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Post by GuitarZ on Jun 5, 2022 9:41:42 GMT -7
Over time, I've seen a few threads where folks were looking for an acoustic setup easier on the fingers. I think one of the last triggered a little journey for me.
My acoustic is a great Martin HD-28V. It's a full & big sounding Dread. It came with Martin 13s, and I didn't want to mess with a good thing, well, until recently. I did a journey from 13s to 12s to 13s to 12s to ..., & think I'm settling back on my 13s. I stuck with Phosphor Bronze, but tried a few different brands, and was surprised by one in particular.
Martin 12s were my first stop and worked pretty well. But, the surprise came when I popped on some DR Sunbeam Phosphor 12s. The tone was full, but they just felt loose. I didn't bond, and off they came .
While traveling through the other strings, a light bulb went off: What about DR Sunbeam 13s? I bought a set. The funny thing was when I strung up the guitar and hit a chord, my wife was sitting nearby and remarked "That sounds really nice". And, it did.
The DRs really did feel like somewhere between my 'standard' Martin 13s and the 12s. I did a little research and realized the mechanics behind their strings apparently lessens tension. Hmmm. I was not expecting that. Their description says they're "more flexible".
So, long story short, if you're looking for a more relaxed feel on your acoustic and going down a gauge isn't working, try the DR Sunbeams in your current gauge. If I'm not mistaken, some folks had mentioned other 'easier playing' strings in the other threads, but I don't think the DR Sunbeams came up. I did see a few threads about great sounding strings and the DR Sunbeams did appear. I'm going to give them another shot myself.
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Post by Seńor Verde on Jun 5, 2022 12:42:29 GMT -7
Thanks for the tip! I gave my acoustic to a niece many years ago, but have been thinking about getting one again. One of the things that keeps me from doing it is the strings on acoustics are usually much thicker than I like.
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Post by RickJames on Jun 5, 2022 15:57:36 GMT -7
Round core DRs are great strings! Not sure my 00015sm all hog could handle 13’s in standard tuning
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Post by Mark (Basement Enthusiast) on Jun 5, 2022 17:48:51 GMT -7
John Pearse "phosphor bronze & silk" are great easy-playing strings. They feel so soft. I used to use the 11-49 set on my "couch" parlor guitar for a while; but they also come in a ~standard 12-53 set, as well:
"Formulated for the electric guitarist who doubles on acoustic, this set features a never before possible "playing ease" tension married with the warmth and projection for which our acoustic strings are famous. Our triple annealed mild steel is pulled through a draw plate to make an extra skinny core. Onto this is wound a silk multifilament which cushions a phospor bronze winding. This is NOT a silk and steel set. The natural edginess of the phosphor bronze winding is tempered by the silk cushion to produce a tone that studio players everywhere are likening to our 80/20 bronze sets after they have been played in."
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Post by spencer096 on Jun 6, 2022 7:06:10 GMT -7
unfortunately, only a little of the below is relevant, but ive been going thru a similar thing with flatwound strings for my archtop (mainly played acoustic)...
there was a point years ago when i was in school, when i completely lost it in frustration with my strings. i hated how they felt and sounded...regular ol nickel roundwound d'addarios were the default option. that's when i learned about round core vs. hex. ive played one set of strings with a hex core ever since (a recent experiment with labella jazz flats)...everything else has been round.
so much of this stuff is subjective, but i legitimately believe that unless you're playing metal with a lot of overdrive, the player will find exponentially more satisfaction in terms of physical experience, and satisfaction sonically, with pure nickel, round core strings (EDIT: for electrics, obviously need phosphor bronze or monels for acoustics). rounds or flats, monels for those with nickel allergies, it just doesn't matter...hex core strings don't give the player a single advantage outside of the .0005% manufacturing errors where you might get a dead string. MIGHT.
for normal derivatives of rock, blues, funk, soul, jazz, country, etc...the experience playing round core strings will be substantially better. if they're too floppy, you can just go up a gauge in tension with no setbacks in feel. the experience playing a higher gauge with round core strings is much less of a hurdle than with hex core strings...the tension and potential for fatigue are negligible, whereas with hex strings it's substantial.
for electrics, my favorites are pyramid's nickel classics (hand polished if you can find them...less string noise), thomastik infelds and dogal...unfortuantely these are all quite pricey. mangan's round core nickels are a good choice for a more affordable string...GHS boomers and DR Pure Blues (less floppy than sunbeams) are the ones you can find in major retailers. only reason i dont go with GHS and DR is because ive gone full flatwound (i preferred rounds that were fully deadened, 13-14 gauges).
all that applies to acoustic too, just the materials are different. round core will be easier on your hands, more rewarding to your ears, and a better experience all around.
