Strings (Full Version)

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Ruphus -> Strings (Apr. 1 2017 17:06:35)

It´s been craziness for sonic beauty which drew me to the guitar, even more so than it used to be the pulling music released in heaps long ago. That picking of a string which then sends vibes through your body to a sense of taste in grey cells.

And so, it is vastly a gift of the guitar which inspires me, lesser so than the other way round. And when having an uninspired or otherwise entangled period, it will usually be the strings that bring me back to the instrument. The lust of digging into a resonating gem. Producing what you listen to, absorb and enjoy.

Having had a time of abstinence, I always knew that the guitar would be lurking me back in. However, it didn´t happen this time. Not the past two times that I opened a guitar case, nor last night.

Almost always, before starting at all, me tunes the thing first. For most by ear so that an eventually controlling strobe will stand still. And always tempered. It rocks the boat then, even with strings old like Methusalem. Yes, still harmonically enough to make possibly uneven intonation from aged nylon tolerable.
But this time was one of those when even hunger after suspension wouldn´t make you relish.
Because of the strings. Insipid, lame threads that will turn even the finest instrument into a kind of a suffocated low-shelf Ibanez, Hohner or thelike.


When leaving Europe, preparing for scarce resource, me took some extra material with me, including different strings sets. Also had some more brought over from Europe later on. For who knew, maybe there was some product which I wanted to try, better even than what me is being used to since about 40 years.
Far from being systematic and of market expertise, I can say though to have tried out much of conventional stuff, and almost all that has been recommended by fellow users on fora.
Only the D'Addario Pro Arte Carbon, kindly sent over by the company, I have not tried out yet.

The other set mentioned first, after faded initial brilliance, maybe the most uninspiring product, must have been* Savarez Corum Alliance. (Not 100 % sure, for not always marking which set was lastly stringed-up on a guitar. However, almost certain that I was this label.)
Hannabach for instance appear to hold freshness and immediacy better than that.
However, what they all have in common is that they don´t come close to the crispness, vitality and durability of the original.


Augustine. Namely their blue basses, paired with any of the better two sorts of trebles (imperial or regal).

No lushness like it.
They won´t let you down, even if stringed up already in the Thatcher era, so to say. No matter how old, always retaining enough brilliance to evenly exploit a given guitars virility and never slacking away into haptic gauze-bandage.

A good guitar will never lend you less of its characteristic beauty with Augustines on it. In the opposite, it will give you more of everything.

Let alone when still fresh, which they comparably tend to stay for an incredibly long time. (Longer, much longer even than any product that I tried.) Will a certain guitar allow a broad range of dynamics and voicing? With Augustine blue it will all be there to its fullest.

The blue basses are high tension, not everyone´s bag. And it´s been ages since I tried their lower tensioned stuff (which wasn´t for me), but I´m willing to bet that it outperforms competition´s product once again.


Guess next I´ll be checking out D'Addarios carbon, and afterwards very likely looking for Augustine again.

Which is a pity, with all those sets of diverse brands left in the closet, while shopping Augustine here will cost you an equivalent of over 100 bucks in local purchasing power for one set only. (And the special trebles won´t be stocked anyway.)


There are fellow players out there, trying brand X for the G-string, brand Y for the other trebles and maybe brand Z for basses for a guitar in question. Might well be they are having their reasons.

To me the only case I could imagine such experimenting would be with a certain dud in my early days. The other nylon axes appeared balanced enough to have you rocking away rather content with Augustine on them as is ( -even a relatively bass heavy Hernandez I used to own).

Anyway, unless there be new experiences coming along, after all these years there seems no reason to me for further looking anywhere else. Apparently it won´t be getting better than with the A.B. filament. And I want to express my great appreciation for the fact that this little label did not close down; that the shop was overtaken by an employee who keeps producing this humbly entering yet maybe world-wide best product of its kind.

Thank you, Segovia.
This was possibly the best project you ever initiated.

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sartorius -> RE: Strings (Apr. 11 2017 14:02:03)

I personally play Flamenco and also Classical guitar with Augustine Blue Label basses as I discovered they just do a tremendous job. The trebles are Savarez Nylon for the moment (520). Wonderful strings that last sooooo long.

Haven't tried the trebles yet though. Might figure out they do a very nice job too. I will try them next time I change strings.

Augustine trebles were terrible at Segovia's time. Difficult to find a set that would stay tuned more than a few minutes. Things have changed now I've heard.




Ruphus -> RE: Strings (Apr. 15 2017 15:34:35)

In my time (only from the seventies until now) Augustine trebles have not been negative in any way and durable ever since. (But when the plagiarism industry started I remember to have shopped some bad sets, to which I was told that they must have been plagiats.)

Standard sets come with the "classic" trebles which are the most round and lyrical sounding ones from the brand. (Hence probably preferable for bright sounding guitars.) Next in line, a bit brighter with a tad more of tension come the "imperial" ones, followed by the "regal" trebles which are highest in tension and most bright of the three varieties.

Here are some user observations (could be though that links to delcamp won´t be showing):
http://www.classicalguitardelcamp.com/viewtopic.php?t=96755
http://www.classicalguitardelcamp.com/viewtopic.php?t=34581

Best,

Ruphus




etta -> RE: Strings (May 1 2017 15:37:42)

Tried the Augustine Blue basses; they were really stiff and not as flexible or well defined as the Corum basses.




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