What strings for your Godin 5th Avnue Kingpin?

[Beemer]

Jeff,

Further to your comment about imbalance using Phosphor Bronze I have returned to using original supplied D'Addario EJ21 Jazz Light - Nickel Wound
(.012,.016, .024, .032, .042, .052)

You were correct and I should have tried out the nickels instead of changing them on first bringing the guitar home!

Now that I think about it each steel core of the the PB is not necessarily in the same diameter proportion to each other as the diameter of the nickel steel strings are.

The trade off is that these same 12-52 strings do not sound nearly as sonorous (as the PB) when the arch-top is used without amplification but that's the way it goes.

Thanks again,

Ian

[mr. beaumont]

Yeah, archtops are always a compromise when it comes to amplification...

Something like the Godin, while it makes a decent acoustic sound, it's really a hollow body electric guitar...therefore, I outfit it with the strings that give it the best tone plugged in.

If you had something like an all solid wood carved box and a floating pickup, you might want strings to enhance the beautiful acoustic tone of the instrument as well...that's where it gets dicey. Some people have gone as far as to have pickups specially wound to accommodate bronze strings....

On my Kingpin, I've gone back to flatwound strings...I actually use flatwounds on all of my electric guitars.


As far as round wounds, you might still try the John Pearse jazz nickelwounds...I found them warmer and darker than other nickelwounds...very "vintage" sounding. And they're cheap!

[slewis]

Good info and insight, Jeff; thanks very much!

[Beemer]

Jeff.

I might try them. I bought and still have John Pearce's Finger Picking book when it came out around 1968!

Pity that we cannot still buy the mid 1930s solid nickel strings. I would love to have heard what they sounded like.

Ian

[The Old Gaffer]

If you want it to sound like an electric jazz/blues box, you will probably need to use electric strings. I prefer pure nickel strings for that classic sound. I like Thomastik-Infeld Blues Sliders or Swing Series strings. Other good strings include GHS Big Core Nickel Rockers and Gibson Vintage Reissue.

[Paikon]

Originally Posted by The Old Gaffer

If you want it to sound like an electric jazz/blues box, you will probably need to use electric strings. I prefer pure nickel strings for that classic sound. I like Thomastik-Infeld Blues Sliders or Swing Series strings. Other good strings include GHS Big Core Nickel Rockers and Gibson Vintage Reissue.

+1 to Thomastik-infeld swing series(flatwound) but also bebop series(roundwound)

[Steve DeRosa]

Use the heaviest you can handle if you want to get that "woody" archtop tone, as well as respectable acoustic volume. I've got two Godins: the acoustic is set up with D'Addario J18 14-59 PB (real little cannon for Freddie Green-style comping), and the CW Kingpin has D'Addario ECG25 13-56 Chromes. I'd recommend the latter combination to any Kingpin owner: acoustic volume/tone is sufficient for low-volume jamming, electric tone with the twin P90's combines the best of everything you ever loved about '50s Gibson (woodiness and punch) and Gretsch (crispness and clarity) hollowbodies...

[louparte]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Things won't sound balanced plugged in with PB's.

I can confirm this. But it is not a big problem if you know what to expect.

When I plugged in my archtop w/a mag pick-up, I found the 1st, 2nd & maybe 3rd strings are louder by appx 10-20%.
Those strings are more magnetic than the lower four. You can adjust your playing style accordingly.

BTW, my archtop is bigger, deeper than the Godin. It throws off a lot more acoustic volume. The pick-up is a
Kent Armstrong mini hum bucker. I put D'Addario EXP .10's electric strings on it. Acoustic volume is still adequate
but it's much more balanced as an electric.