Hello Friends

Joined
Dec 16, 2018
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Proud owner of a new M40 Natural. It's my first Guild and I just love it like a first child. I am a full-time RVer with room for just one guitar and it replaces a dread that was too big for both me and the RV closet. What a great little guitar. Very balanced and responsive but I have had to go to a much lighter pick. The Primetones I have used do the M40 no justice so now I'm using an Ultrex .50 which doesn't kill the sweet tone.
Now I know this guitar has inherent limitations due to its size but like anybody I want to maximize it's potential. Who out there can recommend strings and pick material to make this little gem all it can be. I don't dislike the strings on it, whatever they are, but must be some kind of uncoated PB Lights. The Ultrex .50 I'm playing by default because that's what I had that thin in my jar but what, do you all think?

Happy new member of the Guild family.
Pat H.
 

davismanLV

Venerated Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2011
Messages
19,197
Reaction score
11,816
Location
U.S.A. : Nevada : Las Vegas
Guild Total
2
hey Pat, welcome!! i use Dunlop 0.73 nylon as my favorite. you'll get lots of people who need/like different picks but I've lost all my grey ones, so now I'm scrambling and next string order i'll get a ton more. Where do they go????

I like the smaller guitars, so much. Don't think of them as LESSER guitars, just different.

Welcome...... :encouragement:
 

Stuball48

Senior Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Oct 22, 2017
Messages
4,736
Reaction score
2,534
Location
Dickson, TN
Welcome Pat! You are among great guitar people and Tom is one. Their advice has been so valuable to me and as a beginner I use two picks--nylon my favorite-.073 on my light strung guitars and .088 on my medium/light hybrid(D'Addario EJ14s or EJ19s) strung guitars.
And Guild guitars will make you build a larger closet or trade RVs--BEWARE!!
 

mavuser

Enlightened Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2010
Messages
8,128
Reaction score
2,636
Location
New York
I have an F-20 which I think is the equivalent of the new M-40, on which I use John Pearse 550SL’s (11’s).

I also have an M-20 and use Martin Retro 11’s on that.

have fun, and welcome!
 

killdeer43

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2008
Messages
21,848
Reaction score
111
Location
Northwest Washington on the Salish Sea
WELCOME TO LTG, Pat!
My choices are the end result of 48 years of trying everything under the sun.
String choice: D'Addario EJ19 Bluegrass.
My all-time favorite pick is a Clayton .63 mm.

*I'm liking the smaller bodies more and more, too.

Stick around and enjoy your time here, :joyous:
Joe
 

AcornHouse

Venerated Member
Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
10,214
Reaction score
7,213
Location
Bidwell, OH
Guild Total
21
Welcome Pat!
I like 80/20 11s on my small bodies, D’Addario Custom Lights usually.
As far as picks, I’ve tried many varieties, and I think the basic celluloid .88 (-ish) sounds best on acoustics of all shapes and sizes. It’s stiff enough to dig in, but flexible enough for speed. And the celluloid brings out the best of the strings.
 

walrus

Reverential Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Dec 23, 2006
Messages
23,957
Reaction score
8,019
Location
Massachusetts
Welcome, Pat! Great guitar! I use Dunlop Ultex .6 picks, so you are already close with your .5's!

walrus
 

dreadnut

Gone But Not Forgotten
Gone But Not Forgotten
Joined
Jun 15, 2005
Messages
16,082
Reaction score
6,442
Location
Grand Rapids, MI
Guild Total
2
Welcome, Pat! I concur with the EJ-19 Bluegrass strings. I tend toward a heavier pick, (1.0 and up) and I prefer the "Brain" or Cat's Tongue" picks (nylon) because they grip your fingers. I think the nylon picks produce the best acoustic sound.
 

Stuball48

Senior Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Oct 22, 2017
Messages
4,736
Reaction score
2,534
Location
Dickson, TN
Welcome, Pat! I concur with the EJ-19 Bluegrass strings. I tend toward a heavier pick, (1.0 and up) and I prefer the "Brain" or Cat's Tongue" picks (nylon) because they grip your fingers. I think the nylon picks produce the best acoustic sound.
I drill five 1/8" (.125) holes in my picks for better gripping.
 

