GHS Rollerwound string recording acoustic

[deacon Mark]

So I put a set of the GHS Rollerwound strings on the old D'angelico. Most use bronze for acoustic playing but I still prefer the nickelwound. To me the tone is more focused and better for chord melody. These are brand new strings and I like the response. using 12, 16, 24 30 42 52 gauge. Just recorded through bluesky and iphone. My guess is that a set of Thomastik bebops would sound a bit different but not discenable to anyone except the player. That can open up a whole other can of worms.

[nyc chaz]

Sounds nice.Are those the electric nickel rockers that you are using on your acoustic? Also i don't see a set with 52 e string.

[deacon Mark]

Sounds nice.Are those the electric nickel rockers that you are using on your acoustic? Also i don't see a set with 52 e string.

I just buy the rollerwound in single strings I get a 52, 42, 30, 24. then simply add a plain 12 and 16 I have plenty of them in the shop. While the strings are listed as electric strings because of the nickel they of course can be used acoustically. That really to me is the preference, as bronze strings to my ears only sound good when playing full 4 bar rhythm guitar. When playing single lines and melody my ears hear a much smoother sound than bronze. It is possible though a given guitar can respond differently and then might be ok.

[nyc chaz]

I agree with you about nickel sounding better.Going to give these a try on one of my archtops.

[bluejaybill]

Question- does roller wound refer to anything unique in the string's construction?

I'm kind of interested in exploring more strings like half-rounds, strings that are smoother that still essentially sound like nickel wound.

[deacon Mark]

Question- does roller wound refer to anything unique in the string's construction?

I'm kind of interested in exploring more strings like half-rounds, strings that are smoother that still essentially sound like nickel wound.

I like the D’addario half-rounds. They work well too a bit different than the roller wounds. The roller wounds are I believe press in a roller to give a smoother feel. I have gotten a set of D’Addario half rounds that were horribly rough once. In fact they did not intonate well and i contacted them. Got a replacement set were fine. They still can have some uneven roughness.

[Jimmy blue note]

Yes! I use those strings on my D'Aquisto. I used to use LaBella rollerwounds but they seem to have stopped making those. It was because of that that I found the GHS as one of the only roller wounds out there now. They're a bit bright for some of my guitars but perfect for accentuating the acoustic transients of a really nice archtop.
D'Addario Half Rounds are really nice on some guitars; I like them. But when it comes to a quiet (less squeak) string that brings out overtones, those GHS are my go-to strings. There's a rather marked break in phase, but after a week or so, they really even out. I use Finger Ease spray at the outset and I'm set to go!

[TedBPhx]

Big fan of nickel wound strings on my Koa acoustic. Much prefer the nickel fundamentals over bronze ringy dingies.

[Marty Grass]

Half Rounds: I heard of a way to smooth them. Take light steel wool and pull the string through it with a tight grasp about five times. Quickly wipe them down to get the metal debris off them. String up the guitar. Put a plastic protector (looks like a thin ruler) under the strings and on top of the frets. Rub the strings down with steel wool or very light sandpaper maybe three strokes.

This smooths out the parts of the strings that would otherwise squeek but removes the least amount of metal.

Johnny Smith said he would put something like a coke bottle under a freshly restrung set of strings and lightly sand them to remove squeeks.

[RJVB]

My guess is these only really work for this kind of music and with a pick, but it's impossible to say what sounds better without hearing the same piece by the same player on the same guitar strung with a set of well played-in brass wounds (or phosphor-bronze, which will break in to a more fundamental tone since it's harder).