Strings and advancement

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flyeogh

Posts: 729
Joined: Oct. 13 2004

Strings and advancement

Yup I know!!! But I was reading posts here from 10 years ago on tension, best strings, preferred strings, etc.. It is amazing the wealth of information stored away on this foro

.

My first thought is - great advice on here before 2010 but surely technology has improved strings over the last 10+ years? Or maybe not? Maybe the strings of 2005 were pretty good and all that's left for the makers is very fine tuning?

Then I found I still have sets of La Bella that are well over 10 years old

As long as they are wrapped in plastic I assume they do not deteriorate? And I doubt I'll think that they are inferior to the strings of today.

I generally use D'addario EJ45 and EJ25, and am about to try EJ47. To be honest I don't hear/feel much difference between different normal tension strings. The only thing I note is that the D'addario take some days to not need tuning every 20 mins (which for me is OK as I have 3 guitars always available).

But I've just seen on the stewmac site (my favourite supplier with prices below half of those here in Spain), GHS La Classique Nylon Strings and despite what I've said find myself tempted.

So my final question ("thought he'd never stop

") is, when I, as a beginner, find a great string for one of my three guitars will I know it? Or is it more a case of the more you spend (in general terms) the better the performance? And only you top guys with years of experience can decide if you're being impacted by string quality? Cheers

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nigel (el raton de Watford - now Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz)

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 31 2019 14:10:41

Paul Magnussen

Posts: 1805
Joined: Nov. 8 2010
From: London (living in the Bay Area)

RE: Strings and advancement (in reply to flyeogh)

quote:

The only thing I note is that the D'addario take some days to not need tuning every 20 mins (

That’s interesting: these days I only use EJ45s and EJ46s on my Spanish guitars; but one of the reasons is that I found them to stabilise quickly as compared to other strings (for example Hannabach).

Of course, it’s been a while since I did any comparisons…

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 31 2019 17:04:11

flyeogh

Posts: 729
Joined: Oct. 13 2004

RE: Strings and advancement (in reply to Paul Magnussen)

Paul I'm finding the EJ25s (the flamenco custom tension) worse than the EJ45s. But both are taking over a week. I don't remember that from years ago. Maybe I'm tying them badly and the tie at the bridge is taking its time to tighten out. Next time I'll take extra care on that. Although I'm not aware that I've changed my approach. And my La Bella I tie the same way and they seem better.

But tx for that. If they are ok with you the only other factor is me

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nigel (el raton de Watford - now Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz)

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 31 2019 18:31:44

mark indigo

Posts: 3625
Joined: Dec. 5 2007

RE: Strings and advancement (in reply to flyeogh)

i used to wander between Savarez and D'Addario

i used to reckon the savarez took ages to stretch and settle in, sounded most brilliant for a really short time and then went dead and/or broke, the d addario stretched and settled in really quickly, never sounded brilliant, lasted for ever and never broke.

i tried the so-called "flamenco" d addario set on two condes, a bernal and a Stephen Eden and they sounded sh1te on all of them and felt worse - spongy under my right hand and hard under my left - the opposite of what i want.

the Eden came with Royal Classics sonanta so after a few experiments i went back to them and stuck with them.

different sets of strings work for different guitars and different guitarists....

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Nov. 7 2019 15:59:50

AndresK

Posts: 309
Joined: Jan. 4 2019
From: Patras, Greece

RE: Strings and advancement (in reply to flyeogh)

Hello. The EJ25 has hard trebles. The EJ45 has normal. D addario is a very consistent brand and for some reason feels fast and easy under the left hand. What I have found is that they lack harmonics. Literally if you play the harmonics on the 12th fret or 7th or 5th, they sound with less volume than the savarez new crystals or luthier 20s for example. If you are looking for new things you can try aquila who is using new concepts and materials. Sometime ago I asked the royal classics which is the set carlos pinana uses and they replied that Carlos Piñana is playing with "JG Dyamic White" (DW90), but felt they were a bit pricey to try at the moment.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 26 2019 10:29:33