YMMV, but personally? ill never play another hex core string on a personal guitar as long as i live, and never give another dime to d'addario.
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Post by GuitarZ on Jun 6, 2022 8:15:58 GMT -7
unfortunately, only a little of the below is relevant, but ive been going thru a similar thing with flatwound strings for my archtop (mainly played acoustic)... I'd say your entire post was relevant. If you and I were sitting in a coffee shop or bar, I might have been arguing the opposite of you because I would have thought most strings had round cores and that only a few were hex. And, I'd be WRONG. Well, actually, I first read RickJames " Round core DRs are great strings!" and realized I was already saying 'easier playing strings' were round core. I believe that I always thought round, hex, etc was just marketing. Play the strings and see how they sound and feel. True, but I feel like I learned something from this thread. Interesting. spencer096 also clued me in to some differences across my other guitars. I use Round Core GHS Boomers on my Les Paul. I've settled on Hex Ernie Ball Slinkys on my Strat. I honestly didn't understand why I didn't like either strings on the opposite guitars, but now it makes some sense. It was tone and feel. And, while Martin doesn't say, their Phosphor Bronze acoustic strings must be hex. I need to order some more DR Sunbeams.
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Post by spencer096 on Jun 6, 2022 8:38:28 GMT -7
unfortunately, only a little of the below is relevant, but ive been going thru a similar thing with flatwound strings for my archtop (mainly played acoustic)... I'd say your entire post was relevant. If you and I were sitting in a coffee shop or bar, I might have been arguing the opposite of you because I would have thought most strings had round cores and that only a few were hex. And, I'd be WRONG. Well, actually, I first read RickJames " Round core DRs are great strings!" and realized I was already saying 'easier playing strings' were round core. I believe that I always thought round, hex, etc was just marketing. Play the strings and see how they sound and feel. True, but I feel like I learned something from this thread. Interesting. spencer096 also clued me in to some differences across my other guitars. I use Round Core GHS Boomers on my Les Paul. I've settled on Hex Ernie Ball Slinkys on my Strat. I honestly didn't understand why I didn't like either strings on the opposite guitars, but now it makes some sense. It was tone and feel. And, while Martin doesn't say, their Phosphor Bronze acoustic strings must be hex. I need to order some more DR Sunbeams. yea, i actually checked martin strings (on stringsbymail's site, since martin's didnt say) after reading your first post...they're hex core.
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Post by John on Jun 7, 2022 4:31:06 GMT -7
After a few years of playing 13s on almost everything, I've switched back to 12s for almost everything. But I am going to try to keep 13s on my Martin dread. But I haven't played it in a while. (I rotate my acoustic just to keep things interesting and a little different) It will be interesting to see what I think of the 13s whenever I do bust it out of the closet.
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Post by GuitarZ on Jun 7, 2022 10:42:13 GMT -7
I found this very good post about hex vs round strings providing a little more underpinning to the discussion above: Differences Hex vs Round Core Strings It's a good discussion and hits the flexibility/tension differences about three quarters down. This thread surprised me when I realized I'm using round core GHS Boomers on my Les Paul and hex on the Strat and currently on the Martin. So, I made a bad assumption thinking maybe GHS is all round wound, but was surprised that their standard acoustic strings are hex. Well, maybe that's not surprising based on the referenced post speaking about hex string manufacturing efficiency. GHS does make 'vintage' acoustic strings with a round core design, and they do reference flexibility & lower tension. I'm guessing if I check other manufactures, I'll find more vintage models. Interesting. Sometimes something you try works better, and you don't know why or make an incorrect assumption. This whole thread turned on my light bulb across my varied string experiments. Cool!
