boomy. And the notes mush into one another and there is no snap or bite.

(Yes I could put a set of medium gauge strings on, but that's not quite the same thing.)

One of these days I'll no doubt meet a short scale guitar I like, but I can't imagine what. Probably the closest - and I didn't love it, I was more just surprised that it sounded half-decent and was actually quite playable - was a very short scale Baby Taylor.

If I played with a pick, or even exclusively with nails, I might see things differently. But as a flesh & nail fingerstylist, I've never yet met a short scale guitar I much liked, so much so that I tend not to even bother picking them up in shops these days.

(My only two good quality electrics were both short scale, but electric is different and that was so many years ago that I'm not sure it's relevant. I mean in those days the band leader used to hand me charts chiselled on stone tablets.)

Mellish · July 2022

Strings Direct has recommended I try three string types on my Dove.

Very interesting phone chat with a guy there. Delivery tomorrow, stay tuned

Tannin · August 2022

Some interesting developments, which I haven't written up in the start-of-thread posts yet. The Stringjoy Naturals on the cedar-top dred, which started out so promisingly, turned to flub after the first week. @Melish and I have quite different likes, he plays short scale with a pick and likes treble-heavy strings, I play long scale with my fingers and dislike too much top end. Nevertheless, on the Stringjoys we agree. Once that brand-new-string brightness worse off, they were too dull. They still felt great, and I reckon they might go well on a guitar with a lot of top end needing taming, but they were very expensive for an uncoated string and I doubt I'll buy them again. I still have a set of Stringjoy Foxwoods (the same only coated) so I'll give them a go on the Messiah (rosewood) or the Guild (Red Spruce and mahogany). But not just yet.

I put a set of Galli LS on the Angel for the second time. Could they really be as good as I thought they were the first time around? No. They are even better. I am wondering if I should stop with all this experimenting stuff and just buy a dozen sets of Galli LS and never string the Angel with anything else.

But that brings me to my current little project. I'm trying to be a little disciplined and try out some of my favourite strings on different guitars. For this reason, when I removed the disappointing Stringjoy Naturals from the cedar-top Maton, I replaced them with Galli LS. Early days yet, but my first impression is that these are lovely strings, nevertheless not the very best ones I've had on this guitar.

On the WA May the Curt Mangan round core are just brilliant. I've ordered more, but while they have lasted well they will need replacing before my re-order gets here from the USA. I'll tale that as an opportunity to try something I liked on other guitars on the WA May - Pyramid Western Folk maybe, or even Gallis yet again.

Oh, and in another thread I mentioned the Pyramid 307 silver coated set I put on the Mineur (Englemann Spruce on Tiger Myrtle) to replace the truly excellent Dogal round cores. I was expecting disappointment after those (hard act to follow) but it did not eventuate. The silver-coated Pyramids are quite different and really nice.

Mellish · August 2022

@Tannin ; see what you think of the Stringjoy Foxwoods. They didn't suit this Dove.

IIRC I was hoping one would break and give me the excuse to take the others off!

D'Addario XS suit, as do EJ11 and EJ16. And today I got a set of Thomastik Infeld and a set of DR Rare

Mellish · August 2022

@Tannin ; interested to see what you think of Stringjoy Foxwoods.

They're popular with a luthier up north here in the Uk who allegedly works on guitars owned by the well known.

I tried 'em on this Dove. Didn't like them

Tannin · November 2022

Two or three months ago I completely revamped the format of my string journal. I'm still updating the original (and will post changes to this thread when there are enough to make it worth the bother) but the new one is in (I hope) a more useful form.

It is split into sections such as "PHOSHPOR BRONZE" and "NICKEL". Here is a sample.from the phosphor bronze section:

* Rotosound Jumbo King 12-54. $12, £7. Tension: medium to medium-high. Longevity: average. Squeal: loud. Feel: raspy, pleasant. Sound: standard. Tried on: DR. Comment: good ordinary strings. 12-16-24 32-44-54

* Rotosound Nexus (coated). $21 £12. Tension: medium-high. Longevity: high. Squeal: moderate. Feel: very nice: more tactile than Elixirs but softer too. Sound: very good, well-balanced. Tried on: Messiah. Comment: Good straight-ahead strings that last well. 12-16-24 32-44-54.

