BLACK DIAMOND’S NEW BLACK COATED  ACOUSTIC GUITAR STRINGS

The name Black Diamond has been around a long time; in fact, I bought Black Diamond’s as my “new” strings when I was just learning guitar, as a teenager.  We didn’t have the Internet then, and stores that carried guitar strings didn’t give you a lot of choices.  But Black Diamond was always there, I was glad to find them still going strong.

Things have changed a lot since then, and so has Black Diamond.  Case in point, their N600 series Black Coated Phosphor Bronze Acoustic Guitar Strings. I recently gave them a try on a black Ovation 1778T Elite acoustic electric.  I chose this guitar for the evaluation because it has a broad dynamic range which can bring out the extreme highs and lows quite clearly and accurately, without imposing its own tonal limitations on the overall evaluation. I also found the black strings on a black guitar them had a novel attraction, and just plane looks cool.

I started with the N600LB 12-53 set first, and found them to be rather bright and somewhat tinny sounding.  They got a little more mellow on the second day, but after a week I was ready to go for the heavier N600MB 13-56 set.  The 13-56 medium gauge set was more to my liking, with a stronger and richer bass and fuller sounding trebles, not too bright or tinny at all.  All six strings in the set are black coated, including the two bare (non-wound) strings. The coating seems to be evenly applied and gives the strings a slick feeling which is very apparent when your installing them. They tuned up right away and stayed in tune.  They turned out to be an excellent set for acoustic electric applications, especially when you add delay and other effects.

Low Finger Noise: The coating helps hold down the low finger noise, which helps me when playing plugged in.

Tone: Because the coating tends to give them a slightly brighter tone, the bass strings are very clear, and never muddy sounding. This comes out very nicely when playing plugged in, especially with a delay effect added. The straight acoustic tone is full and rich, also.

Fun to Play: I found them to be very good for general strumming and cross picking.  I love them for tunes with complex chord changes, because these strings bring out the subtle changes so well and clearly, even after two months of hard playing. I played that 13-56 set hard and they continued to hold up. The black coating seems to keep them fresh sounding a very long time, and the only place I saw it wearing off was at the fret contact areas and right over the sound hole, where my pick hits the strings. But the wear was hardly noticeable unless you know where to look, and it didn’t affect the sound at all.  The fret wear is only evident when you take the strings off the guitar, and you can see the under side of the strings. Otherwise, it’s no consequence.

Conclusion: I’ve never been a big fan of coated strings, but these black coated strings are different.  Their cool looks, their feel, and their clear sound sets them apart for the clear coated strings I’ve played in the past. There’s also the idea that these are authentic Black Diamond strings, the brand I first bought when I was a teenager, several decades ago; and the brand that many old timers swear by.  Would I put on another set?  You bet I would.

Where to get them: Just click on the links below.

N600LB:  12-53 Light Gauge, Acoustic

N600MB :  13-56 Medium Gauge, Acoustic

Black Diamond also has black coated electric guitar strings, but I haven’t tried them yet. I’ll get to them soon, and will let you know what I think. Other Black diamond strings can be found at the link below:

Black Diamond Guitar Strings at Guitar String Depot

Rancher 110

La Bella’s 427 Pacesetter Elite Classical and Flamenco Guitar Strings

I had put off trying a set of La Bella 427′s far too long, though I had known about them for some time.  Well, I just put a set on my guitar, and I must say “they blow my socks off”.  Man, I was really surprised and pleased at their creamy sound.  They are a well balanced set, that makes strong, full bodied chords and have excellent clarity for single notes.  They have ample volume and projection if you want to be heard, or can also sound sweet when played softly, with feeling.  My first impression of these strings is…they are great, and very versatile.  I could play just about anything with them.  Not expensive, either.  A lot more string than their price suggests.

One of the pleasant surprises with 427′s is how easy they are to install.  La Bella didn’t economize on string length, here.  You get plenty of string length for easy ties at each end of a standard 650 mm scale length guitar, with ample string to trim off at each end.  Some makers cut them a little short, making it a challenge to finally get a reasonable looking traditional tie done; but not La Bella.

