Favorite Strings For Your Favorite Guild

[Dadaist]

I recently acquired an '81 D55 SB (you can see it in the photograph by valleyguy under Guilldfest from a few weeks ago) which looked like it hadn't seen the light of day in fifteen years. Which isn't a bad thing, necessarily, and the strings were so oxidized that I was just glad my Tetanus shots were current; we're talking rusty.

That said, this guitar just sang with those ancient strings, and I made the deal. Got it home spent an entire Saturday cleaning it, put on a new set of Martin SP PBs Lights and was filled with anticipation when I snipped off the extra bit on the high E tuner and played my first chord on my new (to me) Guild, with my new strings.

Absolutely dead sounding..........compared to how it originally sounded. Okay....not a problem, guitars like (pick an appropriate analogy....women, cars, ....poisonous snakes of the Amazon Basin) a number of things respond differently to different wood, tension etc. I'm thinking,.."Bad strings..?" Changed them out with a set of Martin Marquis, a little better...but nothing like those unknown, rusty things. Started getting that sinking, anxious feeling that I just spent some serious cash on a bad guitar. I've been using Martins for at least 40 years, probably longer.....on everything from, yes Martins, and Gibsons before they acquired their vintage status, and were just second-hand guitars and have never had an issue before

Immediately took it to a luthier friend who also owns a guitar shop. He plays it...and plays it...and plays it....ten minutes later, he's telling me...."Man, I just love this guitar....you thinking of keeping it?.." Now he plays with a pick, I on the other hand play fingerstyle, with my fingertips....no nails or picks.
.
I've taken the guitar out to several jams since I bought it and it does sound a bit better, like it's slowly acclimating to the strings.

Just spoke to Steve Bello at DR Strings who had a few suggestions.They have a connection to Guild from the old days and I gather have several nice Guilds that they use to test their products. A number of the people I play with spoke highly of their string so I'm going to try one of their sets.

What are your favorite strings and why do you like them? Has anyone every had old rusty strings sound better than new strings?

 

[adorshki]

I'm a D'Addario EJ16 (PB .012) fan myself. Have tried both those Martin types , and yes somehow they seem to take a couple of hours or more to "wake up", but they always sounded a bit thinner than D'Addarios to me. Also I think the metal might be denser, they felt slightly harder to play. There's been a LOT of discussion here on this topic. I think some of the wisest observations have been about just how much tension the top needs for its optimum resonance. It's not just heavier strings=more energy to the top and therefore more volume... lighter strings can actually equal or even surpass heavier gauges in volume due to ability to oscillate in a bigger arc, without loading the top as much. So you may find yourself experimenting around..did you happen to save any of those old strings to have one to compare the gauge to the ones you're trying?

 

[killdeer43]

D'Addario EJ17, PB mediums work just fine for me.
If you prefer lights, just step down a notch, but stay with D'Ads and you could/would/should be happy.

Different strings for different things, :wink:
Joe

 

[Taylor Martin Guild]

D'Addario EJ17, PB mediums work just fine for me.
If you prefer lights, just step down a notch, but stay with D'Ads and you could/would/should be happy.

Different strings for different things, :wink:
Joe

D'Addario EJ-17-PB medium strings are my choice for my D-55.
The DR strings are called medium gauge but in reality they are lights.
They sound good and feel great for medium strings. At least until you find that they are not actually mediums at all.

Some folks are compromising these days and using Bluegrass Gauge strings.
The high 3 strings are lights and the bass 3 strings are mediums. I haven't tried them myself but I hear great reviews about them.

Be sure that the saddle is resting flat against the bridge. This will have a big impact on sound, if the saddle is not flat.

 

[Bikerdoc]

I keep buying these guitars from Killdeer which always come with new D'addario strings. Soooooo, I have to play the hell out of the guitars 'till it's time to put on new strings. My preference, on every guitar I own, would be John Pearse. After the first time I tried them and put on something different, I just couldn't go back to anything else. I love 'em. Why? Heck if I know. I'm not technically schooled in anything except the way my axes sound. And, to me, nothing compares to JP.

Peace

 

[Brad Little]

I'm firmly in the D'Addario camp. I've been using their Phosphor Bronze strings on my acoustics for as long as I can remember. I use .012s on my D-50 and .014s on the F-50, .010s on my 12 strings. I occasionally go to 80-20 compound on the F-50, but always come back to the PBs. I've tried other brands, and had a promo set of LaBellas that I would use again. I tried Elixirs once, hated the sound and the feel.
Brad

 

[Dr Izza Plumber]

I use 3 brands of strings........D'Addario EXP coated strings on My Guilds, Elixir Nano coated strings on My Taylors, and I have several sets of JP lights, which I'll prolly install (on the Guilds) prior to a future Guild-get-together.

I've quit buying non-coated strings, (except for JPs) due to their rapid degeneration. I can beat the crap out of the coated styles listed, and later I install the (used) coated Elixirs onto My Washburn beaters. Call Me contemptible, but I get My money's worth from those "cough mixture" wires. :lol:

 

[SkippyX]

I'm a big fan of Elixirs, 80/20 bronze nanoweb.

 

[West R Lee]

I keep buying these guitars from Killdeer which always come with new D'addario strings. Soooooo, I have to play the hell out of the guitars 'till it's time to put on new strings. My preference, on every guitar I own, would be John Pearse. After the first time I tried them and put on something different, I just couldn't go back to anything else. I love 'em. Why? Heck if I know. I'm not technically schooled in anything except the way my axes sound. And, to me, nothing compares to JP.

