Tonefiend Forum

I have a bunch of boxes of phosphor-bronze acoustic strings, and it suddenly dawns on me that I hate the way they sound. I used them for years on my little Lowden acoustic, a guitar with a loud, sizzling top-end. But when I recently got my hands on the little Martin I used to demo Nashville High-Strung Tuning, I restrung with the usual bright strings, and it lost all the pretty, soft warmth.

Anyone have a recommendation for a nice steel-string set with darker, woodier sound?

Quote from bear on August 4, 2012, 11:49
Phosphor bronze have that weird zing that rides shotgun on the wound strings. There's a sound to it, but yes, I don't always want it.

Yeah, that's a perfect description! The zing that rides shotgun!

Hmm. Next thought I would have is to accelerate aging 80/20 bronzes. What was the Danny Gatton ash-tray grime string treatment he mentioned in one interview? (I kinda hope that was just a gag, 'cause that's gross.) Dead bright bronzes sound pretty right to me, just problem is that the strings aren't in good shape by that point. Are there maybe any coated strings that people complain about being too dead?

Quote from Thecoslar on August 7, 2012, 19:27
If I want a warmer, duller sound on a steel string acoustic I usually stick flatwound electric strings on it (12s usually). Takes some getting used to, but it's a really out there sound that few people replicate.

Ooh, I really want to try that. I have the perfect funky guitar for it, too — one of these.

Quote from Schrodingersgoldfish on August 12, 2012, 20:38
Silk and steel or silk and bronze sets are.....interesting, at least, and isn't that what we all really love? Making mistakes discoveries?

I use (and love) silk&steel on a couple of my acoustics because I play without a pick most of the time. However, I also really like argentines - they are magically both warm and bright at the same time. I generally use S&S on my smaller/more tenor-ry guitars like my baby taylor because they really play off the bright characteristics of the instruments almost like a resonator. I use argentines on my more solid acoustics because they provide a more balanced bass response. Picked or plucked, I really love the responsiveness of the argentines. I found them through my gipsy jazz work, but I really think every acoustic player should try them once.