Falling in love with nylon

[Willie_D]

I've been playing guitar for so long I ought to be a lot better than I am. I've always been a steel-stringer, more electric than acoustic. The last few years I've devoted a fair bit of time to learning some alternating thumb folk-style accompaniment (think Steve Earle, Townes, Guy Clark, Nanci Griffith, but not as good.) My church lost its accompanist for Taize music, and I stepped up by learning the songs and picking up an inexpensive Lucero classical acoustic-electric at the GC, since Taize is best done with nylon strings.

Darned if I'm not falling in love with it.

It certainly helps that I have extensive experience on the uke, so I'm familiar with nylon; and certainly that I've been doing more fingerstyle stuff lately, even if I'm doing more arpeggiated than folkie accompaniment.

I don't see myself needing to upgrade the guitar anytime soon - it plays great and sounds good, especially since I took care of what little fret sprout there was and polished the frets up nice and slick. Between the onboard eq and the Boss VE-8 I can get some great sounds through the PA, and loop for some drony meditative music.

Man, playing guitar is fun. And this new voice (my first ever nylon string guitar) is sparking fun into my playing again.

Just had to post it.

[sirwhale]

Welcome. I've lost all love for steel strings.

[Rudy4]

Good on ya!

If you end up sticking to nylon then consider jumping in with both feet with a crossover:

http://web.archive.org/web/201603282...Crossover.html

[3rd_harmonic]

Every guitar will take you on a special journey.... unique in some way.

[Willie_D]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

Good on ya!

If you end up sticking to nylon then consider jumping in with both feet with a crossover:

http://web.archive.org/web/201603282...Crossover.html

An Alvarez hybrid has been in the back of my mind forever.

[fred4321]

Nylon strings are great for a change in tone and playing.
I'm looking for a Washburn Mirage-great sound via amp. Vintage though.

[Vyse Hazuky]

Originally Posted by sirwhale

Welcome. I've lost all love for steel strings.

I've recently traded my 2 Martins for a great concert grade Cedar top classical.. And I'm actually weighing trading my remaining steel string, a Lowden, for a similar quality Spruce top..

[Rudy4]

I noticed Musician's Friend "Stupid Deal Of The Day" is the small bodied Yamaha NTX500 (acoustic / electric nylon) at a price that is suitable as a beginning foray into nylon:

https://www.musiciansfriend.com/stup...&CJPID=5696037

[Kerbie]

Great story, Willie... I'm glad to hear that. I got back my very first guitar in December '17 after more than 30 years. It's a nice little nylon made in Japan. I've had a ball with it ever since. So, I understand where you're coming from. Hope you enjoy!

[dkstott]

Over the past few years, I've sold all but one of my steel string guitars, while chasing the nylon string guitar sound that I wanted.

I have one spruce top and one cedar top now. I'm a very happy camper

[PraisePicker]

Hey Willie...

I play praise/worship at my church as well. And the reason I started getting back into nylon string guitars a few years back is that they are easier to play, especially on the left hand. Our congregation sings call and repeat choruses that run one into another for the most part. And when they feel like singing uninterrupted for say, a half hour, it's good to have a guitar that's easy to play.

My go-to church guitar is my Washburn EACT42 nylon electric (see pick). I am able to crank up the volume when needed without worrying about feedback. To make it even easier to play, I have the high E, B & G strung with John Pearse Folk Stings. These are kind of a hybrid nylon/steel - a slinky steel rope core rapped in nylon. The sound is brighter than nylon trebles, but they are ridiculously easy to play for as long as you need.

DanO

[LadysSolo]

Nylon and steel-string guitars both have a place in my life, they are so different and fun in their own way. Glad the nylon-string re-ignited your enjoyment of guitar!

[mr. beaumont]

They're so dang expressive. I go on kicks with nylon where it's all I want to play.

[fitness1]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

They're so dang expressive. I go on kicks with nylon where it's all I want to play.

Intoxicating if you find the right one.....when I got the Solista recently, I didn't pick up another guitar for about 10 days!

[RJVB]

I can relate even if I'm taking a slightly different inroad. I fell in love enough with delta blues and similar Americana that I wanted a resonator, but I also wanted it to be as versatile as possible. I knew I'd want to play certain classical repertoire as well and wouldn't want to do that with the typical resonator sound.

After reading that Chet Atkins used a nylon-stringed resonator I dug a little deeper, found some posts by others who had had their resonator converted, and decided to do the same but in such a way that it'd be easy to go back. It's a matter of swapping the nut and biscuit/saddle for the stock ones, operations I can do myself.

It worked out wonderfully, and I think I really prefer the instrument's voice with nylon than with steel strings. You can't really get the bell/chime like sound of the upper steel trebles with nylon, but you can get close enough to most other sounds you get get from steel. But you also get warmer and richer sounds that are hard if not impossible to get with steel.

Part of me is dying to know if other well (not over-) built acoustic guitars would take as well to the conversion because I'd definitely consider going down the same road with that jumbo (or mini-jumbo) I'm dreaming of. (And putting metal strings on a crossover is probably not a good idea.)