More to follow, soon.  I like these strings, and I want to go play them some more.  I’ll be back with more impressions after a few days of purposeful playing and evaluation.  I wish I had tried them sooner.

Where I got them: Classical Guitar Strings at www.guitarstrngdepot.com

Link to these strings:  La Bella 427 Pacesetter Elite classical/flamenco guitar strings at www.guitarstringdepot.com

Catch you later,

Rancher 110

I just put on a set of La Bella 10PH Professional High Tension strings, and I must say I am very impressed with them.  To start with, they tuned up so quickly and easily that it could be possible to put on a set just before a performance, and play with confidence that they won’t go far enough out of tune to ruin the gig.  They seem to have very little stretch to them, and feel good also.  They stay in tune a long time, which is probably one of La Bella’s goals in creating the Professional Series.

Description:  La Bella 10PH strings consist of silver plated alloy wound bases, on nylon multi-filament cores; while the trebles (first 3 strings) are all clear, high density,  mono-filament nylon.   They are made for long scale (655 to 664 mm) classical guitars, which have to carry a little more string tension, due to the longer vibrating length.  But they work perfectly on my 650 mm Cordoba.  They were a snap to install and tie, at both ends of the guitar.  No problems or hassles.  Plenty of extra length, so I didn’t have to feel like I needed to stretch anything just to get them tied.

Impressions:  Their tone is full, rich and clear, and sound powerful with plenty of volume and projection.  The treble notes are pure and clean, and sustain a long time.  The bass notes are robust and well balanced with the trebles.  They feel very responsive, due to slightly higher tension.  Strumming 6 string chords or picking finger style, 10PH’s are a joy to play.  I love they way octave notes (played in unison) sound.  I play a lot of Jazz, and they make me sound better than I thought I was.  Sometimes, it is the strings that make the difference.

I have had them on for 3 days, now…and I didn’t have to re-tune when I picked up the guitar for the first time today.  I think the silver plating will soon burnish off, where the strings touch the frets; but that’s to be expected and won’t affect the tone at all.  I don’t think the presence or absence of the plating makes any detectable difference in the sound or tone of the strings, since it’s contribution to string mass is insignificant, and it’s primary reason for being there is for string longevity.  The way I play, though, I wear out a set of nylon strings about every two to three weeks, and put on another set anyway.

A Note on String Life:  Oh, by the way…it seems to me that nylon string life is more a function of the number hours of playing on them, and not so much the total time they have been installed on the guitar.   If I play two to three hours per day for a couple of weeks, that puts me in the 30 hour cumulative playing time range, which is where I start to notice the evenness of the string tones starting to drift apart.  It seems that I have to de-tune the G and B strings slightly to get them to blend  in.  That’s when I start thinking about the next set of strings.  So, I think the generalization that a set of strings should last for 30 hours of playing time is about right.  Beyond 30 hours, you have to make tuning compromises to keep them sounding alright, but only up to the point where you know it’s time to change strings.

Get La Bella 10PH Professional Series High Tension Strings online: Guitar String Depot

Well, that’s all I’ve to say for now.  I love these strings and will continue to evaluate them over the next week or two.  I may update this blog post, if my impressions change or if they exceed expectation.  It’s time to pick up my guitar and play something….like “How High the Moon”, or “Rainy Night in Georgia”; or even a some old Jim Reeves tunes.

See ya’

Rancher 110

I’ve always been amazed and impressed at the sound of Willie Nelson’s guitar, “Ol’ Trigger”, and the fact that he gets his sound with nylon strings.  It took a while, but I finally determined he’s using Dean Markley 2804 ball end nylon strings to get that amazing sound.  That got me interested in finding out more about not just Willie’s strings, but ball end strings in general.

