West R Lee
Venerated Member
What's the difference between a Spectrum and a Plectrum you rectum?......I mean.....reckon?
West
West
What strings do you use on your Guild?
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Paddlefoot
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Well here's my bit for walkin' the fence. D'Addario EJ26 PB custom lights. .011-.052. Thumpin Travis style bass and slinky highs. Not crazy expensive either. Martin Marquis SPs seem to last longer with great tone but I like the guage on the EJ26 set
West R Lee said:
As far as I know the plectrum, at least 12 strings, consists in a set of mixed flatwound and roundwound strings, for instance, the low E is roundwound while its octave is flatwound.
The set of Spectrum I tried on my BCS had just roundwound strings.
kitniyatran
Senior Member
The flatty varies according to the set gauges; the heavier the set, the less flatwounds it has. Don't ask me why.cuthbert said:
I was using Galli flatwound bronze on my D25, 12 - 53, wound strings all flatwound, & they lasted a good long time, as I would expect TI's to do.
Currently has SIT bronze, similar gauges, roundwound.
West R Lee
Venerated Member
Thank you sirs.
West
West
bluepen
Member
Here's another vote for JPs. "New Mediums" (12-55). Love both the 80/20s and the PBs on my Tacoma D-50!
bluepen said:
I'm liking the John Pearse New Mediums more and more. Alot of folks gets these mixed up with "bluegrass" strings. Not like them at all.
I'm not putting this in stone just yet, but the JP's PB's seem to be lasting longer for me than several other brands.
bluepen
Member
Yep. For me, the New Meds are the perfect compromise!
Martin makes some similar guage sets but only in SP's, which I don't like, and their relatively new FX's (Flex Core), which I hate. I really like their Marquis (silk wound ball end) strings, but they only come in standard light or med guage.
Martin makes some similar guage sets but only in SP's, which I don't like, and their relatively new FX's (Flex Core), which I hate. I really like their Marquis (silk wound ball end) strings, but they only come in standard light or med guage.
:shock: :lol: 8) 
Bill Ashton
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At the moment, with some other (non-Guild) acoustic player-friends, we are conducting a quazi-scientific "Stringz" experiment. The info to be gleaned from this will probably only be useful to the major experimentor for his RTaylor, Martin and Louden instruments, but I have learned a little so far.
My longtime acoustic is my '94 Gibson J-30 (spruce/mahogany dreadnaught)...she seems happy with D'Addario EJ16's, better with longer lasting EXP16's but bold, upfront and stunning with GHS Vintage Bronze. Martin Flex's and GHS-LJ were not good on this guitar.
My new GAD30PCE came with a mixture of "house strings" from the shop where I bought it, most likely Darco and GHS. EXP16's sound OK, GHS Laurence Juber sound terrible (loses all its bass response, muted) and now she has some Red Lights on it, bought on a whim, which are rather strange...to the player they sound bright and clangy, like EJ16's that haven't played-in but worse, sitting in front of the guitar ("the audience") they sound very nice.
The D55 has its original Guild strings on it (I suspect Guild Phosphor Bronze mediums) which I am battling with, but not as much as when she was new. Whatever they are, she sounds fantastic and I am sort of afraid to change them out. I have John Pearce PB Bluegrass and Martin SP PB Light/Medium's waiting in the wings...
My longtime acoustic is my '94 Gibson J-30 (spruce/mahogany dreadnaught)...she seems happy with D'Addario EJ16's, better with longer lasting EXP16's but bold, upfront and stunning with GHS Vintage Bronze. Martin Flex's and GHS-LJ were not good on this guitar.
My new GAD30PCE came with a mixture of "house strings" from the shop where I bought it, most likely Darco and GHS. EXP16's sound OK, GHS Laurence Juber sound terrible (loses all its bass response, muted) and now she has some Red Lights on it, bought on a whim, which are rather strange...to the player they sound bright and clangy, like EJ16's that haven't played-in but worse, sitting in front of the guitar ("the audience") they sound very nice.
The D55 has its original Guild strings on it (I suspect Guild Phosphor Bronze mediums) which I am battling with, but not as much as when she was new. Whatever they are, she sounds fantastic and I am sort of afraid to change them out. I have John Pearce PB Bluegrass and Martin SP PB Light/Medium's waiting in the wings...