Peace

Hear here! On my D55.....or any other rosewood guitar.....John Pearse.........80/20 lights to be exact. That would be the JP #200L's. If you want something that won't oxidize so fast.....try Elixer.....but man I hate coated strings, feel great, sound horrible, last a long time. But you asked for our favorite strings on our "favorite Guild". That would be the DV72, again I like JP 80/20 lights on her, they just sound and feel better than anything I've used.....and they're cheap....a little over $5 a set.

West

 

[ac1dt3st]

i recently bought a brand new 2009 New Hartford Guild F50.
came with factory Guild mediums; sounded like an absolute dream,
but a bit hard on the fingers. after half a year, i replaced them with D'Addario lights.
much easier on the digits, but the sound quality took a noticeable hit.
like you, i found myself thinking, "what happened to my guitar...?"
still sounded nice, and like a Guild, but lost so much presence and nuance.

i've heard it said that the heavier the strings, the better the sound.
and, i'd say there's nothing better than Guild strings on a Guild guitar.
so... i would give serious consideration to a set of Guild Phosphor Bronze Mediums.

here's a set for $8.50...
http://www.musicpartsplus.com/Guild-Phosphor-Bronze/Strings-Electric-Guitar/Guild/-p7139781.html

i'm going to be purchasing a set myself...
.r

 

[Taylor Martin Guild]

Who makes Guild's strings?

 

[adorshki]

Who makes Guild's strings?

Nobody, anymore. Anything you see for sale is New Old Stock, discontinued by Guild. Was covered recently, I think in one of the "Let's Meet Guild" threads. The topic has been discussed here many times. I could probably be considered the anchor for the group that believes D'Addario themselves were the OEM for a considerable amount of time, at least from '80s thru the end of Westerly, and there's been evidence presented that Fender moved that business to a manufacturer they already owned shortly after the move to Corona. I personally believe those assertions are supported by the following facts: an unusual gauge combination existed in the L350 sets when I got my D25 in '97, they contained an .025 G string. Nobody else did this. Sometime shortly after I purchased the D40, IIRC, around 2004, I discovered that L350's had changed the G string to an .024 which was the industry norm for virtually every other manufacturer I could find. I think that was probably the result of the switch by Fender to their in house maker. At that time I found a bunch of the original L350's on closeout at a small music store and bought 7 sets, but THAT prompted my search for a source which provided me with the .025 gauge which was important to me for particular reasons. THAT was D'Addario. The last time I presented this info, D'Addario was the ONLY manufacturer I could find by searching websites, who even OFFERED a single in PB .025. The single most important reason I buy the EJ16's is that even though that set contains an .024 I can buy the extra .025 and sub it in to exactly duplicate the original Guild string specs for the guitar at the time of manufacture. When I compared 'em to some original L350's I had saved, I could not tell the difference in terms of any color variation in the windings, which are usually apparent when comparing strings from different manufacturers. I have never found any conclusive statement here or anywhere from an official source, identifying the OEM source, but I will always be convinced it was D'Addario until Hans tells me otherwise :lol: . I can only present this evidence of my personal observations since '97 in support of my belief.

 

[killdeer43]

Heck of a post, Al!
I'm notably impressed. :wink:

Thanks,
Joe

 

[adorshki]

Heck of a post, Al!
I'm notably impressed. :wink:
Thanks,
Joe

Thank you. I know some folks think I just come here to work. :lol: Unfortunately I just realized I may have misinterpreted the question, which could actually be "Where does Guild get the strings they put on the new guitars?" I believe Frono gave some info on this in his post about the questions answered at "Let's Meet Guild", and in fact there was no specific maker id'd, but at this time my "Search Fu" as he so aptly calls it, is AFU, so I'll leave the searching to those who want to dig deeper. Sorry! And Good Night!

 

[killdeer43]

Thank you. I know some folks think I just come here to work.

Working late are you? :?:

Joe

 

[adorshki]

Thank you. I know some folks think I just come here to work.

Working late are you? :?:
Joe

Yeah. Sales meeting. Getting my relax back on. Note my edited post? And NOW good night!

 

[JerryR]

I'm a big fan of Elixirs, 80/20 bronze nanoweb.

I use D'Addario lights myself. I always have the G string go when I use Elixirs - always playing in public

 

[ac1dt3st]

I'm a big fan of Elixirs, 80/20 bronze nanoweb.

I use D'Addario lights myself. I always have the G string go when I use Elixirs - always playing in public

yeah, you don't want to lose your G string in public...

 

[Guild Dawg]

I string my D25M with Ernie Ball Earthwood acoustic guitar strings (Light gauge). They are 80/20 bronze alloy (whatever the hell that means).

Most people I play with are into bluegrass and like to have medium gauge strings, but I like to play rock and blues, too, and find it hard to bend medium strings.

Because of the projection I get with the mahogany arched back of the D25, I don't think I lose anything in terms of volume.

There may be other equally good or better brands, but I get good results with these Earthwoods and I tend not to mess with things if they're not broke.

 

[adorshki]

I use D'Addario lights myself. I always have the G string go when I use Elixirs - always playing in public

THAT'S why I loved that original Guild L350 gauge mix! The G string is ALWAYS the first to go! :lol: When i saw that .025 in there, standard, I said to myself: "They KNOW!" :lol: