String *squeak* -- nylon string guitars -- relevance to Pick-ups?

[Paultergeist]

Greetings!

I am hoping to get a few observations from others......

I primarily play nylon string guitars these days, and while using amplification, I feel that I get a lot of string squeak. Bt "squeak," I mean the higher-pitched sound of the finger tips moving/slipping on the wound (bass) strings. I typically manage the issue to within reasonable levels, being especially careful not to play live with brand new strings if I can help it, etc.

I would point out that the degree of finger squeak seems quite negligible to me when playing un-amplified, but amplification really seems to bring this undesired effect out much more.

I notice that all of my nylon guitars that have pickups are currently using under-saddle-transducer (UST) type pickups. I am now wondering if a sound-board type pickup system -- K&K comes to mind as an example -- might help reduce the excessive squeak I hear under amplification?

[pf400]

I'm pretty new to nylon strings, having just bought a hybrid Cort CEC5 guitar with Fishman pickup. I use D'Addario EJ45s only because my Guitar Tech put them on when he did a setup. Compared to my steel string guitars, the string squeak on this brand of nylon strings is almost negligible. Not much of a help here but hopefully others will pitch in.

[pf400]

See "String Whistle" over in the Classical section for a discussion on nylon strings...

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Paultergeist

...I notice that all of my nylon guitars that have pickups are currently using under-saddle-transducer (UST) type pickups. I am now wondering if a sound-board type pickup system -- K&K comes to mind as an example -- might help reduce the excessive squeak I hear under amplification?

Hi P-geist...

When I'm mixing classical with pickups, the upper mid, and treble, and presence controls are my friend. I'll often drop either a ParaDI preamp in between the guitar and the amp/board, and attenuate the frequencies where the squeak sails/takes off.

I'm not sure a K&K (or other SBT) would alleviate it or not? They reflect pretty closely the sound/tone of guitars. More so than undersaddle.

I'd probably be tempted to experiment with the settings on the board/amp first before investing tons of time/money into the rig.

[Paultergeist]

Thanks all-around to everyone for the excellent suggestions.

[ddawson2012]

Paul - don from D'Addario here - we also make a semi-polished classical string in our Pro-Arte line. This nearly eliminates finger squeak completely. They might be a little harder to find as it's a bit of a niche product but we do make them - http://www.daddario.com/DADProductFa...68&familyid=28

Don Dawson
Product Marketing Specialist
D'Addario / Planet Waves

[Garthman]

Two suggestions:

If you are using standard round-wound strings, it might help if you take off some of the treble on the EQ (I do this routinely when playing nylon strings through an amp).

Switch strings to a set with ground and polished basses. I use La Bella 900 which have smooth basses that eliminate squeak just about entirely.

[ghsDave]

Paul,
Have you tried a smoothwound classic string? GHS has a low finger noise string called a La Classique Smoothwound. Set 2390. This string will help reduce string squeak.

http://www.ghsstrings.com/strings/cl...ue-smoothwound

Dave

[Paultergeist]

Don, Garth, Dave,

Thank you for the additional suggestions -- all pointing towards trying some different strings. While I have played at least strings from among the three brands mentioned, I do not think I have yet investigated smooth/polished wound strings -- this is a great idea for me to try.

Thank you all for the helpful suggestions.

Paul

[DanMc]

Just wanted to thank you all (and God) for providing this forum. I played at a place last night (restaurant). Aside from what was happening musically, there were a number of "bummers" that detracted (I felt significantly) from the presentation, among them a distracting squeak from my fingers rubbing against (primarily) my wound strings (and maybe even some unwound string noise?).
Though exhausted last night, I was bummed out enough to search on this and found this forum. I don't know if anyone will even read this, as this thread was posted a year and a half ago, but thought I'd thank you for some help in eliminating this negative aspect of my playing, namely the possibility of using polished strings.
I'm also wondering about switching to a guitar with steel strings (an electric guitar), as I don't remember having squeak issues with a magnetic pickup (as opposed to the kind of pickup Taylor uses (Expression) with my nylon string guitar.
Thanks
Dan