String Choices - Archtop Played Amplified and Acoustically

[DaveLeeNC]

For you folks who play their archtop both amped and acoustically, what strings do you use? I use TI JS112's (amped only) on my ES-175D and like that. But the target this time will be a Eastman AR905 and I am not expecting to get the same (amped) sound regardless of the strings here. Just wondering where to start in my 'strings search' as this will be new ground for me.

Thanks.

dave

ps. Am willing to at least give round wounds a try. Have never tried half rounds.

[omphalopsychos]

Congrats on the Eastman! You're going to enjoy it. Regarding strings, if you want acoustic volume, you'll be much better off with round wound strings. I'm personally a fan of John Pearse Nickel Jazz Strings. They seem to have been designed specifically for this kind of playing, and I think they have the warmest electric tone and one of the strongest acoustic tones, as well. Here's a recording with these strings (0.013). The recording uses two mics: one to record the acoustic voice of the guitar and the other to mic the amp, so it approximates the room sound of playing a solid wood archtop through an amplifier at a fairly low volume. My guitar is very similar to the one you just ordered (except it's the 810 and I changed the pickup for a Lollar Johnny Smith).

[DaveLeeNC]

OM, thanks for the suggestion and sample (which was quite nice, BTW).

dave

[tonyp145]

That was so beautiful I'm going to share it with my wife later. I have a 175-type guitar I string with flats but I've been looking for a solid top archtop I could string with roundwounds to get a brighter more acoustic tone. I picked up a set of D'Addario EJ-21 light jazz strings but returned the guitar I bought them for (long story) so I haven't heard them yet. They're 12-52 with a 24 wound G so definitely intended to be legit jazz strings but they are nickel rounds. I picked them up at Guitar Center, half the reviews on their website are from guys using them to play sludge metal but the other half are from happy jazzers. They're easy to find and might be worth a try.

[Jabberwocky]

John Pearse Acoustic-Electric Pure Nickels. 960L or the 2700 Jazz Medium. The only difference lies in the bass E2 string. 960L has a 0.054; 2700 has a 0.052. Good and affordable. Elderly Inst. has the best prices if you are buying 3 or more sets.

The Eastman AR905 is an acoustic archtop so the John Pearse Pure Nickel works very well at low cost.

[Cunamara]

The D'Addario EJ-21s are a very standard string that a lot of players use happily. A lot of boutique luthiers string up their instruments with them, too. I find them a bit bright at first, but they last a long time, are of very consistent quality, have a friendly price and are easy to find at virtually any guitar store. I currently am preferring TIs and Pyramids with a round core (a bit darker and warmer), but you can get three sets of D'Addarios for the cost of one set of TIs or Pyramids! It's more than likely that your Eastman will arrive with the EJ-21 .012s.

I've never used the Pearse strings, but Pete Bernstein uses them and a stronger endorsement would be hard to find (he likes a bright tone).

I've never used Monels, they could be interesting. I've heard them described as mid-way between pure nickel and nickel-plated steel for electric tone. Judging the the thread comparing them with Nickel Bronze strings, the Monels might be a good compromise between an acoustically oriented string and an electrically oriented string.

[Peter C]

Bear in mind that when you're talking about prices that things can vary a great deal depending on the country. The last time I checked on my usual (German) site, D'Addario Chromes were actually more expensive than TI Swings. Pyramids can work out a lot better, too.

[sgosnell]

I prefer the D'Addario EPN21 set to the EJ series. The pure nickel gives a tone that I prefer, a little mellower and not as bright as the steel-wound strings. If you're coming from flats, the transition won't be quite so traumatic. I have some Pearse strings on order, just to see if they're any better, but IMO D'Addario strings are hard to beat. I keep trying other brands but keep coming back to these.

[Jabberwocky]

Bear in mind that when you're talking about prices that things can vary a great deal depending on the country. The last time I checked on my usual (German) site, D'Addario Chromes were actually more expensive than TI Swings. Pyramids can work out a lot better, too.