Ball end strings differ from conventional nylon classical guitar strings by having metal either brass furrels or plastic beads already attached to one end, when you take them out of the package.  This greatly simplifies the task of installing the strings and successfully securing them to the bridge tie block, since the ball on the end will simply anchor the string and keep it form passing all the way through the tie block hole.  Personally, I don’t mind doing the traditional tucked under tie-off at the tie block, but it was knowing that Willie Nelson plays ball end strings that drew my interest.

I decided to try a set of Dean Markley 2804 ball end nylon strings, just to see how they would play and  sound.  They were a snap to install, and quite easy to secure at the tuner spools.  The three bass strings are gold colored and wound with a very fine wrap wire, which feel smoother than most other wound nylon strings.  In playing them, I found they were fairly quiet and generated very little finger noise.  The bass strings have regular brass furrels at their ends, just like steel strings.  The first three strings are all black mono-filament nylon, with plastic balls slipped over them.  Plain stopper knots are tied in the ends of the strings to keep the balls from sliding off.  After installing, I snipped off the extra tenth of an inch of string protruding through the balls, just for neatness.

On tuning up for the first time, I found these strings have an awful lot of stretching to do before they come into tune.  The wound bass strings finally came into tune and didn’t go flat very fast; but the treble strings seemed to take forever.  The black strings wouldn’t stay in tune for more than a minute.  I finally just gave up and let them stand overnight.  The nest day, they were completely flat but tuned up quickly and seemed to stay in tune now.  Two to three days later, they needed only an initial tuning when I first pick up the guitar, but they tended to stay in tune for quite a while, once the initial stretch is worked out of them.

As for tone, the set as a whole has a different voice.  The basses are strong and full, but the black trebles sounded a little thin when played up the  neck.  The black trebles sound great when played long, or up near the nut; but they persisted in having a tinny sound when played short.  I suppose this is fine for some genre of music, such as what Willie plays.  I found I could easily sound like Willie playing Star Dust, and the notes and chords just seem to invent themselves and lead me along…naturally.   It doesn’t matter if I play hard or softly; these strings respond appropriately, and don’t sound over-driven.  Maybe that’s one of the reasons Willie plays them.   Or could it be there’s something magic about those black strings…so different from other strings that they empower you just let it all hang out, and go for it.  Maybe it’s that “black sheep” image the black strings suggest; but whether a chord melody or a penetrating solo, these strings have a special character that fulfills the emotion of the melody, with raw honesty and boldness that can hold its own, even in a Texas beer joint.

You can find Dean Markley 2804s online at Guitar String Depot, as well as some other ball end nylon strings, including:

• Dean Markley 2802 ball end classical nylon strings, with silver basses and clear trebles
• Dean Markley 2904 ball end classical nylon strings, with gold basses and black trebles…as described above
• La Bella 830 ball end nylon strings, with black trebles and metal balls (furrels) on all strings
• Martin M160 high tension, ball end classical nylon strings with clear trebles and silver plated basses

I had fun with these strings and I’d advise anyone who whats to sound like Willie Nelson without knocking a hole in his guitar to get a set, and try them out.  They are a bit different, but so is Willie.

Best of luck,

Rancher 110

I just want to share this eye opening “discovery” with anyone who wants a sweeter and mellower sound out of an archtop electric guitar.  I had heard about this some time ago, but had not tried it for myself until yesterday.   I put a set of acoustic strings on my archtop, just to see if the myth was true….and I was amazed at the difference, and pleased with the sound, feel, and playability.

I removed a set of Ernie Ball nickel plated steel, round wound strings (11-52′s) and put on a set of SIT GB1252 Golden Bronze 80/20 (12-52′s), since they are inexpensive but of good quality.   The installation was a snap, as I replaced one string at a time, in order to keep the bridge in place and set to its proper position for good intonation.  The SIT’s tuned up right away and held their tension after the initial tuning, even after a couple of hours of joyful exercise.

