Amplifying silk and steel strings ?

[AcousticAmber]

Hey friends.

So I have a Martin 000-15M that I love to death and I love its sound most with silk and steel strings (just my preference) because I love the warm tone of S&S.

My problem though is that I don't get to play the guitar as often as my others because it doesn't have electrics so I can't gig/open mic with it... so I'm thinking about ordering a K&K pure mini pickup to install in the guitar.

My question is: does silk and steel sound good amplified? I've heard that there are some problems with S&S such as increased finger noise and buzzing etc? Is this true, does anyone have any experience with this? It may affect my decision to install a pickup in it or not...

Thanks!

[guitaniac]

Originally Posted by AcousticAmber

Hey friends.

So I have a Martin 000-15M that I love to death and I love its sound most with silk and steel strings (just my preference) because I love the warm tone of S&S.

My problem though is that I don't get to play the guitar as often as my others because it doesn't have electrics so I can't gig/open mic with it... so I'm thinking about ordering a K&K pure mini pickup to install in the guitar.

My question is: does silk and steel sound good amplified? I've heard that there are some problems with S&S such as increased finger noise and buzzing etc? Is this true, does anyone have any experience with this? It may affect my decision to install a pickup in it or not...

Thanks!

As I just mentioned in a different thread, I had a not-so-fun time amplifying a silk & steel strung guitar on Thursday. It was a guitar which I'd worked with before (as a soundman), but on this occasion I needed to deal with considerable boominess in the lows and low mids. When I talked to the player about it later, he observed that he'd just switched to silk and steel strings. This caused problems in two ways: 1) those strings are relatively weak in the highs and make it harder to achieve an even tone and 2) those strings are quieter than regular strings and require more gain from the PA to reach a usable level (in a rather noisy setting). The extra gain needed brings us closer to howling tones and feedback problems.