McPherson Sable string choices?

[raysachs]

What are Sable owners choosing to use for strings? I personally use either PB or Monels on all of my wood guitars, but I tried a bunch on my Sable and ended up going with Daddario XT 80/20 lights. I've never liked 80/20s on any other guitar - too bright and jangly for me, but on the Sable they sound really good. Deep, rich, full. Depending on the pick I'm using, they seem to be able to sound about like anything I want them to. I think the guitar sounds a bit better with mediums, but I'm so used to playing lights on my guitars with short scales, that both increasing scale length and string tension seems a bit farther than I'm comfortable with.

This guitar periodically blows my mind, I must say. I'll go months at home in Oregon and never play anything but my two wooden Martins - a CEO-7 and an 000-28 CAA. When I'm in that mode, I love those two guitars and have no need or desire to play my Sable. But when we come to North Carolina for the winter, climate conditions (and the insulation, or lack thereof, in places we've been renting) can get really wonky, such that I don't really want to open the cases of my Martins and I'll go long periods of time only playing the Sable. Since we got to Carolina a month ago, we've had humidity in my guitar playing room as low as single digits and as high as 70+ percent. I've been playing the Sable almost exclusively, which just short periods where I've felt comfortable taking my wooden guitars out.

And when I do that, I sort of get into "Sable mode" where it sounds SOOOO good to me, so balanced, I feel like I can get either rosewood or mahogany sounds out of it depending on how I play it. And then when I finally do play one of my Martins, they tend to sound really thin in comparison (they're both short scale, the sable is full scale). So, I'm actually sort of considering selling my Martins, at least the ones in North Carolina, and only playing the Sable here. It would simplify things a lot, since any guitars I leave here are unattended for 7-9 months of the year. But before I do anything so rash, I'd like to make sure I've left no stone unturned in terms of string choices.

So, what are all of you Sable players using for strings? What all have you tried? What have you liked and not liked? Why and why not?

Thanks for any input. BTW, I play unplugged about 99.9% of the time, so the sound plugged in isn't really an issue for me.

-Ray

[BlueStarfish]

Hi Ray, I have a Sable as well. I also have found it favors strings a bit on the brighter and livelier side.

Monels were not great on this guitar but Daddario Nickel Bronze seem to work well. Surprising as those two are both nickel-based.

Have also had good luck with 80/20's but those need to be coated to last more than a few weeks, and the Nickel Bronze strings last a long time without coating. I don't love the feel of coated strings so I have gone with Nickel Bronze for the last few string changes.

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by BlueStarfish

Hi Ray, I have a Sable as well. I also have found it favors strings a bit on the brighter and livelier side.

Monels were not great on this guitar but Daddario Nickel Bronze seem to work well. Surprising as those two are both nickel-based.

Have also had good luck with 80/20's but those need to be coated to last more than a few weeks, and the Nickel Bronze strings last a long time without coating. I don't love the feel of coated strings so I have gone with Nickel Bronze for the last few string changes.

Maybe there’s an affinity between CF and NB - I’ve tried just about every flavour of string over the last 5 years with 3 Emerald X20s, and have settled on D’Addario NB also. I couldn’t get them for the X20-7 I used to own, but John Pearse Pure Nickel did the trick for that.

[BlueStarfish]

Ray, one other comment for you. You mentioned string tension and scale length as an adjustment for you from your other guitars. The Sable does indeed sound best with mediums. But because it's a standard scale, and because it's got a super-stable neck (with EVO frets, at least on mine), it's possible to set it up with a fairly low action, at least by acoustic guitar standards, and it should fret very easy.

I mostly flatpick, and yet I have mine with a 12th fret string height of about 0.093" or so on the low E. About 0.075" on the high E. And very low nut slots. No buzz, regardless of the weather. If you mostly fingerpick you could probably take it even lower.

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by BlueStarfish

Ray, one other comment for you. You mentioned string tension and scale length as an adjustment for you from your other guitars. The Sable does indeed sound best with mediums. But because it's a standard scale, and because it's got a super-stable neck (with EVO frets, at least on mine), it's possible to set it up with a fairly low action, at least by acoustic guitar standards, and it should fret very easy.

I mostly flatpick, and yet I have mine with a 12th fret string height of about 0.093" or so on the low E. About 0.075" on the high E. And very low nut slots. No buzz, regardless of the weather. If you mostly fingerpick you could probably take it even lower.

I'll try the Nickel Bronze. I have the action set pretty low on the Sable, but I'm just so used to lighter tension, that even with low action, medium strings feel stiff to me. I do a lot of strumming and picking out fills and occasional leads with whatever pick I'm playing with, so I don't feel any desire to go lower. I'l probably try a set of lights and mediums and if there's a big enough sound difference, maybe I'll give myself some time to adapt to the mediums.

In any case, thanks for the input!

-Ray

[mbroz]

Ray -
I don't know if this is helpful, but DylanTalksTone did a comparison of a handful of strings on his Sable and his opinions here: https://youtu.be/qCqBeeSj1OI?feature=shared

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by mbroz

Ray -
I don't know if this is helpful, but DylanTalksTone did a comparison of a handful of strings on his Sable and his opinions here: https://youtu.be/qCqBeeSj1OI?feature=shared

Yeah that was helpful. Interesting he liked the PB version of the Dadarrio XT, while I’ve been playing the 80/20 version of that string. The PB sounded a little restrained to me, where I like PBs best on my rosewood guitars. But I seemed to prefer the extra kick from the 80/20s on the Sable. But I’m also using 12-54 rather than 13-56.

-Ray

[JungWoo]

I haven't really experimented much, but I really like phosphor bronze strings on my Sable in medium gauge.

So far I've tried Elixir 80/20s (didn't like, too bright and focused), Elixir PBs (liked very much), and D'Addario XT PB.

[Frettingflyer]

I have found the D’Addario XS PB to be good so far, but did not like the XT. I have used Elixir most of the time I’ve owned it. It sounds good with either 80/20 or PB but I tend to prefer the PB. I have stuck with mediums. Monels lasted a week, couldn’t stand them on there but they are great on my Rainsong.

[raysachs]

Thanks everyone. Sounds like in addition to the Nickel Bronze, I'm gonna have to take another shot with the XT Phosphor Bronze, in both lights and mediums. But if this all leads me back to where I am. with the 80/20 XTs, that won't be a bad thing at all...

-Ray

[jdinco]

I've tried a lot of strings on my Sable, but keep coming back to the Elixir Nano lights, either 80/20 or PB. Which ever I have in the string box. Like you I go long periods not playing the Sable and really enjoy it for days when I do, the tone and that neck is my favorite. When I go back to my Martin HD35, it sounds wonderful and addicting too, certainly not thin. :-) I have other guitars that may get moved since the HD has shown up, but it won't be the Sable. Interesting to read the others input on this....thanks!

[Vol46]

John Pearse PB lights ( #600L) sound pretty good on my Sable. I haven’t experimented much - it had Elixers on it when I got it last summer. I switched the the John Pearse & liked them, so I’ve stayed with them.