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Old 11-03-2018, 07:39 PM
shufflebeat shufflebeat is offline
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I bought some nickel/bronze strings for a dreadnought with a Baggs m1a which wasn't quite balancing the strings despite the polepieces being at extreme settings. The NBs, I was told, would be somewhere between PB (unbalanced) and conventional nickel (too brash for soft acoustic).

As it turned out I've probably ditched the Baggs for now but I can report two aspects of the NB strings - they do indeed produce a more even and congruent sound via the magnetic part of the Baggs and acoustically they sound warmer/duller than PB with a more complex midrange which I can well imagine would suit the archtop very well.

In my experience PBs produce a large, transparent sound on a dreadnought because of that expanse of free-moving soundboard but that movement is restricted on my Framus archtop where the arch is bracing against free movement so the full bottom end of the strings is not taken advantage of. Conversely, the warm low mids in which the archtop is most comfortable are not frequencies at which the strings are naturally vibrating.

I'm not well versed in the mechanics of this and am quite happy to be shot down in flames, it just seems logical and chimes with my previous experience.

I hadn't considered NBs on the Framus until now but will give it a try and report back (may take time though).
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Last edited by shufflebeat; 11-03-2018 at 07:48 PM.
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