What type of strings were used in the 50s/60s ?

[bruno]

I guess the title says it all! I believe the roundwound strings werent popular on electric guitars til the 70s, but I wonder what type of strings were they using in old school country, folk and blues music in the 40-50-60s?

Thx!

 

[merlin6666]

I assume brass or nickel wound with round cores. As far as I know PB and hex cores were inventions of the 70s.

 

[Stuball48]

Black Diamonds from drug store

 

[Brad Little]

I think Mapes were popular in the '50s. I used LaBella or D'Angelico from the mid-'60s 'til PBs came along around '74.

 

[Bernie]

I believe Martin strings called Monel, or better Retro Monel are an attempt to recreate that kind of strings ; they are based on some nickel alloy I think...Tony Rice is reported to have said something like 'you're back old friend' to hs D-28 guitar when he tried the new strings. I'm yet to try them

 

[Walter Broes]

I guess the title says it all! I believe the roundwound strings werent popular on electric guitars til the 70s

That's mostly internet myth

 

[fronobulax]

I chose to delve into the internet because I can. I am willing to ignore some things and work what was left into a story I am willing to tell. But I could be wrong.

As "technology" a wound string dates back to the early 1700's although the materials were silk wound on animal intestines and the application was lutes and other stringed instruments. The flat wound guitar string seems to date to the 1940s and the creation myth suggests they were intended to address some of the shortcomings of round-wounds on guitar. Restricting this speculation to acoustics it seems to me that a guitarist was more likely to have access to rounds than flats maybe until the 60's.

For electrics you first need to pick some dates. Do you start with the invention of electric instruments, in which case you are in the 30's or do you want until they were popular in which case we are in the 50's or 60's. You can also address the subtle question of whether a round-wound string that has been "shaved" is flat or round? Or is a string only a flatwound if the wrapping material is more ribbon-like?

Many jazz players in the 50's preferred flatwounds on their instruments with pickups but how well does that generalize to electric players who didn't use archtops and didn't play jazz?

 

[RBpicker]

In my early rock and roll days (late 50s to mid 60s) I played flatwounds on my Gibson Melody Maker. I recall the orange Gibson package. Never considered changing strings unless one broke, and then only that one was changed.

Those were the days, my friends!
roger

 

[Guildedagain]

Strings were heavy, and the G was typically wound, until some - Ernie Ball - started using banjo strings to lighten the gauges for easier bending.

Original strings on the Strat in 1954 were 13-17-26-36-46-56, what's considered very heavy now.

By the 60's the Fender string sets for electrics was 10-12-15-26-32-38, what's now known as the Hendrix set.

 

[walrus]

A deleted scene from "It Might Get Loud" with Jack White and The Edge. Jimmy Page talking about using a banjo string for his high E string:



walrus

 

[Brad Little]

A deleted scene from "It Might Get Loud" with Jack White and The Edge. Jimmy Page talking about using a banjo string for his high E string:



walrus

I think I read somewhere James Burton was the first to do that.

 

[walrus]

I think I read somewhere James Burton was the first to do that.

Yes, he talks about it here:



walrus

 

[Neal]

Monel is a puritan alloy, which only occurs naturally in one place on earth, Sudbury, Ontario. This is where a huge meteor impact took place nearly 2 billion years ago, ripping a hole in the crust and allowing molten rock to rise from the mantle. All around the rim of this ancient crater, monel is found.

Gibson started making acoustic guitar strings from it in the early ‘30’s. They also sound great on an electric arch top, because monel is a nickel alloy.

IMO, no old Gibson should be strung with anything other than monel.

 

[Guildedagain]

Monel is a puritan alloy, which only occurs naturally in one place on earth, Sudbury, Ontario. This is where a huge meteor impact took place nearly 2 billion years ago, ripping a hole in the crust and allowing molten rock to rise from the mantle. All around the rim of this ancient crater, monel is found.

So Puritans landed in Ontario 2 billion years ago?

 

[SFIV1967]

1957 Guild (Targ & Dinner) catalog:



1961 Guild (Targ & Dinner) catalog:



Ralf