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Post by Infinite Ego on Jul 27, 2012 18:18:32 GMT -5
European strings get their wire from a different source than US makers. Everything in the US comes from Mapes I think
I have some Thomastik strings on now with brass plating on all the plain strings. Don't like the feel too much
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Post by aliensporebomb on Aug 1, 2012 13:57:57 GMT -5
I'm hoping for the Chick-fil-a strings. Filled with the sound of repression and hatred. Could be interesting but getting the grease off your fingers might not work.
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mirth
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Post by mirth on Aug 24, 2012 7:39:58 GMT -5
Been thinking a lot about strings lately (how stupid is that???) and been contemplating doing a lighter guage, maybe even 9s. I usually play 11s these days, but my style has been transforming the last year more and more. For about a year last year I really focused on alternate picking stuff, and I really like the progress I've made. The last year, and especially the last few months I've been really focusing on my vocal-ish playing and really getting the guitar to sing. It's not that I can't do it with 11s, but I wonder if I'd have more flexiblity and control with a lighter guage?
To reflect singing, it requires a lot of string action without the pick, and often with fingers. I notice too, most of my favorite tones out there are guys using 9s and 10s, and if they do use 11s they almost always tune down at least a half step.
I think I've been slowly removing the brainwashing I received in music school, where the guitar instructor was a fan of putting 500MCM cables on his guitar, haha. Never liked his tone either.
Weird how all this stupid crap becomes important...I really just want to play. Still I think going lighter might be the way. Hell, Page, Hendrix, Iommi, Holdsworth, etc...etc.. practically used 8s (Hendrix was like 9 to 38s or something), and all their tone kills, and is different from each other.
Anyone else going through these kind of detoxes? Haha.
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Post by Infinite Ego on Aug 24, 2012 7:44:25 GMT -5
Well, yeah I've been trying all kinds of strings lately. But 9s and 10s always get it done for me
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bear
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Post by bear on Aug 24, 2012 7:50:45 GMT -5
I used to live 11s at pitch. I had backed down to 10s as practical for my decreased adult life playing regimen. And then I got my 24.75" scale Godin with stock 9s, expecting it to be a back up and restrung, and fell in love with that guitar as is and play it most of the time.
Easier to play, yes, and easier to do slippery rock and roll tricky sounding stuff. But not lacking in tone -- you trade some heft of delivery for a richness with more harmonics in balance on the note. The one thing that I cannot get quite get happy with that I can do on a 25.5" with 10s is to get a particular pull-off to get the right snap, playing E and A on the D and G strings and pulling off to open.
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Post by aliensporebomb on Aug 24, 2012 9:38:15 GMT -5
I used 13s on that soloist for years. Down to 9.5's now, a half sized gauge between 9 and 10. I'll get it to 9s eventually but I hate restringing so...
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mirth
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Post by mirth on Aug 24, 2012 9:45:37 GMT -5
Yeah, I was using 13s for a long time. Then 12s, now 11s...I've dabbled in 10s a few times here and there, but haven't ventured down to 9s. Maybe I should? The tone thing is so funny because whatever "tone" you get out of thicker strings means less brilliance to the string, so I guess "tone" to most means very round sounding.
Its funny how it becomes some kind of macho thing in your head when you use heavier guages, even when your heros are using light as shit guages.
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Post by aliensporebomb on Aug 24, 2012 13:46:35 GMT -5
Well what I found was that with string gauge: lighter= more edge to the tone, heavier = more heft.
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Post by chromedinette on Aug 26, 2012 7:13:53 GMT -5
I have found myself with a 70's or 80's Memphis bass as the result of a trade and I was thinking of putting flatwounds on it. I will probably just buy the cheapest thing I can find.
Does anyone here have any experience with flatwounds?
On a side note, does anyone remember the Rotosound strings where the bridge end of the wound strings was plain, like a piano string? I think they were called Superwounds and i tried them on a guitar when I was a teenager. I only remember that I broke a bunch of them very quickly.
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Post by Infinite Ego on Aug 26, 2012 9:52:17 GMT -5
haven't played flatwounds since the late 80s probably. terrible on my hands
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mirth
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Post by mirth on Aug 26, 2012 15:51:02 GMT -5
I have flatwounds on my tele, they're just the daddario basic ones. Seem alright. They do what I want.
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Post by chrissh on Aug 30, 2012 14:00:46 GMT -5
How's that string mega/meta-analysis going? Any universal favorites or loathsome bane?
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Post by Infinite Ego on Aug 31, 2012 12:33:09 GMT -5
How's that string mega/meta-analysis going? Any universal favorites or loathsome bane? Oh, it's still going. The Mangan strings are still coming out on top but I do like those Pyramid nickels on some guitars. |
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bear
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Post by bear on Sept 15, 2012 12:31:09 GMT -5
Sort of off-topic, sort of relevant:
If anyone has a stash of D'Addario plastic string envelopes, each of which has a unique code, you might want to try them through the "DTrain" giveaway promotion they are running through, like, this weekend. I finally ran about 20 codes from my stock through the instant-win/entry system this morning and hit about 8 instant win prizes -- headstock tuners, XL110 packs, string cleaner stuff, and a chord-finder/metronome. Not life-changing, but not bad at all. I'm guessing they hadn't run through all their prizes yet so the odds might be higher. Or I just got lucky.
Now, if you're hating D'Addario's after your taste testing, free D'Addario's aren't helpful, but you could just give them to friends or as extras when you sell/trade gear.
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