The sound is a bit different than what I had with nickel plated steel wound strings, since the magnetic  cross-section of the acoustic strings is only the core wire itself.  This made for a softer and weaker signal to my amp (Fender Blues Junior), but it’s easily taken care of with some simple adjustments.  I just adjusted the individual pole heights under the wound strings upward, to gather more magnetic influence form the strings, until I matched the volume of the bare first and second strings.   After that, I had evenly voiced strings with a warm sound much like that of Joe Pass and the other masters form the golden age of Jazz guitar.    The most delightful difference was the fact that I could play with more intensity, without having the bass strings get too boomy.   That’s just the magnetic effect.  There’s also the acoustic factor, in which the wood of the guitar flavors the tone of the overall sound.  I think the acoustic strings bring out the natural wood tones (spruce top on a maple body) better, and it adds a nice element to the overall sound.  The body tones come back into the strings as they vibrate, and allow the body tones to be heard  through the pickups.

EQ:  This is up to you, but here’s how I like it.  I play with my guitar volume at or near max all the time, and the treble trimmed back to about 70-80 percent of max.  I set the amp treble, mid, and bass knobs at 4-4-5, respectively; and the preamp volume at 3.  I use the master volume as the main amplitude control, setting it anywhere form 3 to 5, depending on how loud  I want to be.  The “Fat Switch” is OFF, since it tends to muddle the beauty of chord melodies, and covers up the subtle inflections given to specific notes in lead lines.  It’s okay for some things; but not for smooth chord melodies.

I found it much easier to play finger-style Jazz with acoustic strings.  They feel softer and more flexible than electric strings, and they convey my mood and feelings much better.  I felt I had to hold back with nickel plated steel electric strings, since they tend to over react with massive increases in volume if I would give it just a little more feeling and energy.  Not so with acoustic strings.  They are a good match for me, and I’d recommend trying them to anyone who loves his archtop and wants to get more out of it.

I don’t think it makes a lot of difference which acoustic strings you use, since the magnetic influence on the pickups is due totally to the core wires in the wound strings, and the diameters of the bare strings of course.   However, the winding alloy probably affects the natural body tone of the instrument, just a little; and that may detectable in the degree of warmth or brightness of the overall tone.   I am quite happy with the 80/20 bronze strings, for the moment; but I’ll try other alloys as time goes by.

Where to get strings:

Guitar String Depot:  www.guitarstringdepot.com

SIT Acoustic Strings:   click here

I hope this sheds some light on your questions about guitar strings, and how they affect the overall sound and personality of your guitar.  Don’t be afraid to experiment, and see for yourself what you can do just by changing the type of strings you play.

Rancher 110

I must say that I learned to love these strings, and to appreciate them more and more every time I picked up my guitar.   They are a bit different form “ordinary” nylon strings and have excellent physical qualities that make them a great guitar string.  It’s the natural physical and mechanical properties of the carbon composite materials used in making these strings that really sets them apart.   Being able to carry higher string tensions, standing up to hard playing, and holding on to their acoustic and harmonic qualities is what they are all about.

I put the first set on my Cordoba C7, with a cedar top and Indian rosewood body.  The guitar itself has a tendency to sound a little deep and dark, but I really came to life when these strings finally settled in.    At first, I wasn’t all that impressed, but kept an open mind.  They sounded a little bright at first, and wouldn’t stay in tune very long, since they tended to have a lot of initial stretching in them.  However, somewhere around the third day they settled in and began to hold their tuning.   From that point on, I began to appreciate their special characteristics and the wonderful voice that gave my Cordoba.  Their brightness had lost it’s crisp edges and the trebles began to produce sweeter tones.  The basses were always full and rich sounding from day one, but now all six strings were working together.

These strings carry a bit more tension than “normal tension” strings, and conduct every vibration to the soundboard with excellent fidelity.  The trebles have smaller diameters than most classical strings, so their spacing and feel under my fingers is very comfortable and it gives me a feeling of confidence that the string is there and ready.   They respond immediately and I found I could out-run them with fast picking.  The feel a little like steel strings because of their smaller diameter and higher tension, yet they produce beautifully clear tones and excellent harmonics.

Volume:    These strings have a ample volume, and it’s evenly distributed across all strings.  They can be played softly or vigorously, to alter the projection; and always sound great at any volume.  You won’t have any problem being heard with these strings, and some people may think your are playing through an amp.

