Guild Phosphor Bronze Strings

[Don]

Hi Gang!

Got line on Guild brand strings and wondered what the consensus was on them. Specifically looking at light gauge twelves and extra-light sixes. Any perspective would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

Don Koehler

P.S. AWESOME banter regarding twelve string tone woods! You people ROCK!

 

[adorshki]

Hi Gang!
Got line on Guild brand strings and wondered what the consensus was on them. Specifically looking at light gauge twelves and extra-light sixes. Any perspective would be greatly appreciated!
Cheers!
Don Koehler
P.S. AWESOME banter regarding twelve string tone woods! You people ROCK!

Hi Don, and welcome aboard! Depends on when they were made. From late '90's through sometime in early '00's I am convinced they were D'Addario and I loved 'em. In a thread here about a year back, somebody mentioned Fender started having 'em made by an outfit they already owned sometime during Corona production. When I read that I thought: "AHA! This probably coincided with a change they made in the L350 sets, the G was changed from a .025 to an .024." I think I noticed this around 2004 and noticed they didn't seem to be as good as what I had come to expect, so I started buying D'Addario EJ16 and an extra single .025 to keep the original spec gauge set. D'Addario were the only folks that I could find that offered an .025 at the time, and that's 90% of the reason I think they were the OEM for Guild.
Coming full circle, when I saw the website specs for the New Hampshire models for the first time, they stated that the strings were D'Addario mediums. These only my observations, another member just stated today that they started using the mediums as far back as Tacoma on his Richie Havens D40. I also see now that different models are getting different gauges.
The GUILD brand strings are officially discontinued. I'd be very surprised if anything out there had been around long enough to still be what I consider to be the inferior Fender "house" product, but it could be. My money is on D'Addario, whom I personally use exclusively on my axes.
Can't think of a reason not to get 'em if the price is right.

 

[jte]

They were D'Addarios from at least 1976, but I'm sure FMIC switched them eventually to whoever makes Squier now. V. C. Squier was a string maker that Fender purchased in the very early CBS days. The last package I saw of L-350s said "Made in Mexico".

The M-450s and L-350 used to be D'Addario J-17 and J-16 respectively, and great strings.

John

 

[adorshki]

They were D'Addarios from at least 1976, but I'm sure FMIC switched them eventually to whoever makes Squier now. V. C. Squier was a string maker that Fender purchased in the very early CBS days. The last package I saw of L-350s said "Made in Mexico".
The M-450s and L-350 used to be D'Addario J-17 and J-16 respectively, and great strings.
John

Thanks for that refresher! I don't remember seeing the "made in Mexico", but I only bought one set before I figured out something wasn't right. I actually still have ONE set of the original L350's 'cause I found 6 sets on closeout when I figured out there was a change. I saved 'em for the D25 and used 'em a couple of times on the F65ce before I went back to the originally spec'd .010s. Also compared 'em to the D'Addarios which kind of removed all doubt for me at least, in the absence of any other evidence at the time.

 

[Brad Little]

The stringing room at the New Hartford shop had two rows of D'Addario strings, one for six string guitars and one for 12 string guitars. I don't know what gauges, but definitely D'Addario and not a Fender brand.
Brad
PS They also used a Peterson StroboFlip as tuner.

 

[charliea]

My NH 512 came with D'Addario EXP38's. Liked them so much, I'm now putting them on my other 12's. Much more to my taste than the JPs and DR Rares I've been using. Expensive, but they're coated and seem to last.

 

[Yoko Oh No]

My NH 512 came with D'Addario EXP38's. Liked them so much, I'm now putting them on my other 12's. Much more to my taste than the JPs and DR Rares I've been using. Expensive, but they're coated and seem to last.

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Hmmmm.....what do you mean "last longer"?? I used the Guild brand lights on my d50 for years and was very happy with their sound and longevity. I just put ej16's on it, and they sounded superior to the guilds...but lost their "ring" in about a 5 days.....

When you say "last longer", do you mean they retain the new-string ring for longer?

Yoko

 

[charliea]

Yes, the EXP38's sound new longer. I've been changing my JPs every 3-4 weeks, DRs 5-6 weeks. By that time their tone is pretty dead. The 38s on my 512 came with the guitar which was built last March. They still sound good. I've had them on the other 12's for a couple of months, and they're holding up nicely. I can get most strings on the internet for $7-9 a set. Best price I've found for the 38s is $17 and change, but they're worth it.

 

[Bill Ashton]

Don,

I'll try to answer your original question; as you can see, everybody here likes their own strings, which each has arrived upon after painstaking ( ) research...

I was able to pick up a half dozen sets of the old green label/Mexican made strings off eBay at a reasonable price. Tried them on my D55 and GAD30PCE. They were OK to good on the D55, but were very nice on the GAD. They were slightly stiff of feel, but not like Martins, better on the GAD than the D55 even though they have the same scale length. I still have some sets left which I eventually will use. Not the "best" perhaps but certainly not "bad." However I would not pay a premium price for them, nor would I buy any that do not come in the sealed cellophane type package (less likely to have corrosion after their long shelf-life.)

I will affirm that we saw them putting D'Addarios on the new guitars at New Hartford...all the little colored end-balls gave them away! Not that it is supposed to be a secret, as they list what strings are used on what guitars in the spec sections of their website. If memory serves, they use the EXP series on the Traditional Series and regular PB on the GAD series...I don't know what they use on the Standards, though now it is easy to look up and I just have not...

Good luck, and most of all have fun.

PS: The strings Guild strings I was refering above were L350 sets, .012-.053, Phosphor Bronze

 

[idealassets]

Charlie,
Can you please tell me what the "AB" and "BL" mean?

'98 JF65-12AB
'95 JF65-12BL

-Nice guitars by the way. Do you not play a 6 string?

-Thanks,
Craig

 

[charliea]

Charlie,
Can you please tell me what the "AB" and "BL" mean?

'98 JF65-12AB
'95 JF65-12BL

-Nice guitars by the way. Do you not play a 6 string?

-Thanks,
Craig

"AB" is Antique Burst, which is just one of the many burst flavors. "BL" is Blonde. I once was a banjo player. Put it aside for many years, then decided to get back into music, but with a switch to 12-string. I have zero interest in 6-string guitars, but figure with enough practice I can maybe be half decent on the twelve before the nursing home takes it away from me.

 

[adorshki]

I was able to pick up a half dozen sets of the old green label/Mexican made strings off eBay at a reasonable price. They were slightly stiff of feel, but not like Martins, better on the GAD than the D55 even though they have the same scale length. I still have some sets left which I eventually will use. Not the "best" perhaps but certainly not "bad." However I would not pay a premium price for them, nor would I buy any that do not come in the sealed cellophane type package (less likely to have corrosion after their long shelf-life.)
PS: The strings Guild strings I was refering above were L350 sets, .012-.053, Phosphor Bronze

HI Bill: If I was understanding JTE correctly, those "made in Mexico" strings are what I consider the inferior "Fender" strings. The dead giveaway is that theyll have an .024 G string. The original (D'Addario) L350's had an .025 G string. A very unique spec. Just sayin', to reiterate the point that not all L350's were created equal... :lol:

 

[Bill Ashton]

Oh, I would agree that they are the 'inferior' MIM...they are not bad, but I would not pay a premium price for them, as some eBay sellers would have you thinking they are very rare strings.

I bought mine reasonable with a bunch of other stuff in a lot, from a good eBay sellar...would not have done it any other way!