* Rotosound Super Bronze contact core $13 £7. Tension: medium. Longevity: fair. Squeal: average. Feel: seem fairly standard. Sound: tried on a different guitar so hard to compare, but it seems a bit odd. Tried on: an upside-down left-handed Maton of no great merit. Comment: can't really say much without getting another set to try on a different guitar, which I probably won't. 12-16-24 32-44-54.

* Santa Cruz Parabolic Low Tension (coated). $30 £17. Tension: very low, like 11s. Longevity: high. Squeal: moderate. Feel: soft, responsive, outstanding. Sound: excellent, well-balanced. Tried on: Angel. Comment: Very expensive, but good enough to justify it. 12-16-23 32-44-56.

* Santa Cruz Parabolic Medium Tension (coated). $32 £18. Tension: medium, similar to an average bluegrass set (quite a lot more than the very light Low Tension ones). Longevity: good. Squeal: moderate. Feel: pleasant. Sound: good. Tried on: CO-2. Comment: Heavier than expected (but still a bit lighter than most brands); good but didn't impress nearly as much as the LT set did. 13-16.5-24 33-45-56.

* Savarez A140L ----- ($14 £8) 12-16-24 32-42-53.

* Sfarzo Alloy 5109 $13 £7. Tension: high. Longevity: probably quite good but who cares? Squeal: reasonable. Feel: hard. Sound: cold, metallic, nasty. Tried on: Messiah. Comment: awful strings. Shipping a .015" second string on a set of high-tension 12s is ridiculous! 12-15-25 34-44-54.

* SIT Phosphor Bronze $9 £5. Tension: moderate. Longevity: medium. Squeal: average. Feel: typical. Sound: as expected. Tried on: Angel. Comment: Good ordinary strings. Not unusual in any way except the low price, nothing to dislike, great value. 12-16-25 32-42-54.

* SIT Royal Bronze $14.50 £8. Tension: moderate. Longevity: medium. Squeal: low-medium. Feel: pleasant. Sound: a good balance between richness, warmth and ring. Tried on: Angel (2 sets). Comment: SIT don't say what makes these strings different to their standard ones, just that they are a premium product. They are: they do all the usual things to a higher-than-usual standard, 12-16-25 32-42-54.

* Stringjoy Foxwoods ----- ($27 £16) 12-16-24 32-42-54.

* Stringjoy Naturals $22.40 £12.50. Tension: low-medium. Longevity: very low. Squeal: low-medium. Feel: just right; enough roughness to feel like real strings, enough smoothness to be nice to play and not too squeally. Sound: well-balanced to start, bright without lacking depth, but dull rapidly. Tried on: DR. Comment: These are very good for the first few days but quickly go dull. Or you might regard them as very mellow strings which take a few days to play in. Very expensive. 12-16-24 32-42-54.

I haven't got around to posting it yet. Before I do, is this a more useful format? It it helpful to be able to run the eye down an alphabetical list? Any suggestions?

Mellish · November 2022

@Tannin ; I'd say yes, splitting it into sections is good.

You like the Stringjoy Foxwoods... Well that just shows me how different people (and their guitars) can be!. Although, TBF, I may have got a dodgy set.

Tannin · November 2022

No @Mellish, a "----" in the new format indicates a placeholder entry, a string I have bought but not tried out yet. (There will be a legend section mentioning this.) The Stringjoy Naturals were impressive for a few days but I quickly tired of them. And they cost a fortune!

Mellish · November 2022

Ah, gotcha!

I can't find anything to beat D'Addario EJ16 on this Dove, so that's what I've settled on.

But it's good to learn what strings others use. And who knows? Tomorrow I may order Elixir!

Mellish · April 2023

Pop this in here in steed of a new thread.

Bought a 10 pack of strings. Supplier said "If any are bad, let me know and I'll replace". Seemed fair, right?

3 packs were bad. When I told him, he said "Oh... I can't replace three but I'll replace one".

So I'm looking for a strings supplier in the UK. Any recs guys?

Apologies for derail

Mellish · April 2023

Ordered 4 sets of EJ16 today, saved £12!

drofluf · April 2023

@Mellish have you tried Newtone? Or were you looking for a supplier of a specific brand?

Tannin · April 2023

I'm a bit quiet on the string front lately, partly because I'm over here on the big island with only one guitar. I'll get back home in a couple of weeks and go into string-change frenzy

I have thought of adding another instrument while I'm over here only a couple of hours' drive from the big smoke and all those lovely guitar shops, but I've got two different custom builds in progress already (which should e enough for anyone) and it would be nice to stay both married and solvent. So not this time.

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Acoustic string journal

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