Acoustic Strings

AlexHunter

What are people's preference for acoustic strings?

I don't really want to put Elixirs on, I've tried Picato and some of the cheaper Martins. What are the tonal differences between Phosphor Bronze varieties et al? 

usedtobe

No idea. I've always just bought Martin's.

mgaw

I think the choice of strings makes the biggest difference possible to how your Acoustic sounds....best bet buy a load of different ones and try them out.

personally i have tried a whole load and these were my Fav

Thomastik

Newtone

DR

i reverted to Elixir simply because i played so much i was constantly changing strings and got bored of the whole hassle.

Big difference between Bronze and P Bronze......i far prefer Bronze for bluesy stuff but again only you can decide which is for you

Sassafras

Daddarios most of the time, sometimes Martins. Been happy with those two so I've never bothered trying too many others.

ArchtopDave

I  used Thomastiks on all my guitars for quite s few years - Acoustics , Electrics, and Archtops.

Lewy

It's such a subjective thing and also hugely dependent on the guitar in question and the technique of the player

For recording and playing at home, I prefer DR Sunbeam Phosphor Bronze. They use a round core and have sustain characteristics that suit how I play. If I want a more woody, bluesy sound or on a guitar which is a little overly complex harmonically (not always a good thing), I go for Martin Retro series strings (the 13-56 set) which use a nickel alloy called Monel and give a really strong fundamental.

Those choices also work for gigging in acoustic settings where I'm mic'd up and playing to a listening audience. If I'm going to a bluegrass festival which might include a performance or two and lots of picking sessions then I pretty much go straight for Elixirs because they'll last a weekend of hard graft, they're fast and they cut through in an acoustic ensemble situation. Interested to know why you've sworn off them by the way? They do a 13-53 set which is a great gauge for guitars with a lighter build but where you don't want to sacrifice power on the top strings.

If I'm plugging in then as long as they're in decent nick I'll leave on whatever strings happen to be on the guitar as all concepts of acoustic tone are moot at that point.

ICBM

For a 6-string guitar, I like D'Addario, DR, Martin or Gibson phosphor bronze depending on the guitar. Oddly enough on my 12-string I found I like the cheap Martin 80/20 bronze ones - they just sound 'right' for some reason. (It is a Martin .)

As ever I hate all coated strings - except the DR ones, which I have on my cheap resonator because it tends to get handed round at jams... I still don't really like the feel of them, but they do sound OK.

crunchman

I use D'Addario phosphor bronze.  Have done for most of the last 25 years.

I've tried a few others over the years but have come back to the D'Addarios.  I tried some different alloys but the 80/20 bronze seems to go off quickly.  Phosphor bronze seems to last twice as long.  Newtone phosphor bronze were quite good but I had 3 sets where there was a major problem with the D string sounding horribly out of tune.  The intonation at the 12th fret was way off with all 3 of them.  They may have been from the same bad batch as I tend to buy in bulk, but after that I went back to D'Addario which also have the advantage of being a bit cheaper.

Lewy

crunchman said:

Newtone phosphor bronze were quite good but I had 3 sets where there was a major problem with the D string sounding horribly out of tune.  The intonation at the 12th fret was way off with all 3 of them.

Interesting. How is that physically possible.....for the string to be responsible for 12th fret intonation problems, as opposed to the guitar? Some problem with the core where it's inconsistent from one side of the 12th fret divide to the other?

I've had reliability issues with Newtones too, mostly the 3rd string winding coming loose regardless of how carefully the string is put on (not clipped until tuned to pitch etc). I also had wrong gauges in the packet once which was super annoying.

Evilmags

DAdarrio Phosphor Bronze or Thomastik if I´m feeling plush when I´m buying them. 

crunchman

Lewy said:

crunchman said:

Newtone phosphor bronze were quite good but I had 3 sets where there was a major problem with the D string sounding horribly out of tune.  The intonation at the 12th fret was way off with all 3 of them.

Interesting. How is that physically possible.....for the string to be responsible for 12th fret intonation problems, as opposed to the guitar? Some problem with the core where it's inconsistent from one side of the 12th fret divide to the other?

I've had reliability issues with Newtones too, mostly the 3rd string winding coming loose regardless of how carefully the string is put on (not clipped until tuned to pitch etc). I also had wrong gauges in the packet once which was super annoying.

Don't know what the cause was but but the tuning and intonation were fine when I went back to D'Addarios.

Nitefly

I've used Country Gold in past, made I think by Rotosound - not sure if they're still available.

On the wound strings, the wrapper ran the length of the string but stopped a couple of mm short of the bridge, so only the core was in touch with the bridge.  I think the idea was more sustain or something.