I have e acoustic Celebrity Ovation CC047 western guitar. I've bought Ernie Ball medium light bronze strings. I have read many articles how Ernie Ball strings are one of the best ones and make less noices. Is that right? Thank you.
Here is Tomo's comment:
"For an acoustic guitar, I prefer D’Addario EJ-16 (.012-.053) strings. In general, I don’t like coated strings, because they don’t help me to improve my technique. Coated strings make it easy to press too hard (bad technique), without hearing finger noise."
These Ernie Ball cobalts are uncoated and sticky. they do sounds good but so much string noise. they are getting better with constant cleaning and fast fret.
-LaVoy
High maintenance strings are cumbersome. One of these days I think it would be fun to try a pair of flat wound guitar or pure nickel strings. Acoustic strings have always been a variety unless the gauge is specific to the instrument. These were last put on my babes acoustic, they seem to be bright.
Elixir Strings 11027 Nanoweb 80/20 Bronze Custom Light Acoustic Guitar Strings 0.011, 0.015, 0.022, ... E 0.012 B 0.016 G 0.022w D 0.031 A 0.041 E 0.052.
Coated strings I have not tried. Flat wound on a Bass ernie ball are sweet! Flat wound acoustic guitar.. Maybe.. (?)
-johno
Big D ’Addario fan here for acoustic. I play live about 3 or 4 times a month and nothing worse than strings breaking live. Had horrible luck with the overpriced Titanium's from Martin on my Martin lol.
One thing I learned recently is that changing string gauges changes Intonation.
It makes so much sense but I never thought of it.
My priority list is:
Don't break
Sound amazing (Have an almost bell like quality)
Stay in tune (Up and down the neck-Intonation)
Be easy on my fingers and hands (lights for me)
Thanks guys! I used to break strings all the times! (when I was a student at Berklee)
Funny part is I never break strings since I was endorsed by D'Addario!
Tomo
that made me laugh out loud. Funny!
You made me very happy!
Tomo
Tomo - I guess they send you the good stuff and the rest of us are getting the leftovers!
hi tomo,
are you currently still recommending
D'Addario XL EPN110 for electric guitar?
i am focusing efforts with stratocasters:
2022 fender avrii 1961 rosewood fb,
2023 prs silver sky, rosewood fb,
2023 mario martin s-style, rosewood fb.
I also have a
2021 g&l usa asat classic bluesboy 90, maple fb. (rocker :))
I have been using stringjoy 10-48's balanced tension strings but they are expensive.
i can change strings more often with less expensive strings i think.
thank you so much for your answer!
sunil
Thank you Sunil! D'Addario EXL110 is the best! Simple and great!
Personally I use EPN110 (Pure Nickel) 10-45
For acoustic, EJ16 (12-53)
Thank you.
Tomo
Thank you so much Tomo!
Hard to keep track, but now there is a list here and I copied it into my notes.
My pleasure! EXL110 is so good!
Tomo
This is perhaps not worth so much thought to me, but maybe as a reference for someone - short notes on tried 10-46 sets:
-Elixir Nanoweb: general feel is great, both rhythm and soloing/single note lines. There is a good "bounceback" from the higher (thinner) strings with hammer on/pull off:s, and lifting off, which makes playing nicer than with strings that don't do that. (That is, generally very light sets). Round and bell-like, modern sound and slick feel because of the coating: barre- and triad slides etc. are a bit easier on the physics also. Great balance of volume on the whole set of 6 (lighter strings compared to bass side). Feels like a 10-set.
-Elixir Optiweb: same as above, but less coating. Sounds more like a classic electric guitar sound, less bell-like.
-D'Addario XS: Slightly coated. Sounds good. High strings feel a bit thinner than Elixir, and don't have the same bounceback. High string volume is a bit lower, and require slighly harder picking technique.
Set string tension is very similar to Elixirs, so only a light setup may be needed when changing back or forth.
