$2500 Archtop Question

[DaveLeeNC]

Sorry to keep throwing this audio crap (only a slight exaggeration) at you folks, but this was a real surprise to me. I like this guitar better (amped) with bronze/phosphor strings (must be some steel in there somewhere). It is slightly quieter but hardly enough to matter in my case (or most cases I would think). To me it just sounds much better than with the TI JS112's (flatwounds). Here is the same, tired, audio snippet with the EXACT same parameters (other than strings), and this includes the excessive bass EQ roll-off (which to my ears is even worse with these strings, but that is certainly fixable).

I am not going to reload either of the comparison files, but they are the ones in post #89 in this thread. And the bronze strings are Martin Lifespan SP (.012/.054 - MSP7100).

dave

[sgosnell]

The cores are all steel, and with some tweaking of the pickup bronze strings work fine. I just got some nickel bronze strings for my Eastman T145, and I'm liking them. They're loud enough for acoustic playing in the house, and sound fine amplified. They don't sound like flats on an ES175 of course, but that's a plus. I already have one of those, and I wanted something acoustic. All I had to do was raise the polepieces a turn or so and it's as loud as it was with nickel strings. I tried a set of Martin phospor bronze strings, but all I had on hand were .011s, which I got as a freebie, and they were too light to do the job. The nickel bronze .012s work well. I'll probably order more, most likely bigger.

[DaveLeeNC]

For the sake of accuracy 'in the record' I need to correct something here. I just don't ever play with a pick. I mostly learned my fingerstyle stuff on a classical guitar and when I transferred that to a steel string, it was always my Es-175D. So it was't an acoustic kind of thing and I just naturally play a good bit lighter when I encounter steel strings out of habit. I don't even realize that I am doing that. Plus I don't care for the feel of steel strings pulling hard on my (eggshell fragile) nails anyway.

I found a couple of guitar picks that came for free with a recent string order. This guitar is pretty darn loud when you pick it. And also when you attack the strings fingerstyle. Particularly with the bronze strings, this is a pretty loud guitar "when played normally".

dave

[Longways to Go]

I never play with a pick either.

I only use the flesh of the finger -- my nails are always trimmed very short!
you can pluck the heck out of the string this way . . . plunk plunk plunk!
Probably not quite as loud as with a pick, but there are so many other nuances.
I vastly prefer roundwounds to flatwounds for my approach.
But I do not come from a classical guitar background

just a thought

[DaveLeeNC]

Classical guitar is really stuck in tradition (IMHO) for the most part and that includes playing with nails. Rob Mackillop is kind of "out there by himself" (something of an over-statement) saying that you can play a classical guitar effectively without nails.

Rob MacKillop ~ Musician

An option would be to go back to Alaska Pik's for classical work and removing those and playing steel string with much reduced (or no) nail. An interesting choice that I might consider at some point.

dave

[citizenk74]

Rob MacKillop has probably forgotten more about playing guitar than I will ever learn. He's The Man!