Well, I am pretty sure I use strings on my guitars, so I will give my two cents. My old Seagull came with terrible light stock strings, which made the guitar too bright for my taste. Changed to EXP mediums...better. Never satisfied with anything else I tried on this guitar. When I got my GAD 30, I strung it with Elixers nanoweb lights. These felt great and sounded fine for the first week. After one week, they just started to sound dull. I read on this site about JP strings and tried them. Great Great Great!!!! I have only tried PB and 80/20 lights. Both sound different, but I don't have a favorite. The warmth of PB in contrast to a dry 80/20 both sound great with the mahogany back of the GAD30.
I've experimented with a wide range of strings for my Tacoma D50 and find the GHS Vintage Bronze 85/15 provide a deep, warm tone with clear treble that is not tinny. I only "discovered" these strings earlier this year but really like the tone. As a plus they don't die prematurely.
Darryl Hattenhauer
Venerated Member
I'm with sitka-spruce. GHS is what I use most.
Bill Ashton
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Little update on what I reported before...
Tried the Martin SP Light/mediums on the little Guild (GAD30 PCE), they felt so tight that it took all the fun out of playing it. Sounded good/ok.
Shifted them to the Gibson J-30, and I guess I would say they sound sort of like D'Addario EJ16's, but stilll very stiff and tight to play. Not as bad as on the little Guild, so I'll leave them on a while longer.
Put John Pearce 80/20 Lights on the little Guild. Uh, no go. It sounds like I have a different manufacturer's string on every position. No balance, some loud, some muted, all the jangle and zip is gone. Not as tight as the Martins, but stiff. No long on this guitar. Maybe I have to go back to the store-hybrid that were installed on it when I bought it.
JP Bluegrass waiting in the wings for the Gibson at some point...
Tried the Martin SP Light/mediums on the little Guild (GAD30 PCE), they felt so tight that it took all the fun out of playing it. Sounded good/ok.
Shifted them to the Gibson J-30, and I guess I would say they sound sort of like D'Addario EJ16's, but stilll very stiff and tight to play. Not as bad as on the little Guild, so I'll leave them on a while longer.
Put John Pearce 80/20 Lights on the little Guild. Uh, no go. It sounds like I have a different manufacturer's string on every position. No balance, some loud, some muted, all the jangle and zip is gone. Not as tight as the Martins, but stiff. No long on this guitar. Maybe I have to go back to the store-hybrid that were installed on it when I bought it.
JP Bluegrass waiting in the wings for the Gibson at some point...
adorshki
Reverential Member
Hi Bill somehwere around here someone observed that Guild used D'Addario but after Fender closed Westerly they switched to the Mfr that Fender already owned. Interestingly I noted that the Guild phos/ bronze lights that came on my D25 had an .025 G string but sometime after the Fender takeover they changed to an .024. Recently the only way I could find an .025 was on D'addario's website as a single in the Phosphor Bronzes. All of which leads me to suspect that D'addario was in fact Guild's supplier in the Westerly era. I suspect you'd be happy with D'Addarios for your D55. They're what I use on my babies. In the past I've been happy with GHS phosphor bronze also. Also agree with you about Martins feeling too tight. Like their guitar polish though. :lol:Bill Ashton said:
Bill Ashton
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Well...
The little Guild got LaBella Phosphor Bronze 7GPS Lights the other night...initially did not care for them, but they are playing-in nicely and sound bright but have taken the edge off ever so slightly on this guitar. Nice enough to keep on for a while to see how they work out.
(Tried out the Fishman electrics for the first time this afternoon, after resurrecting an old friend's Vox Buckingham...wow, the intro to "Eight Days A Week" sounded fine!)
For those interested, the Martin SP Light/Mediums are coming into their own on the Gibson; seems so wrong, Martin strings on a Gibson (???). Don't feel as stiff, sound pretty good, will leave them on for a while.
On another board it was said that Martin strings are being made in Mexico, at the same factory that does Fender strings, and that the Marquis are done by D'Addario. Rumour or fact, I don't know...
