String Choices Guide

General Rules:

Nylon strings
Least mass, least tension force, least "energy" delivered to soundboard, distinctive classical clean, lower sustain plinky sounds. Have about 60% of the tension forces of a steel string set of equivalent pitch.

Compound "Silk and Steel" strings
The first and second strings are regular steel strings, the remaining strings are a thin steel steel wire wrapped first in nylon or polyester fiber then in bronze, copper, or nickel as in a nomal set of steel strings. Allow you a bit more mass and energy for the given tension. Because they are relatively lower tension, the strings sound by comparison, depending on how you think of it, "warmer", "rounder", "muddier", or "sloppier" than their slightly higher tension regular steel string cousins.

Steel Strings
All are steel piano type wire of varying gauges, with a wrap of various metals on the fatter strings, usually bronze or copper on the acoustic sets, and nickel or nickel plated steel on the electric sets. The wound strings may have a hexagonally shaped core, and the wrapping portion may be round wire, flat tape, or round wire then ground flat(rare). Few if any string brands make their own wire, they just wrap the secondary copper wires on the low strings and install the ball or loop ends. Most makers redistrubute these and may market them under several brand names from marketing companies.

May come coated with teflon or lacquer on the more expensive sets for people who like a slicker feel, dislike the sounds produced by fingers on strings, or like the extra life partially provided by keeping the metal cleaner. Pure personal preference and budget choice.

The terms 80/20, 60/40, or phosphor bronze, or nickel refer to the metal type in the wound strings. 80/20 strings are actually brass, an alloy of copper and zinc. Phosphor bronze are an alloy of copper and tin witha small amount of phosphorous added for strength. As far as what you may hear and feel, the sound pretty much follows the mass of the windings - the phosphor bronze sound the warmest, the 60/40 sound the brightest, and the 80/20 somewhere in between. The nickel plated electric strings are somewhere up in the bright end, with less sustain on an acoustic setup and are harder on the frets. The cryogenic alloys are a relatively newly marketed string metal of dubious advantage.

Typical String Set Data

(Standard tuned 6 string Martin-style guitar, 25.4 inch scale)

String Choices for Alternate Tunings
To keep a constant level of balanced tension and volume between strings, as you deviate from "Standard Tuning" EADgbe with individual strings in a stringset, you may wish to choose a string of different gauge. If you deviate to a lower pitch, choose a heavier string gauge; conversely, as you deviate in tuning to a higher pitch, choose a lighter string.

Example Set: Light gauge strings on a 6-string guitar

Copyright � 2004 by Kurt Schoen, All Rights Reserved