Intonation:   Very good.  I don’t know why some people have complained about intonation inaccuracies with these strings, unless it’s due excessively high string action.  I personally like a fairly low action, even with nylon strings.  I find the higher tension strings have very little excess movement when they vibrate, and don’t tend to rattle against the frets at low action heights.  But getting back to intonation, it’s the low action height that minimizes intonation problems.   That’s because low action means you don’t have to stretch the strings so much when you fret them, thus minimizing the increase in tension due entirely to fretting action.  I have no complaints about intonation on my Cordoba, and feel that such minor problems can be moderated out through proper set-up.  I also increased the truss rod tension to compensate for the extra load on the neck created by the higher tension these strings carry.  I left a very small amount of relief in the fretboard and have had no problems with buzz.

Materials of Construction:  Savarez Corums use a carbon composite filament material for the cores of the bass strings and the bodies of the treble strings.  The material itself looks very much like regular nylon, except it’s a little darker in color and not completely clear.  The bass strings use multi-filament cores wrapped with silver plated copper windings.  They are rather smooth and don’t produce much finger noise.  They have a firm feel that’s reassuring, and a warm bass tone.   The trebles are mono-filament strings of the same carbon composite material, and feel and sound great.  These strings have a fair amount of elasticity when they are fresh out of the package; but it seems to disappear quickly as the set is played and re-tuned.  Eventually, they reach a point at which the initial elasticity has left and you are down to the pure and stable string condition, in which very little stretching or “creep” will occur.    As they aged a couple of months, they seed to start feeling harder and held their tune a very long time without having to make any tuning adjustments.  I played them for two to four hours every day for three months, then decided to take them off and give another type of string a chance.  I like to test and evaluate strings, so it was time to try something else; even though I wasn’t done with these.  (Can’t wait to get back to these after finishing the next evaluation.)

Why I like them:  I like they sound in Jazz and especially chord melodies, with lead line finger picking interspersed.  They are a natural form my style and are well suited to my Cordoba C7.   I’d recommend them to anyone who has played steel strings for a while and is “crossing over” to nylon, because they make the transition much easier.  Yes, they cost a little more than ordinary strings, but they are really worth it.   Anyway, don’t we consider an investment in quality strings money well spent?   I do.

Where to get them:  Savarez 500AJ at Guitar String Depot.

You might also want to check out the other classical guitar strings offered there, including more offerings from Savarez.

I hope this was helpful.  I will be evaluating other strings from time to time, and posting my conclusion and impressions; so keep an eye open for new postings.  (Coming soon:  my impressions of Augustine Red Label classical guitar strings)

Rancher 110

P. S.   Hey, even Willie Nelson plays nylon strings.

I love all guitars, and maybe that’s a problem.  But, here’s my old Epiphone AJ-15  that’s such a comfort to hold and play, that it warms me up on the inside…just like a hot breakfast.

I’ve had this guitar for about five years, and it just gets better with age.  Just as eating a good breakfast is important to us, putting good strings on your guitar makes a huge difference.  Since the original Epiphone strings gave out, I’ve been using mostly Elixir POLYWEB’s and D’Addario EJ16′s and EJ17′s on this guitar.  All of these strings make this guitar sound good,  even though I bought for just $167.

It’s currently shod with John Pearse 700M’s, which are 13-56 phosphor bronze medium gauge strings.  They make this guitar sound strong and rich, full of life, energy, and that classic acoustic guitar sound.  It had Elixir’s for nearly a full year, before the John Pearse strings.  The Elixir’s had a brighter tone, that worked well with this guitar.  But, I wanted to see how John Pearse strings would do on it.  Both Elixir and John Pearse strings are good matches for this guitar, as are D’Addarios, and what I put on next is just a matter of what’s handy.  Any of these choices is a winner.

