Looking for warmer strings (fingerstyle)

[jimmy bookout]

Try D'Addario "Flat Tops". They are terrific and very warm.

[TBman]

Santa Cruz low tension and Martin Flexible Cores. I think they might be a slightly higher guage than you are used to. I use 13s on most of my guitars but they are in dadgad and Orkney tuning which drops a lot of the tension off.

[Wrighty]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

Newtone Heritage or Master Class are both warmer out of the pack than any PB I’ve tried with the exception of GHS Silk and Bronze which is a good consideration . I’ve heard from many on the forum that the John Pearce are good. The only time I ever used them, they didn’t last very long. Newtones last a long time.

+1 to Newtone masterclass (double wound in particular) which are warm and rounded. DR sunbeam also similar IMO.

[oken4916]

I put electric guitar strings, nickel, on both my guitars. One is a size O parlour and the other is a dreadnought. They worked better than any acoustic string and added something no acoustic string ever has (I have tried them all!). Go figure. For warmth try nickel, the john pearse ones are good and if you are feeling strange try electric strings!

[Tasos]

I tried nickel electric guitar strings but didn't like the tuning stability and they were still too bright, but play ability was nice.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by boneuphtoner

The Silk and Steel strings will certainly give a more mellow tone on the wound strings, and my kid uses these on his Yamaha FS820 and it serves his purpose for having less tension.

I do have a question for those of you that play these or the silk and bronze strings - how do you account for the difference with the unwound high B and E strings? When I've played my kid's guitar it sounded fine with strumming but once you add play fingerstyle the silk wound strings have a much different timbre than the unwound strings. At least with my feeble abilities, the difference in timbre with fingerstyle doesn't work for me at all. I have to be missing something - please enlighten me.

I haven’t noticed that. My feeling is any wound string that has been on a guitar for a quite a while and has mellowed would give a similar response to what you describe vs. the unwound ones. Seems logical based on what you’re getting right away with a mellow set of wound strings. You might be hearing that because it manifests itself immediately instead of over time as with a regular set of PB’s.

[MThomson]

As well as exploring strings, you can also check your hand position. Closer to the bridge gives a janglier tone with more overtones, nearer (and past) the soundhole gives a rounder, more fundamental tone. Might be enough to make the difference once you get close with the strings

[mattwood]

DR Rares sound warm to my ear.

[Tasos]

I just put the TI plectrums (11's) and these are my initial thoughts compared to the Elixir polyweb (10's)

They sound is a bit warmer, on high strings as well which is what I was after and the overall tension is lower which is nice.
They slide harder than the elixirs though out of the box and want to see how they feel after a week or so (elixirs have anti rust plain steels which feel/slide like new after playing them for 1 month or so)

Also got the spectrum's 11 which I don't know how they compare sound wise to the plectrums but I guess they have a fuller sound/volume better suited for live playing.

[Wellington]

No one has mentioned Martin Monel’s, there’s a recent thread about how warm they are and the last long.

[Tasos]

One issue I've noticed on this guitar with all the strings I've tried is that the low/bass strings do not have sustain near the middle part of the neck compared to my identical classical guitar. Is this normal for a low end acoustic guitar? I basically need to use a pick to make them sound when I want to play fingerstyle songs and seems like the other strings overpower them. On my classical it's the opposite (low strings have a lot of sustain and the high ones do not).

Maybe I need to try higher tension strings to get the low strings to have more volume/sustain on the acoustic?

[djcarolino]

+1 on TI plectrums. I use light gauge (11-50) and replace the high E to .012 and high B to .016 for thicker sounding trebles. Ive used this combination with dreads and O,OM sized guitars and should be right up your alley for fingerstyle.

[Brucebubs]

I've tried Curt Mangan round core Monels on 2 different guitars now and had the same result on both - very, very warm for bare flesh finger style playing, almost too warm for me!

[mlr1122]

I’ve been enjoying DR Veritas lately.