Strings

West R Lee

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Don't worry, this is not one of those "what strings would you recommend threads". I thought this fascinating. They say this guy is a fair guitar player with a small amount of knowledge. A guitar can reach a point where it no longer REALLY responds to the same strings?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYEiiJKpfek

West
 
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Walter Broes

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I don't know. TE is an incredibly talented guitar player and a very entertaining performer, but that "guitar getting used to strings" thing....I don't think so.

I hope the folks at Reverb.com got a different makeup person since they shot that video btw!
 

adorshki

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I recently did a 180 degree about-face from my 23 year philosophy of stringin' 'em up wit' what Guild shipped 'em with:
Put GHS Silk'n'steel 11's on my F65ce, and then tuned down a whole step on top of it.
It's like having a whole new guitar to play with.
Who'd-a thunk?
 

West R Lee

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I will say this, with my extremely limited knowledge and experience. Different woods like different strings, and sometimes even guitars built with the same woods like different strings. Some of you may know I'm a big John Pearse guy.......well I am.....on rosewood guitars. But one of the most inexpensive guitars (D30) I've owned REALLY comes to life with some of the most expensive strings.....Thomastik Plectrums. That's always kind of blown me away.....that in my opinion, the expensive guitars like the cheapest strings, but the inexpensive guitars like the most expensive strings. I remember after stringing the D30 in Plectrums, being so excited to stick them on a DV, and I didn't like the Plectrums on rosewood at all. Obviously, the maple makes a huge difference I'd assume, and for whatever reason, there's something (I wouldn't have a clue what) about Plectrum strings that really lights up maple. Go figure.

West
 

txbumper57

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That was very interesting for sure, Thanks for the Video Link!

On a side note, What strings would you recommend for a Guild Guitar?:playful:


TX
 

Grassdog

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I could be wrong but I think what TE actually meant by saying guitars get used to certain strings is that WE (as players) get used to the sound of those strings on that particular guitar. We can bring the guitar to life again by trying new strings.
 

Westerly Wood

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I could be wrong but I think what TE actually meant by saying guitars get used to certain strings is that WE (as players) get used to the sound of those strings on that particular guitar. We can bring the guitar to life again by trying new strings.

exactly. guitars are wood, steel, plastic, other inanimate components. he means his ears get bored with the strings on a particular guitar over time, so he changes it up. totally true.
 

PittPastor

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I hope the folks at Reverb.com got a different makeup person since they shot that video btw!

Oh Lord! No kidding. Horrible job, and makes it really distracting to watch. Content is always interesting when Tommy is speaking, and I have a lot of respect, but just awful to see that pancake on his face.
 

Guildedagain

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Whatever he says is gold, to me.


Here's a jem I'll pass on after watching the video;

"tug on sharp strings" instead of detuning when doing your daily battle with 12 tone equal temperament...

Genius.
 

West R Lee

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Hmm, interesting. I took him literally. I think he's meaning that over time, the wood in a guitar will no longer respond to the frequencies the strings set up in the guitar. But you might be right, he may mean that he no longer hears them the same way.

West
 

adorshki

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Hmm, interesting. I took him literally. I think he's meaning that over time, the wood in a guitar will no longer respond to the frequencies the strings set up in the guitar.
Yes that IS what he means, he says exactly that at 3:00 in," the guitar gets used to the strings".
He does say it's his "personal theory" and the variables in that anecdote are the D'Addario vs Martin strings
He said they'd been using D'Addarios and a brand new set just didn't sound right, so switched to Martins and bingo guitar sounded good again.
Let's assume the D'A's weren't a "bad set" for some reason, which given their consistency is a very safe assumption.
Could there be physics justification for his theory?
Why yes, there could be.
I could be wrong but I think what TE actually meant by saying guitars get used to certain strings is that WE (as players) get used to the sound of those strings on that particular guitar. We can bring the guitar to life again by trying new strings.
exactly. guitars are wood, steel, plastic, other inanimate components. he means his ears get bored with the strings on a particular guitar over time, so he changes it up. totally true.