The point is this:  You don’t have to have an expensive guitar to get great tone.  Just put good strings on a good basic instrument and it can sound and play like many of the expensive ones.  There are plenty of medium and low priced guitars with tons of sonic potential that can be expressed better with good strings.  “Good” doesn’t mean expensive, but refers to the quality of materials and consistency of manufacturing to the prescribed specifications of the given string manufacturer.   Most string manufactures have high quality assurance and quality control standards, but most make a wide variety of strings, to cover as much of the market as practical.  Once you find “your strings”, you can keep going back to them when you need new strings.  Many people who have found “their strings” play the same brands and set designations for decades, many on the same old instruments.   Getting comfortable with a guitar and finding the right strings for it is “a process”; but when you find what you like…stick with it.  Good strings are a lot less expensive than a three thousand dollar guitar.  Here are some links that may be of interest. 

Elixir acoustic guitar strings

D’Addario acoustic guitar strings

John Pearse acoustic guitar strings

I hope you find your strings.  It’s worth the pursuit.

Rancher 110

Elixir guitar strings have always been something I would “treat myself to”, once in a while.  That’s because they have always been a little on the expensive side, but I never regretted putting out the few extra bucks for their wonderful sound.  Plus, they always seemed to last such a long time that I didn’t have to change them like “ordinary” strings.   Well, now Guitar String Depot (my website) has finally started carrying them, and we don’t charge an arm and leg, or a percentage from your next gig.

What’s so great about Elixir strings? Well, let me begin by telling you their coating really work, they sound great, and they last long enough to pay back the extra investment and then some.  They come with either of two amazing, proprietary coatings that give them super endurance, a great feel to the touch, and rich tones.   I’ve never been a fan of “coated strings”, but Elixirs are the exception.  Their POLYWEB and NANOWEB coatings actually enhance the tone of the strings.

POLYWEB is the thicker of the two coatings, and it actually makes 80/20 bronze  wound strings sound warm.  This means a set of POLYWEB 80/20 strings sounds as warm as uncoated, high quality phosphor bronze strings, with equal volume and responsiveness but lasting a heck of lot longer.  No you can’t see the coating, unless us use 10-power or stronger magnification, but it’s there.  It gives the strings a sheen that makes them feel smoother, and cuts down on finger noise.  POLYWEB strings are only available in 80/20 bronze, which I think is a good thing.  I’ve used them rosewood and mahogany body guitars, and they brought out the warmer tones of the instruments.

NANOWEB is a slightly thinner coating that lets the brightness of the strings come through, and feels the same as uncoated strings without damping the strings natural elasticity and willingness to vibrate.   It gives the same long life to the underlying strings as POLYWEB, and comes on 28/20 bronze and phosphor bronze strings.

Anti-Rust Plated Plain Steel Strings: Elixir didn’t forget about the bare strings.  All bare strings in POLYWEB and NANOWEB sets are treated with Elixir’s Anti-Rust plating, which protects the plain strings for attach the elements and keeps them fresh sounding almost forever.  You can’t see or feel the plating, but it really works.  It lets the bare strings have the playing endurance of the wound strings, so you don’t have one or two strings going bad while the others still sound great.

Elixir acoustic guitar strings are available at the following links:

• Elixir Strings as a category
• Elixir 11000 POLYWEB 10-47 Extra Lt. Acoustic
• Elixir 11050 POLYWEB 12-53 Light Acoustic
• Elixir 11100 POLYWEB 13-56 Medium Acoustic
• Elixir 11027 NANOWEB 11-52 Custom Lt. Acoustic
• Elixir 11077 NANOWEB 12-56 Lt. Medium Acoustic
• Elixir 11102 NANOWEB 13-56 Medium Acoustic

I didn’t make this up, or just copy some advertising hype; I really believe in these strings.  They are well the money in terms of my satisfaction with their tone, their feel, the way they make my guitars sound, and their long playing life.   They actually save me money in the long run, by eliminating the need to buy new strings prematurely.  I strongly recommend taking a look at them, and even trying some out if you haven’t already.

