Nylon Strung Classical Guitar Using Pick

**swingtoneman** · 04-13-2022, 09:44 AM

I play nylon classical guitar using a pick. So many types / string coatings out there to choose from. The type of sound from my guitar I am looking from the strings is volume / tone.
( My style of playing is on jazz’y side of life’). The picks I use range from .75mm to 3mm—all give different sounds.

My questions are:

a) Have you experimented with different strings?—soft / medium / hard? Different string coatings?
b) Have you tried coloured Flamenco strings on your classical guitar? —like black or red nylon? I have read that they sound different to the classical string.
c) What string maker do you prefer and like and perhaps a long lasting string?

Look forward to your answers.

**JSanta** · 04-13-2022, 10:14 AM

I can't help you directly, but Raphael Fays is the (IMO of course) king of using a nylon strung guitar with a plectrum. When I last spent time with him, he brought his Cordoba and was using some sort of Savarez strings. Raphael Fays | Savarez

Granted, Raphael is a monster player and could probably play a guitar strung with fishing line and sound amazing, but he's one person I would look into if you want to go this route, as his execution of plectrum with nylon guitar are unparalleled. I know others like Al DiMeola do this as well, but Raphael is still the king for me.

**ronjazz** · 04-13-2022, 10:32 AM

McLaughlin uses D'Addario on his nylon-strung guitars, and a Jazz 3 type of pick. I like the no-longer-available Fred Kelly Jazz Baby picks for nylon, or the Clayton teardrops at 1.26 mm.

**krusty** · 04-13-2022, 02:52 PM

Originally Posted by JSanta

Granted, Raphael is a monster player and could probably play a guitar strung with fishing line and sound amazing

Seaguar fluorocarbon fishing line is actually fabulous as guitar strings. I bought several spools and experimented with different thicknesses and ended up with a beautifully balanced sound across all strings. There’s quite a thread on Delcamp about the stuff.

**Woody Sound** · 04-13-2022, 03:10 PM

Originally Posted by krusty

Seaguar fluorocarbon fishing line is actually fabulous as guitar strings. I bought several spools and experimented with different thicknesses and ended up with a beautifully balanced sound across all strings. There’s quite a thread on Delcamp about the stuff.

That's pretty amazing. For all 6 strings?

**Woody Sound** · 04-13-2022, 03:14 PM

Just a side bar, for plectrum use I think a closer than the normal classical string spacing at the bridge is better. More important there than the nut/neck width.

**Woody Sound** · 04-13-2022, 03:18 PM

Originally Posted by ronjazz

McLaughlin uses D'Addario on his nylon-strung guitars, and a Jazz 3 type of pick.

I know this has been posted before, but it's worth another viewing. Note the late great Ross Tompkins on piano. At about 2:20 where he hits the M7th of the song key against the existing chord is soooo cool. But a pretty awkward interview after the performance.

**JSanta** · 04-13-2022, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by krusty

Seaguar fluorocarbon fishing line is actually fabulous as guitar strings. I bought several spools and experimented with different thicknesses and ended up with a beautifully balanced sound across all strings. There’s quite a thread on Delcamp about the stuff.

I hope that my comment was mostly read as being in jest. The monofilament or spiderwire stuff I remember as a kid would do a better job taking your fingers off than it would a guitar string. Anyway, I just meant that a person like Raphael could produce a gorgeous tone regardless of what was being used (within reason).

**rpjazzguitar** · 04-13-2022, 03:22 PM

Lenny Breau was reported to have used fishing line for a gauge that was unavailable.

One of the advantages of flourocarbon based nylon fishing line is that fish can't see it that well. Might be a bad gig where that's important, but you never know.

**Jabberwocky** · 04-13-2022, 03:31 PM

If you are not going to play the standard nylon string repertoire Thomastik Infeld KR116 is a blast. Since you play with a plectrum give them a whirl.

My go-to strings are Augustine Imperial Blue, sometimes Imperial Red. Affordable, readily available, predictable.

**Jabberwocky** · 04-13-2022, 03:33 PM

Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar

Lenny Breau was reported to have used fishing line for a gauge that was unavailable.

One of the advantages of flourocarbon based nylon fishing line is that fish can't see it that well. Might be a bad gig where that's important, but you never know.

As long as you're not playing underwater you're going to be fine. The fluorocarbons match the refractive index of light in water.

**krusty** · 04-13-2022, 03:44 PM

Originally Posted by Woody Sound

That's pretty amazing. For all 6 strings?

I should have specified that it’s only for the trebles. I would just buy the bass strings I liked by themselves.

**Woody Sound** · 04-13-2022, 03:49 PM

Originally Posted by Jabberwocky

As long as you're not playing underwater you're going to be fine. The fluorocarbons match the refractive index of light in water.

Natural Kevlar/Carbon Hybrid on top. Natural Innegra/Basalt/Kevlar/Carbon on the bottom.

Scratch Pads $30

Innate Fish Attraction
We have done some somewhat unscientific research and have discovered first hand even, that natural the Kevlar/Carbon actually seems to attracts fish! They often follow you around, jump up out of the water, make all kinds of swirling movements around you. We have watched them follow a boat with this laminate while they ignore the green colored one next to it. This is no claim to make your fishing better, but we've 'seen some things' that certainly make us wonder!
Can't make this claim for the grayish Innegra/Basalt/Kevlar/Carbon... although it seems to "laugh at rocks".

Internal Scratch Pads
Several layers of kevlar and or carbon are laminated into the hull for extra protection. $25

**Jabberwocky** · 04-13-2022, 03:58 PM

Aquila Granato treble set. I like the Aquila Granato. I have them on my re-necked Paul McGill nylon guitar.

I tried fluorocarbons and hated the feel and metallic twangy characteristic as your finger leaves the string. Makes a guitar sound like a banjo. Maybe it is because I have bad technique. Slippery devils! Watch out for string lash marks on your guitar top. Too many guitars have that indelible e4 string lash burn mark from players trying fluorocarbons for the first time. It is used for the plain G string only by many for good reason as the thin gauge of the fluorocarbon seems to solve some inharmonicity stuff of thick nylon gauge for the plain G. And in the register of the G string the metallic twang is much less pronounced.

**RJVB** · 04-13-2022, 06:20 PM

I use the Aquila Rubino trebles, which sound better for non-percussive playing than the Granato, and are also a bit less brittle; tension is still quite high. GHS 2100W phosphor bronze D and A, and a Galli Aureum low E. This is the combination that sounds best to my ears on my converted resonator.

I rarely use a pick but if I do on that guitar, it's an ebony one by Wood Tones (the tip is very much like the one Gibson picks)

**Pablo Carballo** · 01-28-2026, 08:49 AM

I have an original Takamine No.5. To play vintage standard jazz as Stella by Starlight, Body and Soul, etc.

I use a set of Daddario EJ46FF and a Dunlop 204 pick. Sometimes, I switch the pick for a Dunlop Primetone 304, this is 3.0mm thick.

I am today a 90 yrs old senior citizan, remembering my good old days with Gibson L-5 that found sweeter warm sound with my Takamine No.5 with these set up.

All of you People, have a nice day.