D30Man

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2015
Messages
2,949
Reaction score
998
Location
Rockwall, TX
Guild Total
5
Welcome Pat! And like some others have said, good luck keeping it at just one Guild!! I do not really have much if any experience with the smaller bodies, but as you see there is no shortage of great advice here. Good luck!
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
Proud owner of a new M40 Natural. It's my first Guild and I just love it like a first child. I am a full-time RVer with room for just one guitar and it replaces a dread that was too big for both me and the RV closet. What a great little guitar. Very balanced and responsive but I have had to go to a much lighter pick. The Primetones I have used do the M40 no justice so now I'm using an Ultrex .50 which doesn't kill the sweet tone.
Now I know this guitar has inherent limitations due to its size but like anybody I want to maximize it's potential. Who out there can recommend strings and pick material to make this little gem all it can be. I don't dislike the strings on it, whatever they are, but must be some kind of uncoated PB Lights. The Ultrex .50 I'm playing by default because that's what I had that thin in my jar but what, do you all think?

Happy new member of the Guild family.
Pat H.

HI Pat, welcome aboard!
According to Guild Website they're supposed to be D'Addario EXP-16, coated PB lights, so at least you know what you're starting with.
Lot of D'Addario love 'round here, Guild's used 'em as their OEM supplier for decades except for a short period from around '03 to '10 when Fender shoved an in-house made set (Squier, I think it was?) down their throats.
But they didn't start using coateds as standard until New Hartford in '10, or was it '11?
RE picks I'm a Dunlop nylon fan, too, the ones with the stippling.
They have a .060 and a .046.
15388-JD44P60_super.jpg

Interesting I see Tom says he uses a Dunlop .073, that used to be my favorite years and years ago too, but I went to .060's when I started getting to know my F65ce better, since it was designed for "Extra lights" (.010-.047)
 

Rayk

Enlightened Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2015
Messages
5,769
Reaction score
1,173
Welcome Pat nice guitar 😀
Picks for me are cool juratex .06 thin but I choke on them and it firms in the tip ,only pick I care to use .
String are Eluxer Nanowebs .
 

Charlie Bernstein

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2017
Messages
1,574
Reaction score
1,169
Location
Augusta, Maine, USA
Welcome!

D'Addarios are my first choice. They're pretty much the industry standard, for good reason.

By the way, I've heard from several places that coated strings were originally created because the strings in music stores went dead so quickly that the guitars didn't sell well. Manufacturers started putting coated strings on before shipping them out to retailers. It cost a little more, but their guitars sold much more quickly.

Then string makers said wotthehell and started selling them over the counter - with great fanfare and for a handsome price!

Nothing wrong with coated strings, nothing wrong with uncoated. It's like arguing about mahogany versus rosewood. What you like is what you like.
 
Last edited:

Charlie Bernstein

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2017
Messages
1,574
Reaction score
1,169
Location
Augusta, Maine, USA
HI Pat, welcome aboard!
According to Guild Website they're supposed to be D'Addario EXP-16, coated PB lights, so at least you know what you're starting with.
Lot of D'Addario love 'round here, Guild's used 'em as their OEM supplier for decades except for a short period from around '03 to '10 when Fender shoved an in-house made set (Squier, I think it was?) down their throats.
But they didn't start using coateds as standard until New Hartford in '10, or was it '11?
RE picks I'm a Dunlop nylon fan, too, the ones with the stippling.
They have a .060 and a .046.
15388-JD44P60_super.jpg

Interesting I see Tom says he uses a Dunlop .073, that used to be my favorite years and years ago too, but I went to .060's when I started getting to know my F65ce better, since it was designed for "Extra lights" (.010-.047)
I love Dunlop's nylon strings - they don't slip out of my fingers like smooth picks do. I recently shifted from the gray mediums to the black heavies: since I took up mandolin, heavier picks have become more weildy for me.
 