The little Guild got LaBella Phosphor Bronze 7GPS Lights the other night...initially did not care for them, but they are playing-in nicely and sound bright but have taken the edge off ever so slightly on this guitar. Nice enough to keep on for a while to see how they work out.
(Tried out the Fishman electrics for the first time this afternoon, after resurrecting an old friend's Vox Buckingham...wow, the intro to "Eight Days A Week" sounded fine!)
For those interested, the Martin SP Light/Mediums are coming into their own on the Gibson; seems so wrong, Martin strings on a Gibson (???). Don't feel as stiff, sound pretty good, will leave them on for a while.
On another board it was said that Martin strings are being made in Mexico, at the same factory that does Fender strings, and that the Marquis are done by D'Addario. Rumour or fact, I don't know...
Hi Bill,
Since we both have the GAD30PCE, I will say that I get my strings from immovablerock.com I think those strings are identical to D'addarios but not sure. However, they are coated and work great and sound great here in Hawaii. That is what I use on my guitars now and at their prices, no one else is close. They only have coated strings, and if someone hates those, then immovablerock.com isn't a good source, but with high humidity and salty air here in Hawaii, they work fine for me.
Since we both have the GAD30PCE, I will say that I get my strings from immovablerock.com I think those strings are identical to D'addarios but not sure. However, they are coated and work great and sound great here in Hawaii. That is what I use on my guitars now and at their prices, no one else is close. They only have coated strings, and if someone hates those, then immovablerock.com isn't a good source, but with high humidity and salty air here in Hawaii, they work fine for me.
comradebob
Junior Member
This being a string thread (almost sounds redundant) - I have a Tacoma F40 due to arrive tomorrow (Tues 11/3) (oboyoboy!). Used, so I don't know what strings are on it, but I'd more than likely slap a new set on anyway. My understanding is that Guild uses 12's on the F40, but I ran across an article/review that mentioned the possibility of using 13's on it if one wanted to soup up the bass response somewhat. Any thoughts anyone might have on that would be appreciated.
FWIW, I generally use Elixir 12's on my acoustics (no Guilds included until the F40 shows up), mainly because they sound & feel OK to me, they seem to require changing less often & I'm lazy.
FWIW, I generally use Elixir 12's on my acoustics (no Guilds included until the F40 shows up), mainly because they sound & feel OK to me, they seem to require changing less often & I'm lazy.
Darryl Hattenhauer
Venerated Member
keembo,
mmmmmmm. Hawaii. Wish I were there. It's a hypnotic dreamland.
.comradebob,
As a perpetually intermediate player, I go light with strings because they are easier on my fingers and guitars, and I can't hear much sound loss (except for 10's on an acoustic, which sound to me like a big stinking pile of Rosie O'Donnel). But I can hear the difference with coated strings.
mmmmmmm. Hawaii. Wish I were there. It's a hypnotic dreamland.
.comradebob,
Good one. As a relatively new LTGer, search posts by Coastie, who is our Comedian General.
As a perpetually intermediate player, I go light with strings because they are easier on my fingers and guitars, and I can't hear much sound loss (except for 10's on an acoustic, which sound to me like a big stinking pile of Rosie O'Donnel). But I can hear the difference with coated strings.
comradebob
Junior Member
Yo Darryl, thankee. I've read several of the Comedian Gen'l's posts while searching threads & would certainly vote to reconfirm him in that office :lol:
I fall into the perpetually intermediate category too, at best, so might be just as well to stay with the 12's on the F40. (Which, BTW, ain't arriving today after all... FedExcrement strikes again. Eh well.) I guess my concern is putting more stress on the guitar - I've no doubt it's sturdy (fer chrissakes, it's a Guild), but it is a somewhat smaller instrument compared to the full jumbos, so I don't want to take any chances. Anyway, all of this is probably premature since I've yet to lay hands on the git, much less hear it.
I fall into the perpetually intermediate category too, at best, so might be just as well to stay with the 12's on the F40. (Which, BTW, ain't arriving today after all... FedExcrement strikes again. Eh well.) I guess my concern is putting more stress on the guitar - I've no doubt it's sturdy (fer chrissakes, it's a Guild), but it is a somewhat smaller instrument compared to the full jumbos, so I don't want to take any chances. Anyway, all of this is probably premature since I've yet to lay hands on the git, much less hear it.