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I recently purchased a Gibson L-5 CES and I strung her with thomastik Infeld swing flatwound 013-053: great strings for this guitar.
(I didn't like those strings on my previous guitar, a gibson 175)
TI swing flatwound are very long lasting and I'm ok with them even if I pay 14,00 eur each set.
I'm wondering if somebody has compared the swing 013 with the thomastick george benson 013 which cost 24 eur each set.
I'm not a pro but I'm curious to give them a try...
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05-24-2012 07:00 PM
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Vast difference in my opinion.
Originally Posted by gianluca
Swings are a match made in heaven for an L5 and after trying many different brands I have personally stopped searching.
The differences between Swing and Benson:
Bensons go dull very quickly. Personal taste will determine if that troubles you or not.
Swing are very bright at first and then mellow a little but never go "thud" like the Benson's eventually will. They stay a little lively.
Benson's are silky smooth.
Swing's are ever so slightly rougher...but still very flat wound.
You can just see the wind on the Swing's whereas you can barely see it on Benson's.
The big difference and game changer for me was the way my L5 responded to the Swing's.
My guitars sounds 2" deeper. I can now hear a lot more body tone when I play chords and single note playing is alive with a more acoustic sound.
Sounds crazy?
Ok I am a fickle string changing maniac but I've been around guitars for long enough to know that the 2 things that will bring about the greatest change in tone are strings and plectrums.
I have tried these strings on my L5 so far…
Labella
D'addario Chromes, Half Rounds
GHS Brite Flats
Thomastic Benson, Thomastik Be Bop, Thomastik Swing
All the above in the last 6 months.
I'm stopping at the Swings and have just ordered a box. The difference wasn't subtle, it was a happy moment.
It's a very "personal taste" thing though. We all search for what we want to hear. This is the closest I have got to that. It may not be the tone that others seek.
I also swap out the 1st and 2nd string to D'addario .014 and .018 no matter what brand of string I'm using.
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I'm using the Benson 114's on my new/old L5. They sound terrific. I don't like round wound strings because I am sensitive to finger noise and flats remove my fingertips from any sound equation. I also think the amp you use makes a huge difference in how certain strings sound on which guitar. My Fender Princeton Reverb is my best sounding "Jazz" amp of the moment. Originally Posted by gianluca
I've reviewed several of the TI strings in my search for the right sound for my playing style and solidly settled on the Bensons:
Thomastik-Infeld Jazz BeBop 12-50 Guitar Strings Review | Boles Blues
Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Swing 13-53 Flat Wound Guitar Strings Review | Boles Blues
The George Benson GB114 Thomastik-Infeld Nickel Flat Wound Jazz Strings Review | Boles Blues
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I have 2 guitars w Swings and 1 with Bensons and I prefer the Bensons. The Swings are a little brighter and may last a little longer. They also sound almost as good to my ears, but as I can afford it I'm switching to Benson's for all. That rich darker tone is worth it to me and I love the feel but try both if you can.
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Just for fun, has anyone contacted T-I and asked them what exactly are the differences (besides the gauge mix) between Swing flats and GB flats?
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I used Swing and Benson.
I prefer for my style of playing Swing 13 .
I used it with my guitar: hollow-body with floating pick up.
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I prefer Swing 13s on my 175, BeBop 11s on my Heritage 535 and Les Paul.
TIs are incredible strings.
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Agreed about the TIs, great strings. I used to use Swings but once I tried their roundwound Bebops I found I liked them better. There's more harmonic information and the slight rasp from the pick on the string winds sounds kind of "woody" and organic thru an amp.
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No, but I did read a description somewhere about the core being different somehow. Mind you that could have been just a blurb for advertising. Originally Posted by PTChristopher
But they look very different......and I don't mean just the colour of the end wrap. The strings are more of a chrome colour and you can see the winding a bit more.
They sure sound different.
Here is the blurb from the Strings and Beyond site…
"The undisputed king of flatwounds, Mellow timbre, Thomastik-Infeld Swing Series Acoustic/Electric Jazz Guitar Strings lay down jazz tunes like a true heavyweight powerhouse!
"It has the perfect balance of fundamental to overtones required for traditional jazz. Some players claim that its mellow, powerful tones actually improve with age!" - Thomastik-Infeld
Thomastik-Infeld Swing Series Acoustic/Electric Jazz Guitar Strings offer mellow timbre, yet powerful tonation with a super smooth true flatwound feel resulting from the polished nickel wrap wire around a round core. This legend of jazz guitar strings was designed specifically for semi acoustic and acoustic jazz guitars.
Gauge:
JS110 Extra Light 10 14 18w 23 33 44
JS111 Light 11 15 19 25 35 47
JS112 Medium Light 12 16 20 27 37 50
JS113 Medium 13 17 21 28 39 53
What makes Thomastik-Infeld different?
