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  #16  
Old 03-30-2022, 07:23 PM
Barb1 Barb1 is offline
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DDW,
I have used Optima #6 24 karat HT Carbons and Savarez 500CRJ on the Blackbird Nylon Rider. I think I prefer the Optima#6.
Barb
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  #17  
Old 04-24-2022, 10:35 AM
DDW DDW is offline
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One thing I am quickly learning is that differences in strings are greatly exaggerated on this carbon guitar. Also imperfections in tuning are much more apparent. Slightly out of tune on a wood guitar might sound ok but sound pretty bad on the carbon. Or at least this carbon.

I went from the Savarez 520P1 to the Corum bases and New Cristal trebles high tension, 500CJ. The sound of the bases improved slightly to my ear, the trebles more so. However the trebles are very stretchy, wandering all over the fingerboard and off the edge. Just swapped those for the Alliance high tension carbon trebles. They are louder, do not sound any more metallic than the Cristal to me - maybe less, and are certainly stiffer, staying put. But a little harder on the fingers.

I've ordered some Knobloch Archives Carbon in various tensions to try next.

What I am after is to eliminate the resonance that some of these treble strings seem to produce on this guitar. Sometimes it almost sounds like a steel resonator body. With some strings the first harmonic can be clearly heard on an open E1 string, and it excites the other strings as well if unmuted. Again very string (and tuning) sensitive.
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  #18  
Old 05-01-2022, 11:15 PM
DDW DDW is offline
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I'll keep adding what I discover to this, perhaps there is no interest but someone may search someday like I did.

As the Savarez Alliance carbon trebles stretched out, they mellowed a bit and sound less brassy. They have stretched more as I have tensioned and relaxed them several times for work I've done. They initially stretched less than the New Cristal, but have continued to stretch for more than a couple of weeks now. I have several sets of Knobloch to try next.

The nut on this guitar has a 50.8 mm width with 41.5 mm E-E spacing, both less that the classical norm. There is an onlne posting on an old forum saying that the nut is integral and cannot be changed but that is incorrect - it is a Graph Tech Tusq nut and can be changed like any other. It was set up with symmetrical spacing on the fingerboard (which is radius 16", also not classical standard). I just installed a new one, used the Graph Tech 6200 which has more or less bog standard classical dimensions, 52 mm wide and 43.5 mm E-E. I experimented with the offset and set it almost all the way towards the bass but for about 0.5mm, giving about 3.8 mm inset on the high E and about 2.8 on the low E (a typical classical might be 4 and 3 with a wider fingerboard). The result feels close to a real classical. The radius is still there but doesn't bother me much, even switching back and forth. The 0.4 mm extra space between strings is definitely noticeable. The high E is set in a little more than the original, the low E a fair amount less - but this is rarely an issue in the classical repertoire.

As an aside, I'm not particularly impressed with the quality of the Graph Tech product. The 6200 is a plastic molding and in machining them down to fit I've run into bubbles or voids in the material, some pretty big.

The neck has a lot of relief - too much really, but no adjustment possible as there is no truss rod. I've got a buzz on strings 4 & 5, contributed to on 5 by the compensation filed into the saddle on that string. I shimmed up the saddle by about 0.035 which helped a little but it needs that much again on the bass side. The saddle is also Graph Tech, I've ordered a couple of 9125 blanks to play with.

On the Neck Up, I tried the classical version, it is really too big for this guitar or maybe any other. Perhaps if you had really big thighs. I returned if for the standard model which works well for me.

More as I learn more......
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  #19  
Old 06-16-2022, 04:38 PM
DDW DDW is offline
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Another installment on the path.

The Savarez Alliance trebles continued to mellow into week 3 and 4 and sound pretty good. After another 3 weeks or so I began to think of them as a little flat or muted sounding. A few days ago I took them off and put on the Knobloch Archives Carbon medium tension. The stretchiness feels about the same. They had some brassiness when first installed, but that seems to have settled out after just 4 days, and now they sound about as good as the Savarez at their best. The basses are harder to string though, as they don't have the dressed end that Savarez does on theirs.

I'm continuing to get used to the guitar. Everything about it seems more critical than a wooden one - the strings, the tuning, the dynamics - anything a little off and you notice it more. After a month playing it on the boat I am home for a couple of days and tried the K Yari again, I've grown used to the sound of the Blackbird, and the aged carbon strings it doesn't sound worse to me than the K Yari, just a little different and not that much different.

Switching back to the flat fingerboard didn't bother me much at all, the biggest difference there is the Micarta fingerboard is slippery compared to the Rosewood, it is easier to have your fretted string slide around on it. I prefer the rosewood in that regard.

I've also gotten used to the shape, and come to appreciate the NeckUp, no footstool required, an asset in the boat or camper where a footstool is hard to accommodate.
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  #20  
Old 06-16-2022, 05:49 PM
nova3385 nova3385 is offline
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I abandoned any neck up or similar solutions and just use a strap with my rider nylon. I agree on the strings accentuating brightness. Since I just if for practice/travel I usually just put the same strings that I use on my luthier built classical. Right now I’m bouncing around between dadarrio and labella variants.
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  #21  
Old 02-04-2023, 02:54 AM
warndt warndt is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nova3385 View Post
I abandoned any neck up or similar solutions and just use a strap with my rider nylon.
I agree...I never could get used to the Neck-Up system. Installing strap buttons and the use of a guitar strap made all the difference for me. It makes for a much more stable platform and makes the guitar much more enjoyable to play.

YMMV...

Last edited by warndt; 02-05-2023 at 11:57 AM.
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