For a change, the jazz forum's favourite strings work out better for the Europeans. I am sure Americans would love to pay your prices for the Thomastik Infelds, Gallis, Pyramids, Optimas or Hannabachs. I won't be playing D'add's Chrome when T-Is are lower cost. European First World problem, eh?

I paid $279 for a Hiscox Pro 2 case recently. It is like $180 in the UK. Some fellow actually imported one from Andertons UK. The shipping was £16.49 and he said he paid no US import duty. So, nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

[Klatu]

Congrats on the Eastman! You're going to enjoy it. Regarding strings, if you want acoustic volume, you'll be much better off with round wound strings. I'm personally a fan of John Pearse Nickel Jazz Strings. They seem to have been designed specifically for this kind of playing, and I think they have the warmest electric tone and one of the strongest acoustic tones, as well. Here's a recording with these strings (0.013). The recording uses two mics: one to record the acoustic voice of the guitar and the other to mic the amp, so it approximates the room sound of playing a solid wood archtop through an amplifier at a fairly low volume. My guitar is very similar to the one you just ordered (except it's the 810 and I changed the pickup for a Lollar Johnny Smith).

I've been using Daddario EJ21 strings forever, but I'd be willing to switch over to pure nickel strings if the difference in tone was substantial enough to warrant the price increase.

Thanks to your latest post comparing Nickel Bronze and Monel strings, I trust your judgement concerning such matters, so why have you chosen pure nickel strings over the going alternatives including Monel, 80/20 Bronze, and Nickel Bronze?

[omphalopsychos]

I've been using Daddario EJ21 strings forever, but I'd be willing to switch over to pure nickel strings if the difference in tone was substantial enough to warrant the price increase.

Thanks to your latest post comparing Nickel Bronze and Monel strings, I trust your judgement concerning such matters, so why have you chosen pure nickel strings over the going alternatives including Monel, 80/20 Bronze, and Nickel Bronze?

Actually, the John Pearse strings I recommended were the Acoustic/Electric Nickel Wound, not the John Pearse Pure Nickel. The Pearse Strings are very similar to the EJ21, but warmer (and also cheaper). I recommended these for a guitar with a magnetic pickup over strings in the other thread because, although those strings have a better acoustic tone, they are not optimal for playing with a magnetic pickup. Of those three, the Monel probably will have the best luck with a magnetic pickup. I keep my acoustic-only archtops strung with either 80 20 or Nickel Bronze and my acoustic/electric artchops with Nickel Wound Steel. Once you talk about a magnetic pickup, you inevitably have to compromise between the acoustic and electric sound. The Pearse strings I recommended are just my favorite compromise.

[cmajor9]

Depending on the guitar, Martin Monels or Thomastik Bebops can work well for both acoustic and electric play. IMO the optimum would be to have a pickup balanced to use with phospor bronze strings - some DeArmonds floaters are made this way, but not all.

[Bluedawg]

I put some of the Pearse Acoustic/Electrics on my 18 inch Campellone acoustic archtop ... it doesn't have a pickup They have mellowed out very nicely while still retaining the sparkle of a round wound string IMHO ...

The Campellone shipped with bronze round wounds and they were too bright and not enough bottom end for my tastes ... although the bronze round wounds may have been perfect if I was playing out in a group


But I also really like the TI Swing flats for my archtop acoustic playing .... archtops run bright anyways so I find most roundwound strings to be too bright for my taste .... the TI flats still have enough brightness to sparkle and the flat wound helps bring out the bottom end of the archtop ...

But I'm a little crazy .... my Heritage Sweet 16 with a floater and my Gibson Le Grand have had the same set of TI flats on them for about 6 years and they still sound great to me both for electric and acoustic playing

[Klatu]

Actually, the John Pearse strings I recommended were the Acoustic/Electric Nickel Wound, not the John Pearse Pure Nickel. The Pearse Strings are very similar to the EJ21, but warmer (and also cheaper). I recommended these for a guitar with a magnetic pickup over strings in the other thread because, although those strings have a better acoustic tone, they are not optimal for playing with a magnetic pickup. Of those three, the Monel probably will have the best luck with a magnetic pickup. I keep my acoustic-only archtops strung with either 80 20 or Nickel Bronze and my acoustic/electric artchops with Nickel Wound Steel. Once you talk about a magnetic pickup, you inevitably have to compromise between the acoustic and electric sound. The Pearse strings I recommended are just my favorite compromise.