I am flabbergasted, sir, that you of all people would let that perception make you forget that that same collection of "inanimate components" is actually undergoing a slow continuous evolution from tight and newly-built to aged and broken in.
OK, perhaps you can be forgiven because you never leave a set on long enough for Ol' Flattop to get bored of 'em, and that it's probably so broken in and opened up by now that it really IS immune to any further boredom...:glee:
But, for those guitars which haven't yet become petrified:
Why do necks need resets? Because the tension of the strings pulls the dovetail into a different position in its socket.
The glue of the bracing and around the edges of the top gets looser with the ongoing vibration of playing.
Sure hideglue's the best stuff their is for creep resistance and strength but time takes its toll no matter what.
(Just ask my, oh, nevermind...)
The topwood itself undergoes physical changes (bellying) induced by stress, and even the cellulose conductive tubes of the wood itself change over time and become ever so slightly more hollow with age.
Let's not forget that NCL finish also loses mass continuously as it ages, and perhaps the bond to the wood becomes a bit looser as well?
Having established those known phenomena, I don't think it's such a far stretch to hypothesize that perhaps after enough time the top does kind of "take a set" after being subjected to the frequency/vibration characteristics of a given set of strings, and no longer behaves as it did when those strings were first used.
I think Tommy's pet theory has some real potential validity roots due to the nature of the instrument.
He probably senses it intuitively if not outright, for the same reasons I explained, and maybe just didn't think this video was the place to go into all that?
OK, after presenting all that, I also think it's entirely possible that after getting used to that new set's characteristics, it may well respond differently to the "old" strings again after that change to something different for a while.
 
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Westerly Wood

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I am flabbergasted, sir, that you of all people would let that perception make you forget that that same collection of "inanimate components" is actually undergoing a slow continuous evolution from tight and newly-built to aged and broken in.
OK, perhaps you can be forgiven because you never leave a set on long enough for Ol' Flattop to get bored of 'em, and that it's probably so broken in and opened up by now that it really IS immune to any further boredom...:glee:
But, for those guitars which haven't yet become petrified:
Why do necks need resets? Because the tension of the strings pulls the dovetail into a different position in it's socket.
The glue of the bracing and around the edges of the top and gets looser with the ongoing vibration of playing.
Sure hideglue's the best stuff their is for creep resistance and strength but time takes its toll no matter what.
(Just ask my, oh, nevermind...)
The topwood itself undergoes physical changes (bellying) induced by stress, and even the cellulose conductive tubes of the wood itself change over time and become ever so slightly more hollow with age.
Let's not forget that NCL finish also loses mass continuously as it ages, and perhaps the bond to the wood becomes a bit looser as well?
Having established those known phenomena, I don't think it's such a far stretch to hypothesize that perhaps after enough time the top does kind of "take a set" after being subjected to the frequency/vibration characteristics of a given set of strings, and no longer behaves as it did when those strings were first used.
I think Tommy's pet theory has some real potential validity roots due to the nature of the instrument.
He probably senses it intuitively if not outright, for the same reasons I explained, and maybe just didn't think this video was the place to go into all that?
OK, after presenting all that, I also think it's entirely possible that after getting used to that new set's characteristics, it may well respond differently to the "old" strings again after that change to something different for a while.

LOL. i guess in my agedness (52), i am growing less sentimental and more practical. i just cannot buy TE's theory if he really means an acoustic guitar grows bored of strings. personification is really for effect, not actual reality.

it is our ears that get bored or enthused when the string brand changes. :)
 

adorshki

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LOL. i guess in my agedness (52), i am growing less sentimental and more practical. i just cannot buy TE's theory if he really means an acoustic guitar grows bored of strings. personification is really for effect, not actual reality.

it is our ears that get bored or enthused when the string brand changes. :)

Right, "bored" was my usage, for more colorful speech, he said "gets used to".
Let's see if this analogy works to explain what I'm getting at:
You have a pine 2x4 about a foot long that your toddler beats on with a spoon all the time.
Just loves the sound.
After a while the surface has been kind of dented up by all that beating and just doesn't sound like it used to.
But you give the kid a new spoon and it sounds different.
But after a while the same old thing happens, the new spoon puts its own new set of impressions on the wood and it doesn't sound like it used to.
Time for a new spoon.
Or maybe even the old one again.
Not that I suggest stringing your guitar up with old spoons.
:biggrin-new:
 
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walrus

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Even the gopher is not coming out for this thread...

walrus
 

Guildedagain

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Guitar tops play out, don't they?

It's possible some frequencies could go before others, if it was not totally an aural phenom...
 

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