Interesting about Guild being first to use D'addario PB's. Got any links on this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D'Addario :
"During the late 1940s and early 1950s (especially after the birth of rock and roll) nylon-stringed "classical" guitars were being eclipsed in popularity by the steel-string guitar. Some of the younger members of the family wanted to expand into steel strings, but Charles was reluctant to risk the family business on what he considered an uncertain market. In 1956 a new company (the Archaic Musical String Mfg Co.) began to make steel strings, run by Charles' son, John D'Addario Sr.
The company made strings for several of the major guitar makers of the time, including Gretsch, D'Angelico, Martin, and Guild. In 1962 the two companies were merged under the name Darco.....
In the late 1960s, Darco was approached by Martin Guitars regarding a merger in order to pool resources and development efforts. While the partnership was beneficial for both companies,
by 1974 the D'Addario family decided it was time to market strings under their own name, and the J. D'Addario & Company corporation was formed "
http://www.daddario.com/DaddarioSplash.Page?ActiveID=1740 D'Addario's home page)
"Phosphor Bronze Wound
Phosphor Bronze was introduced to string making by D'Addario in 1974 and has become synonymous with warm, bright, and well balanced acoustic tone. D'Addario Phosphor Bronze strings are precision wound with corrosion resistant phosphor bronze onto a carefully drawn, hexagonally shaped, high carbon steel core. The result is long lasting, bright sounding tone with excellent intonation. MORE"
http://www.westerlyguildguitars.com/files/pricelists/72-7.pdf (Guild '72 price list courtesy of Westerlyguildguitars.com)
See "Special Bronze Alloy High Copper content" on that page
Yes that's a '72 list and I'm not positive that was actually the same pb that D'Addario decided to go public with in '74, but I don't have a '74 or '75 price list to compare.
What I think is that D'A was actually making it and providing it to Guild even
before they decided to "go independant", but so far I've only got this "circumstantial evidence".
The L350 and M450 sets
did become pb by definition, and Guild and D'Addario were so tight that Guild was already in line to offer it as soon as it became available.
D'A was
at least one of Guild's OEMs at the time (strings are very poorly documented, you just got the benefit of literally years of catching these tidbits as they came up and putting 2 and 2 together) and all the way until about '03 in Corona, and then starting again in '12 at New Hartford.
The only reason I say "
At least one of" the suppliers for the '70's is that so many sets were offered that I finally realized that it was possible that other suppliers might have provided stuff D'Addario didn't make, like possibly bass strings or those "Electric Spanish guitar" strings.
Another maker associated with Guild is DR, founded by Guild founder Al Dronge's son Mark Dronge.
I've seen credible assertions from at last one member that DR was a provider too, but can't recall ever seeing any corroboration from other members such as JTE and Drumbob (Guild dealer and employee, respectively) have given about D'Addario.
Anyway, that's the "evidence", that's all, I'm not out to convert you.
I'll probably try my go to Martin SPs first as I like the tone and feel from previous guitars and try from there. Nickel/Monel is also worth a shot. I recently tried Ernie Ball Earthwood strings and they felt and sounded pretty good too, esp for the $.
I just always figured if it was good enough for Guild it was good enough for me..
But as I've mellowed with age I've realized we've all got different ears and demands on our strings.
Even I've been looking for something to "tame down the jangle" and maybe be a little more finger-friendly in the last couple of years.
To which end I've been considering silk and steels.
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