Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.
This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.
We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.
Salutes from sunny Rota just north of Cadiz. They have opened a small little guitar shop in town. Passed by the other day to check it out. Since I was in need of some guitar strings I purchased some sets of my usual choice, Luthier and Hannabach. But the owner suggested I try out Knobloch strings. I bought a set to try out, have not been able to use them yet ( Can't play for some days as I cut my finger cutting Jamon and waiting for the cut too heal).
The owner of the establishment was telling me that local pro's here have been using them with good results. Anyone in the foro have experience with this strings??? Would love to hear some feedback.
Never tried them because they set my suspicion alarm bells off. They have a deal with a number of musicians to represent them. Probably good business strategy /advertising , but has the reverse effect on me.
RE: KNOBLOCH Guitar Strings (in reply to mrstwinkle)
Will do some more research on them, see what I can find. I have limited access to internet at the moment. Once I get a chance to try them out with give some feedback on my experience. I hear what you say about advertising and pushing certain product . I should have something to say soon, It is "Zambomba" season, and I'm up to my neck in villancicos
I used them about ten years ago and they were tremendous strings at the time even if in the high price range. I say at the time because the company name (and supposedly the machines to make them) were sold and the quality or sound is sadly not the same anymore...
RE: KNOBLOCH Guitar Strings (in reply to sartorius)
Thank you for the reply sartorious Yes I payed 20 Euros for the set. I just put them on last night, let's see how they go. I noiticed the package says "Made in Spain", KNOBLOCH does not sound to spanish to me . Again thank you for inside info about them being sold, Cheers!!!
Anyone like Jamon Serrano de Jabugo( Onofre Gran Reserva 100% acorn fed,cured for 38 months). I love heading to Huelva, spending the day in Aracena and later heading to jabugo to get a good shoulder/paleta of Serrano Ham
Images are resized automatically to a maximum width of 800px
So I had a couple of days to play with these strings before handing in my guitar for a tune up. Nothing really special to say about them, I like the thicker gauge and feel, but a little to brilliant and soft for my taste ( they were medium high tension ). I prefer my guitar to have more of a dry bark.
By the way, Rafael Berciano is giving my guitar a once over, need to refret and fix some errors made some years ago when i changed my clavijeros and left my guitar with a very uneven tension on my E and B strings.
RE: KNOBLOCH Guitar Strings (in reply to sartorius)
Joselito and Sartorius
I had stock of their old strings, which you can see me use on my Ramirez. I ran out of old stock so I bought new ones, per the links in my previous message. I put them on this past weekend on another blanca I have. I got different results than usual. The new high E treble string produces a vibrato effect and it's very bad. Like the note is flat or sharp, especially when fretting in the higher registers. I don't know if it's just one bad string or just new quality control/production issues. The carbon 3rd and 2nd are okay but they are different from there older strings. The older strings came in paper thin packaging and different art work from what you get now, so I agree with Sartorius, new product and company probably. I changed my trebles to different strings no more vibrato/sharp/flat issues. I hope they make strings like they used to, they were really good.This is based on my results and in now way claiming the company sucks or are awful, just my experience with these specific strings.
I heard from a fairly reputable guitarist that the more boutique string manufacturers are forced to shop around their raw materials more often and for that reason tend to be less consistent on their sound and performance. May be anecdotal but I recently got a bum set of Hannabach's recently and went back to D'adario and La bella. I've never gotten a "bum" set from them. I loved the Hannabach's when they're "on" but that bum set was terrible.
Cuando quieras maestro!!! Just send me an address and I will make sure you get some good jamon at your door, has to be sliced and vacuum sealed to get through customs I believe
I had stock of their old strings, which you can see me use on my Ramirez. I ran out of old stock so I bought new ones, per the links in my previous message. I put them on this past weekend on another blanca I have. I got different results than usual. The new high E treble string produces a vibrato effect and it's very bad. Like the note is flat or sharp, especially when fretting in the higher registers. I don't know if it's just one bad string or just new quality control/production issues. The carbon 3rd and 2nd are okay but they are different from there older strings. The older strings came in paper thin packaging and different art work from what you get now, so I agree with Sartorius, new product and company probably. I changed my trebles to different strings no more vibrato/sharp/flat issues. I hope they make strings like they used to, they were really good.This is based on my results and in now way claiming the company sucks or are awful, just my experience with these specific strings.
Thank you for the information on your experience, I have started to experiment with other strings, been using Luthier for years and want to see what the market has to offer. Also forgot to mention, that the knobloch also had a hard time staying in tune, was constantly tuning my guitar with this set. I find luthiers hold a tune very well.
After the Knobloch disappointment I started using Savarez High Tension (520R) with great results except that the basses just wore out too quickly. The trebles are thick rectified nylon which suit me really well and last a long way.
Then I was advised by my father to use the Augustine Blue Label. Even though they are classical guitar strings they are great indeed in combination with the Savarez trebles. That's my pick now.
RE: KNOBLOCH Guitar Strings (in reply to sartorius)
sorry I do not agree at all as I really like the Knobloch Strings SN Nylon Double Silver on my Flamenco guitars. Especially my Soleá Especial 2020 Francisco Bros. sounds great with these strings. It has a wonderfully balanced crystal clear sound. I put on the SN Nylon Double Silver 400 ADN Medium High Tension on 22 May 2021 and after more than 2 months the sound has hardly diminished. The trebles still have no signs of wear from my nails and on the bass strings only now does the D string show slight signs of use. Especially flamenco chords like the Em9 sound excellent. As an example, I invite you to listen to the beautiful composition "Recuerdos" by the Mexican composer Eduardo Díaz, which I uploaded with these strings on youtube about 3 weeks ago:
Hi, Just an update: I am using now the same Knobloch strings on my two Flamenco guitars i.e. the Knobloch SN Nylon Double Silver 200 ADN Low Tension and they never deceive me. On my cheap China model Mundo Flamenco 3F (Cordoba F7) that I do not play that often they last at least for more than 6 months and on my Soleá Especial 2020 Francisco Bros they have developed a nice sound within the last weeks. I have changed them on August 6, 2021 and despite their low tension they really project well and are very easy to play. Guess, everybody knows Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler. I have recorded with these strings "Private Investigations" arranged by Olivier Hecho for Fingerstyle Spanish Guitar: Of course, I am very happy with the sound of the strings, which is not true of my performance, as I make some mistakes. Nevertheless, have fun listening to my rendition. Cheers!
Hi, A short update on the Knobloch SN Nylon Double Silver 200 ADN Low Tension I put on my Soleá Especial 2020 Francisco Bros on August 6, 2021. Their sound is still marvelous! Just listen to Bach's Bourrée I recorded today: Bach sounds great on a good flamenco guitar with Knobloch strings. Stay safe! Cheers
I was at Guitar summit fair few days ago in Germany and Knobloch was the only one who did't give me free strings ,,,man, why?...... I got free strings from Hannabach (several different sets to try out) , Dogal, etc. But i wanted to try the active SN , so I paid anyways. I put them on today and they sound and feel great though, i have to say. Its the double silver medium low tension SN
BTW, all guitar factories have high tension strings. Guess they all want to make them sound brighter and louder
The coolest guy in the fair was Boss of Alhambra.Very nice down to earth dude, we talked about his trips to Iran etc. Not even guitars. He knew a lot about us and all our city names invited me to Alicante.
As for guitars, i tried everything there, and none of them came close to sound and playability of my good old 2014 Sanchis 1F extra Sorry guys, even 8000 euro guitars. But I guess i have a special one which was maybe headed to Conde, and mistakenly ended up at my address j/k