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Post by spencer096 on Jun 7, 2022 12:04:45 GMT -7
I found this very good post about hex vs round strings providing a little more underpinning to the discussion above: Differences Hex vs Round Core Strings It's a good discussion and hits the flexibility/tension differences about three quarters down. This thread surprised me when I realized I'm using round core GHS Boomers on my Les Paul and hex on the Strat and currently on the Martin. So, I made a bad assumption thinking maybe GHS is all round wound, but was surprised that their standard acoustic strings are hex. Well, maybe that's not surprising based on the referenced post speaking about hex string manufacturing efficiency. GHS does make 'vintage' acoustic strings with a round core design, and they do reference flexibility & lower tension. I'm guessing if I check other manufactures, I'll find more vintage models. Interesting. Sometimes something you try works better, and you don't know why or make an incorrect assumption. This whole thread turned on my light bulb across my varied string experiments. Cool!it's a helluva wormhole to go down once you get started. i spent entirely way too much money on strings and picks...but good lord the difference was considerable. what blew me away was starting lessons with the teacher who prepped me for college...i had roundwound pyramid hand polished nickel classics on my 1979 guild artist award, he was playing a 1964 johnny smith with flatwounds...but completely blowing my guitar's volume and projection out of the water. a little context...johnny smith's signature guitar was the guild artist award before he left for gibson in 1962 to create one of the most iconic archtops ever made. point being, these guitars are essentially identical outside of body depth (the guild is 0.5" deeper)...and with FLATS it was a no contest in terms of volume and projection. asked him what he was using...this was after testing pyramid flats and rounds, TI flats and rounds, DR, GHS, stringjoy, nutone, elixir, labella...everything other than d'addario (lol). he was using dogal evolution flats made in italy...a whopping $32/pack...but a single set lasts years. they have a carbon steel wrap around a round core...something no other manufacturer does (everything else is stainless or nickel)...and that's the difference. you get the volume and treble from steel strings, but carbon is mellower and you're left right between SS and nickel at the end of the day. the minute i put em on, that volume and projection was there with zero string noise like you get with rounds. but here's the thing... i absolutely hate how they sound amplified. the set i had on before were labella jazz flats...hex core, stainless wrap...and i absolutely hated the feel of them, but man did they sound absolutely killer through my carmen ghia and princeton. the first vid has TI rounds, the second vid has labella flats. steel is more magnetic than nickel, and of course they sound different...the labellas were ideal in terms of amplified sound (but absolute dogs acoustically), TI nickel flats work great both electrically and acoustically, and i might like the TI round sound the best thru an amp but cant do string noise...but none can hold a candle to the dogal strings acoustically. it's unfortunate with the dogal, it's woof city and i cant dial it out. it's really not a big deal since i play this acoustically 75% of the time, and bought them for their acoustic sound, but a good example of how this stuff has driven me absolutely insane over the past four months. long story short...i started with TI flats and fender heavy picks, and after god knows how much money spent on them, i'll likely end up right back where i started.
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Post by GuitarZ on Jun 7, 2022 15:42:02 GMT -7
Wow! Very nice playing, tone, & feel. That's very cool.
Of course, to this uneducated ear, they both sound very good, & I wouldn't think they sound different. Listening back a second time, I can hear a difference. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the rounds have a fuller sound? Again, they both sound really good. Nice!
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Post by spencer096 on Jun 7, 2022 15:50:10 GMT -7
Wow! Very nice playing, tone, & feel. That's very cool. Of course, to this uneducated ear, they both sound very good, & I wouldn't think they sound different. Listening back a second time, I can hear a difference. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the rounds have a fuller sound? Again, they both sound really good. Nice! Thank you for the kind words, much appreciated. Yea definitely is more noticeable in person, and I’d ageee the rounds have a fuller sound…rounds have a ton more overtones which is great for rock, not so much in jazz when you have a drummer’s shimmering ride going almost non stop. Flats are all about the fundamental rather than overtones…w these fat boys, rounds can be feedback city in a heartbeat. New flats are about as bright as rounds until they mellow too. If you were in the room when my guild was playing w my teacher’s Gibson, the differences would’ve been really obvious. Man I love guitars and strings. And I loooooooooove my Carmen Ghia. Thanks for letting me rant. Edit…oh and string noise. The examples don’t catch that but if you’re lazy and sloppy w rounds it’ll be obnoxious. That said, this guy sounds freaking great w rounds.
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Post by GuitarZ on Aug 15, 2022 13:21:32 GMT -7
I thought I'd post a quick update. I'm back to my Martin Phosphor Bronze 13s on Martin Dread (HD-28V). I did enjoy the reduced tension of the DR Sunbeam round core strings. Also, when I first put them on, they projected a nice full bodied sound. However, they just seemed to fade more quickly vs my Phosphor Bronze strings. And, they just sounded very dull once they faded. It was a good experiment. I guess I just need to keep working on finger strength for the 13s.
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Post by wraparound (Steve) on Sept 1, 2022 18:32:18 GMT -7
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Post by GuitarZ on Sept 2, 2022 7:09:10 GMT -7
That is actually a very good idea. That provides the sound I have while taking a little bit of the tension off. I will include them in my next string order. Thank You!
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Post by RickJames on Sept 2, 2022 8:52:49 GMT -7
12.5 -55, seems to be a great option! Not sure if my Martin can handle them, but I much like the idea..
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Sept 2, 2022 9:55:42 GMT -7
I have D'Addario EJ15-3D phosphor bronze 10-47s on my Taylor GS Mini and they're a joy to play. Good sound too.
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