-D'Addario NYXL: Well, this is a black horse. A completely different set. Very steely, straightforward and loud sound, in a good way. Guitar feels like a different guitar. No coating and a bit sticky feel (can be more demanding to do multiple string slides). Noticeably greater string tension than of those above, so a new setup us definitely required. Feels thicker than a normal 10-set. Not everyone's cup of tea, but a good set for what it does.
-D'Addario NYXL balanced tension: same as above, but with the peculiar balanced tension feel, which affects rhythm feel and bending feel especially with high strings.
-mysterious standard 10-46 set: the kind that used guitar shops usually put on their stock when doing setups. Baseline for everything else.
That's really great info - thanks Mija!
Bounceback?
thank you so much mija!
this is super helpful.
i didn't know d'addario had balanced tension sets!
lavoy, check out "string tension for guitar string sets" discussions (internet) i believe tension of individual strings in set recipes varies across different string sets of the same "size". and different artists like srv have also experimented and preferred different combinations of tension groupings historically.
also there are discussions of material science and things like the linear density of strings, which are super interesting if you're into the physics of sound. then there is some black magic stuff around hex cores vs round cores, and so on into seemingly esoteric minutia.
i believe this (string tension feel of a set of strings) is what mija is referring to by "bounceback" which is a good term for it.
totally feels like that.
it's the feel, i think.
but i am learning here myself.
Thank you Mija for detail information!
Personally I cannot use coated strings. (Spil my techniques!)
Tomo
IDK if this is true or not, but since my fingers are getting strong, I find I'm preferring thicker strings. I started off with 8s, went to 9s, and now I'm at 10s. LOL :)
I wanna get me a set of 12s. Just to see what it feels like.
What would the complications of using a heavier set of strings though? To the guitar specifically. Truss rod adjustments? Tremolo adjustments?
-LaVoy
I had to adjust my tremolo balance tension when I went from 9s to 10s, so yes, you'll probably have to do it, too.
Personally I am very happy with 10s set for regular electric guitars.
You can try it. I think 10s set has a nice balance to me.
Tomo
Hi there, I'm new here, but very excited to explore. I found and made my own vintage Duo Sonic from parts on eBay - doing the research on constructing that guitar is how I found Tomo! Curious your advice for strings for the 22.5" scale. I've tried D'Addario 11s, which feel a bit floppy - and 12's which feel very thick under my fingers. I liked the medium Pyramid round core strings but one or more of them would go dead so fast, even when I strung them like the instructions said. Right now Im using 12-54 pyramid hex core which sound fantastic but still dont feel as comfortable as the lighter gauges. I'd love to just settle on a set that feel great and stick to it.
WAAAAAADUP AVERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am using new strings every time I change them.
Next on the list is Ernie Ball Heavy Top Skinny Bottom.
How does one go about building a guitar? Did you have a neck and body already?
-LaVoy
Yeah basically after doing lots of research and playing guitars at my local stores (I live in Brooklyn so I have access to an unfortunately large number of very nice vintage guitar stores) I realized that I wanted an old fender, like the rest of the planet. Strats, teles and jazzmasters are obviously out because I'm not dropping that kind of money...but then I came across the Musicmaster and Duo Sonic - which people seriously neglect, and often rip apart and part out because some of the components like the pots and stuff are the same as the more valuable fenders from the era. So I went on eBay and bought a neck that was well worn in a good way and a body that had been refinished so no one found it valuable and some period accurate pickups (again, criminally ignored because they're basically Strat pickups but with flat pole pieces) and wired it myself from some online diagrams. I can't recommend this move enough, though it pays to be patient and wait for the right parts to come up - the more impatient you are the more expensive it gets. Cost me just a little more than a new MIM fender!
What are pole pieces?
-LaVoy
They look like little metal circles that stick up on the top of a Strat pickup, they're actually rod shaped magnets that go through the entire pickup. They're different heights on a Strat pickup to adjust the relative volume of the individual strings.