D'Addario 'True Medium' strings for both standard and open (dropped) tunings

noisepolluter · October 2014

I've ordered a set of these to try on the J-45 - basically they're the bass and treble strings from a 0.13 set and the middle ones from .012

I'm curious as to whether they'll be a good multi purpose set for both dropped and standard tunings - I found that full on .013's choked the top a bit in standard, whereas with DADGAD etc on the .012's the note attack sometimes went a bit sharp.

Funnily enough I've noticed the guitar itself seems to really respond to lowered tunings - in standard it can be quite mid-dominated, but in open D for instance it's girt hugeous right across the board.

Anyway, I'll try the True Mediums for both types of tuning and report in. I might also have a go on the 'Bluegrass' set (.012 set with .013 bass) at some point.

Does anyone know of any other makes where the .012 set is slightly higher tension? I've tried the standard Martin phosphor bronze but found they go dead really quickly.

Lewy · October 2014

John Pearse do a "New Medium" set which is .013 - 0.056 with slightly lighter middle strings. Only tried them in standard, but liked them a lot on the Martin and Collings. Although I'm currently really liking Martin's Tony Rice signature strings which are similar gauges but wound with Monel (a type of nickel alloy). Not everyone's cup of tea but really great for vintage acoustic sounds.

They're all quite pricey so I probably wouldn't use them on a guitar where I was going to be changing tunings a lot because I find that shortens string life dramatically.

Not a fan of Bluegrass gauge sets - if you've got a .056 on the bottom I find a .012 on top too weedy.

noisepolluter · October 2014

Cheers mate, I'll line those up for a try.

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D'Addario 'True Medium' strings for both standard and open (dropped) tunings

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