Sincerely,

Rancher 110

I guess the thing about Indian Summer is that it seems to bring a fresh start and outlook on life, with it’s warm weather and colorful scenes.   Here in the Hill Country, there’s only a brief “cool spell” to mark the end of summer, the Indian Summer steps in.  New flowers spring up, thinking the brief cools snap must have been winter, and not spring must be here.

This fresh outlook also applies to taking another look at 80/20 bronze acoustic guitar strings.  They are a bit different, but in a good way, as I found out.  I have a Gibson with an Indian rosewood body, which had begun to sound kind of dull with it’s phosphor bronze strings.  So I thought I’d try a set of 80/20′s, just to see what they would sound like on this guitar.  I must say that I was surprised at how they “woke up” the tone of the rosewood body and spruce top.   Yes, they are somewhat bright in their tone, but that’s exactly what this guitar was waiting for.   Rosewood is known for its wide acoustic spectrum, and for sounding a little “dark” as your strings age; but the 80/20 bronze strings gave it a just enough “brightening” to wipe out that dark tone, and fill it with a new warm tone.  This guitar now has that full spectrum sound you used to hear on soft rock recordings, a few decades back.  Much to my surprise, 80/20 bronze seems to be an excellent choice for bringing out the tones that had been hidden in the dark shadows of the wood.  It’s the kind of sound that seems to fit in with color of the leaves,  orange pumpkins, and clear blue Indian Summer skies.

If you’ve been focused on phosphor bronze acoustic strings for a while, maybe it would be  good to try a set of regular old 80/20 bronze strings for a while, especially if you have a dark toned rosewood or mahogany bodied guitar.   The ones I put on are SIT Golden Bronze strings, but some other good brands are available and are all worth a look.   I’d suggest any of the following, though this is not an all inclusive list, by any means.

• D’Addario EJ10, Extra Lt 10-47 Acoustic Guitar Strings
• D’Addario EJ11, Light 12-53 Acoustic Guitar Strings
• D’Addario EJ12, Medium 13-56 Acoustic Guitar Strings
• John Pearse 100XL, Extra Light 10-47 Acoustic Guitar Strings
• John Pearse 200L. Light 12-53 Acoustic Guitar Strings
• John Pearse 300M, Medium 13-56 Acoustic Guitar Strings
• SIT GB1048, Extra Light 10-48′s
• SIT GB1254, Light  12-54′s
• SIT GB1356, Medium 13-56′s
• SIT Silencers, three gauges form 10-50 to 13-56

These are all excellent strings, and could do wonders for refreshing your sound, and your enjoyment.  Check them out, and dare to try some.  I think you’ll like the way they sound.  You can always go back to phosphor bronze later.

For those who may have been wandering how the “baby deer” is doing, well here’s a picture of her I took this morning, just after sunrise.  She has lost all of her spots, and is becoming a beautiful little white tail doe.   This picture (right)was taken through a window on the east side of the house, as she and her friends grazed and explored things around the house.  He mother was abut a hundred feet away, back under the trees.  The lower picture is some of her friends, who were about seventy-feet away.

Rancher 110

Learning By Experimentation:

Several months ago, I lowered the saddle on the my guitar, to get an ultra low action.  I got what I wanted in action and playing ease, but the tone suffered a little.  It lost it’s rich, full bodied tone I had enjoyed before. I just put up with it for a while, even changed strings but it didn’t help.  Recently, I decided to gain back some of my lost tonal quality and powerful volume by putting in a slightly taller saddle, and worry about string action height later.

I fitted a fresh bone saddle and set it a littler tall, just to get a reference for a starting point.  The string action height was a little too high for my liking, but the tone and volume were incredibly good.  I had clear and distinct treble voices and a full and well rounded mid-range and bass, plus tremendous sound volume.   I liked the sound, but I took the saddle out and sanded the bottom edge down and refitted it a couple of time until I got an acceptable playing action height.  With each incremental reduction in height, I had a perceptible change in tone and volume.  I stopped sanding it down before I ended up back where I had started, which was a very good compromise between loosing the sound I liked and bringing the action down to the deck.