Joined
Dec 16, 2018
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
OP here.
Thanks for all the suggestions. There seems to be a small consensus on 11s over 12s for strings. I thought 11s would be too floppy on the 24.75 scale. Hey, I'll try it, why not? Also a larger consensus on lighter picks. I like the sound of an expected new more intimate tone.
BTW, the strings are not as shipped. I watched the shop owner restring and do a quick set up for me when I purchased it in Ventura, CA. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention to brand but rather to the truss rod process.
I love the bark/pop midrange attack thing has. The simple 5th fret double stop on the D and G strings just knocks you out in the most fundamental way.
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
By the way, I've heard from several places that coated strings were originally created because the strings in music stores went dead so quickly that the guitars didn't sell well. Manufacturers started putting coated strings on before shipping them out to retailers. It cost a little more, but their guitars sold much more quickly.
No disrespect intended but that's got the smell of urban myth to me.
For one thing, what happens when the happy new owner goes to replace his strings with the OEM strings and discovers something's different?
The makers would have to be stocking the coateds under their own label to supply that demand, and then they'd have to be stocking 2 different sku's to accommodate earlier customers who wanted uncoated strings.
All the "origin" stories I've ever seen point to demand from the marketplace for strings that wouldn't corrode so quickly, as explained here:
https://www.stringjoy.com/coated-guitar-strings-right/
On top of that, there was a commonly cited tonal cost for extended string life: early coated strings were notorious for muffling overtones and fine details of a string's voice, which would seem to be counterproductive to presenting an instrument at its best.
Even Elixir describes this problem in their development process, and that in fact they weren't even looking to make guitar strings when they started coating 'em in teflon, they were researching something else entirely, cables:
https://www.elixirstrings.com/about-us
Guild for example never even offered a coated string until New Hartford.
Wouldn't surprise me if somebody like Taylor was the trailblazer in the scenario you describe, however.
Maybe the germ of truth underlying the myth?
 
Last edited:

chazmo

Super Moderator
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Messages
25,466
Reaction score
7,123
Location
Central Massachusetts
Welcome aboard, Pat. The M-40 sounds like a great introduction to Guild. You are now scratching the surface. :)

Keep hunting for the strings you like. There certainly are a plethora of options available to you. My personal favorite (today... ask me next year) are the John Pearse phosphor-bronze strings. However, on a mahogany guitar like yours, I also really like 80/20 strings. Perhaps more than PB.

As far as gauge is concerned, go with the lightest gauge that gives you the sound you like. If you start getting into heavy strings, you might consider down-tuning a bit.

As far as picks are concerned, boy your options are just as varied as the string choice. Enjoy the hunt. For the most part, you can probably buy every pick on the planet and not have to shell out much cash. :)
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
OP here.
Thanks for all the suggestions. There seems to be a small consensus on 11s over 12s for strings. I thought 11s would be too floppy on the 24.75 scale. Hey, I'll try it, why not?
It's difficult sometimes to gauge a new member's knowledge, but I got a suspicion you're well aware that a shortscale requires less tension than a longscale to achieve a given pitch.
Having mentioned that, I also have a suspicion the difference between 11's and 12's is small enough to be almost irrelevant in this case, but you might want to consider D'Addarios Custom Lights; just as Acornhouse mentions in post #6: enough beef to give some punch but light enough for easy bends.
Also a larger consensus on lighter picks. I like the sound of an expected new more intimate tone.
BTW, the strings are not as shipped. I watched the shop owner restring and do a quick set up for me when I purchased it in Ventura, CA. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention to brand but rather to the truss rod process.
Fair enough.
:smile:
I love the bark/pop midrange attack thing has. The simple 5th fret double stop on the D and G strings just knocks you out in the most fundamental way.
This might belabor the obvious but I'd give him a call and ask what he used, he probably has various "go-to" sets for different applications and will remember.
You might find out you've already got something suggested here and at least be able to check that on off the list.
:friendly_wink:
 
Top