Pursuing the perfect sound, Thomastik-Infeld starts with steel and nylon as core materials for their strings. The highly qualified technicians then wind and check every string by hand in order to insure quality and perfect tone. Infeld and his staff continually pursue the ever changing musical world, applying the evolving preferences in timbre, technique, and playing to their own imagination in pursuit of delivering perfection.
For a jazz string with an edgier tone, check out our Thomastik Jazz BeBop Round Wound Acoustic/Electric Jazz Guitar Strings! "
.............................................
.....end of over excited Cheerleader blurb.
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I like stiff, high tension string like DAddario are the Swing string higher tension than the Benson's. I'd like to try the TI's but hear they are a soft string.
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soft but you have to try...
I like also hard tension...
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Are the Benson .014-.055 the heaviest gauge flat wounds TI makes?
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I think so..
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I think so too -- but there might be something else lurking out there from TI that's flat wound and heavier. Originally Posted by kris
I play fingerstyle, so I like the heaviest strings possible so I can really grab on and pluck. No fingernails. Just the tips of my fingers.
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David, any heavier and you'll have to change over to bass tuning machines to string them Originally Posted by boles
Didn't you have to ream out the E2 tuning machine on your L-5CES?
Love your blog, by the way.
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D'addario chrom are heavier!!!!!! Originally Posted by boles
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That's an excellent question on E2 reaming. You're right that a .055 string tests that machine hole. Of all my guitars -- Yes, I use the GB114s on my Strats and Telecasters, too -- the only peg that gives me any trouble at all on stringing up the E2 is my '57 LP VOS. It does not like the last few blue silk winds before it becomes the active string. Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
David, any heavier and you'll have to change over to bass tuning machines to string them Didn't you have to ream out the E2 tuning machine on your L-5CES?
Love your blog, by the way.
I don't touch the E2 hole, I just put a 90-degree bend in the .055 string right after the cloth end to bind the winding to the core and then I cut off the silk end. Then I push the bent end through the E2 hole and string it up. I'm left with a sort of short end to wrap over and lock -- it feels like wrangling a stubby, but really floppy worm -- but you don't need more than a winding or two on that string because the peg can't take too many winds.
One great thing about using these thick strings, the B, at .041 is heavy like baling wire -- is that you don't need a lot of winds and the strings don't slip. When I used 9s and 10s on my Strats, the strings would slip even with five or six windings on the highest strings. Heavy TIs fix that problem across the board.
Thanks for the kind word on Boles Blues blog. All 14 blogs are advertising free. We aren't trying to sell anybody anything. We're just doing our best to record the truth as we know it.
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I've reviewed a lot of D'Addario strings and, for short-term use, they're okay -- but in my experience they lose their responsiveness and brightness rather quickly. If you're re-stringing weekly, then they're fine. Originally Posted by kris
D'addario chrom are heavier!!!!!!
The reason I like TI strings is that they last forever and don't lose their tone.
This morning I took delivery of a whole bunch of GB114s and I strung them up on my two Les Pauls. The last time I changed the GB114s on those two guitars was in December. Sure, the new strings were livelier and more dynamic, but I could have left them on even longer and still been satisfied with the sound.
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just for curiousity: what do you mean with "last forever"? 2/3 mounths?
I play 2/3 hours each day: do you believe I can keep them for 3 mounths?
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In my experience, the TI strings lasting 5/6 months is "forever" -- compared with other brands I've used. The TIs also hold in tune longer and more reliably that other strings I've played, and the TIs seem to help the guitar stay set up better when the seasons change. Originally Posted by gianluca
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La Bella 20PH are flatwound and heavier (.015 - .056). But they are stainless steel and not nickel like TI. I haven't tried them (yet) so I can't tell how they are. Originally Posted by boles
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I really like the "flurpiness" of nickel strings. An early playing favorite of mine were Ernie Ball Rock 'N Roll Super Slinkys. Now, that was a classic 70's Rock sounding string! Originally Posted by oldane
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I'm aware that English is not your first language, but I'd be very interested to read more details/impressions on this. Originally Posted by kris
I recently had a 13, 17, 24, 32, 42, 56 set on my hollow body and eventually went back to a more "traditional" 13, 17, 26, 36, 46, 56 set. The tension of this latter set is by no means balanced, but it just feels right in my hands.
I actually tend to pick and fret more accurately with "hard" tension, as you say.
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I bought a couple of sets of those. They are floppy like the TI's and dead from the moment you put them on. Originally Posted by oldane
At first I loved them because they felt SO great.......but then everything was so dark sounding. I know a lot of players like that.
Man they are DEAD!
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Did you string them up (the Labella 20PH) on your Gibson ES-775? They may not like the 24.75" scale. Originally Posted by Philco
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