Lesson Learned:

The higher the saddle, the louder the volume and the clearer the tone.  However, too much height can give you a high string action (height of strings above the fret board, measured at the 12th fret), which makes it a little harder to play.  A high saddle gives you great volume and tone, which tends to get weaker and thinner as you decrease saddle height.  So, we have to find the right balance between saddle height for tone, balanced against its effect on playing action.

Why It’s This Way:

It’s really quite simple.  Modern fan braced classical guitars and X-braced steel string acoustic which anchor their strings at the bridge rely on the torque effect of the strings pulling on the bridge to produce their volume and tone.  They are designed to react elastically to this torque, as well as enabling the top to sustain the steady pull of the strings.  But it’ the torque that’s important here.   Torque is simply a rotational force, which is the product of the string tension load multiplied by the height of the saddle above the top of the guitar.   For any given set of strings, it’s quite easy to see that the height of the bridge saddle above the top has a tremendous effect on the amount of torque transferred to the top.  The greater the torque, the greater the sound.

Here’s a hand sketch to illustrate how this works:

The Simplified Sketch helps define the significant parts of bridge, saddle, string, and guitar top relationship.

The Free Body Diagram shows the forces and spacing factors involved.    The “M” in the diagram comes form the engineering term “moment”, which refers to the bending or twisting effect an off-set load has at its support point.  Here, M is the torque input to the guitar top by the string tension t acting through height h above the guitar top.

Not About Archtops:

It should be obvious that this doesn’t apply to guitars with trapeze tailpieces, which transfer the string tension load to the tail end of the guitar.  On these guitar, such as a jazz archtop,  the bridge experiences no torque input form the strings.  There, the string load provides a vertical load, downward through the bridge, to the guitar top.  Such guitars have no need to braced for torque input, and are usually braced to react to the vertical load only.

Conclusions:

This article is intended to explore just one aspect of guitar set-up, specifically how saddle height affects the sound of the guitar.  It’s tempting to discuss other topics, such as neck relief; but I want to stay focused on the main point.  This information about saddle height also applies to flat top guitars with height adjustable bridges, which aren’t too common anymore.   I happen to have an older Gibson with an adjustable bridge, and I can say the effects I described above have also been proven true on that guitar as well, where  it’s a simple matter of just turning a coupe of screws to change the string height.

1. If you sand down the saddle to lower the action, you will sacrifice the tone and volume you had, and weaken the voice of the instrument.  Set your saddle height according to what your ears tell you, not your fretting hand.    You want to optimize your saddle height to give you the sound you want, not the playing action.

2. If you strings are too high for comfortable playing, examine the entire “set up” before deciding to lower the bridge saddle.  There may be another way to lower the string action, such as a modest truss rod adjustment to correct excessive neck relief.

Notes:

1. Guitar at Top:  Gibson Songwriter Deluxe Cutaway, vintage 2005.   The saddle is a freshly fitted, new bone saddle.   I actually sawed the saddle blank form a cow bone, cut it to size, shaped and finished it myself; and lightly polished with 600 grit sandpaper.  The tone is wonderful.  You can’t beat bone for tone.

2. Guitar at Bottom:  1970 Gibson Jubilee Deluxe.  The adjustable bridge makes it too easy to change string action height; a feature not found on many newer guitars.  The Crestwood Model 2010 is a good example.  It still has an adjustable bridge.   Click here to see.

3. Images:  Those of the Gibson Songwriter are my own images, taken with my Pentax K20D, using my 50 mm manual focus Pentax lens, and no filters.  All pictures were taken in mid afternoon, outdoors, under a partly cloudy sky in late July.   I prefer to get my own pictures, so I can emphasize what I want to say.  You can click on the images above, and they should expand to larger views for you.  I also took the shot of the Jubilee Deluxe, but with a point and shoot Nikon.  This was an indoor shot, using natural window light.

Be sure to visit my website, www.guitarstringdepot.com if you’d like to browse for new strings, straps, tuners, capos, amps, effects pedals, or even stringed instruments.

Life is good.

Rancher 110