Gotcha. I actually set up one of my acoustic floaters with Tony Rice Monels when they first came out, and I didn't have much luck striking a good balance between the strings. Perhaps results would have been different if I had a floater with adjustable pole pieces.

[DanielleOM]

I have that put that JS112 set on several acoustic archtops lately. I find it's difficult to play an acoustic archtop, hold back, and play with a light touch. Even with an acoustic setup I seem to having trouble with string buzzing, (a buzzing 4th string, D, seems to really annoy me.) This is happening even a recently re-leveled guitar.

[sgosnell]

If one string is buzzing, the bridge saddle likely needs work. The arch in the saddle rarely matches the arch in the nut, unfortunately. It's mostly trial and error to get every slot right.

[entresz]

I too would choose the John Pearse "archtop' acoustic/electric pure nickel strings.

They tick both the 'good' and 'cheap' boxes.
My favourite strings generally are the TI Jazz Swing 112 set, but if for any reason they were no longer available, I'd switch to the John Pearse. For a roundwound string they are quite mellow, but still have enough punch to make an acoustic archtop sound good both amplified and unamplified.

[s11141827]

I use John Pearse #2600 Jazz Strings which sound great both Acoustically & Plugged in. They're designed for both Acoustic & Electric Guitars which is what makes them interesting:

[RJVB]

I see most of your guitars are classicals - does this in any way influence your expectations of the acoustic sound you want to coax from your archtop? If so, you may want to consider brass or bronze wound silk-and-steel design strings, and that's going to limit your options a bit. I'm currently very happy with TI Spectrums on my Loar but I haven't yet tried how well the stock Kent Armstrong floating PU works with them.

If the silked design is of no importance to you you could try the DR Zebra strings. Those are wound with a double wire, brass and nickel (not in 2 layers but side-by-side). They should give a bit more shiny warmth than pure nickel (which is too dull to my ears) but still work well for electric playing.

[RJVB]

Here's a recording with these strings (0.013). The recording uses two mics: one to record the acoustic voice of the guitar and the other to mic the amp, so it approximates the room sound of playing a solid wood archtop through an amplifier at a fairly low volume. My guitar is very similar to the one you just ordered (except it's the 810 and I changed the pickup for a Lollar Johnny Smith).

Is it normal that there's almost nothing in the right channel?

The AR810 is a 17", the AR905 a 16" as far as I know. That plus the mixing in of a PU must make the resulting sound quite different from a purely acoustic AR905 (if not only because much of longer sustained notes will come from the amp, for instance).

[BreckerFan]

I use martin monels on my L-7C and I really like the result, I've had it previously strung with bronze acoustic strings and daddario nickel wound electrics and it's a good middle ground. They probably lean a little more towards the daddario sound, but I think they have less jangle and a little more bass, overall I think they sound a little sweeter. Amplified they're slightly unbalanced but not horribley so.

[RJVB]

Monel strings are strange creatures. Their sound is interesting and you'd say they give enough bass. However, when I listened back a recording of my jumbo wearing silk-and-monel strings I was surprised how much that normally boomy instrument sounded like a mid-rangy archtop. The basses were there, but disappeared into the mid-range frequencies very quickly.
Later I tried the G string of that set on my Loar, thinking it would ease the transition from the 3 brass-wound Plectrum lower strings to the plain wire trebles because (IMHO) the vaunted neutrality of Monel strings comes from the little colouring they add to the sound of the steel core. Turns out a PB-wound Spectrum G gave an even better transition and ultimately I put on all Spectrums (though not one of the existing sets but singles picked to stick as close as possible to the Plectrum AC112 tension profile).