Why do strings dull quicker on some guitars?

[Twinpeaksbirds]

I've noticed that on some of my guitars, I can have the same set of strings on there for months, and they remain in that sweet spot, tone-wise for a lot longer. But with other guitars, they quickly get to the point where the tone just sounds flat and lifeless, and the guitar just feels unresponsive. What accounts for this difference?

[Jschlueter]

One thing I have noticed, some of my guitars seem to react more to even slight humidity changes and invariably my more sensitive guitars require string changes more often.

[stephenT]

Don't know.

I had a Gibson L-OO that was terrible, the only brand that would last were Elixirs and only for a week. Regular strings were dead the next day. I didn't keep the guitar longer enough to figure out why.

[billgennaro]

It probably speaks to how responsive and resonant (or not) each particular guitar is. Maybe some luthiers will chime in with some thoughts on that.

[OneMansGuitar]

In my experience, mahogany guitars like older strings and rosewood guitars do not. The rosewood guitars sound much more dead and muffled sooner. Mahogany guitars tend to go through a rejuvenation, when old strings just make the guitar sound woody and relaxed, if it is a well-made instrument.

But the best rosewood guitars just do not do as well with older strings for some reason.

[Von Beerhofen]

I think that besides humidity and body resonance the top's stiffness plays a significant role. Stiffer tops are capable of producing higher frequencies and producing better sustain. It's these frequencies which disappear first.
If a guitar is under humidified the top tends to get higher tension and becomes stiffer and the relevant harmonics will improve.
As to OneMansGuitar observation about backwoods I'd place my all Koa Taylor in the same category as Mahogany, it's sound becomes almost Jazzy with it's subdued bass whereas the unwound strings the deterioration in sound is much less noticable, this goes for my other guitars which strongly react to loss of brightness in the bass too.

Ludwig

[JCook1]

If you have several guitars, maybe the ones that stay clear sounding are ones you don't play as often. If so, they would probably have less of your skin oils on them, and therefore collect less dirt and grime. And the ones you play more often have dirtier strings faster than the others. Or maybe they stay in their cases longer (if you keep them in cases) and aren't as much affected by humidity as the more often played ones. I'm not really sure exactly what the effect of humidity is on steel strings, but it does seem to be a factor in tuning, for example. Just a theory, but it could play into the scenario along with different types of tonewoods.

Jack

[khimmy]

Originally Posted by Twinpeaksbirds

I've noticed that on some of my guitars, I can have the same set of strings on there for months, and they remain in that sweet spot, tone-wise for a lot longer.

Even with dead strings, the top on this guitar must be contributing to the sound, meaning you have a vibrant, resonant top in this case. Kind of like a vintage top.

But with other guitars, they quickly get to the point where the tone just sounds flat and lifeless, and the guitar just feels unresponsive. What accounts for this difference?

Exactly opposite to the above case. The top isn't contributing to the sound as much. The guitar must be newer. Either that or the top isn't as vibrant (due to thickness or bracing pattern, etc) as the other guitar.
At least that's what I think.

[stephen mills]

Hi strummers and pluckers
and Hi Twin

Can't say, but I can tell you NEVER polish your strings with a polish as you will soon fill the 'wind / coil' of the string and this will dull vibration. Only use a soft cloth.
In the 60s I played twice with a very famous American blues player and singer, and he had very sweaty hands. Just before he started to play he would rub talc into his hands to improve slide. When he did strum ( which was rare) you could see in the light the powder come off the strings and this will eventually have the same affect as polish.
I can recommend to brush your strings sideways with a hard tooth brush, this has a great effect---- if you don't think this works well you can always brush your teeth with it a kill your gums!!

S

[220volt]

Originally Posted by Twinpeaksbirds

I've noticed that on some of my guitars, I can have the same set of strings on there for months, and they remain in that sweet spot, tone-wise for a lot longer. But with other guitars, they quickly get to the point where the tone just sounds flat and lifeless, and the guitar just feels unresponsive. What accounts for this difference?

Probably because you beat them harder

[stephen mills]

Originally Posted by JCook1

If you have several guitars, maybe the ones that stay clear sounding are ones you don't play as often. If so, they would probably have less of your skin oils on them, and therefore collect less dirt and grime. And the ones you play more often have dirtier strings faster than the others. Or maybe they stay in their cases longer (if you keep them in cases) and aren't as much affected by humidity as the more often played ones. I'm not really sure exactly what the effect of humidity is on steel strings, but it does seem to be a factor in tuning, for example. Just a theory, but it could play into the scenario along with different types of tonewoods.

Jack

Hi strummers and pluckers

Spot on JC

S

[Von Beerhofen]

Originally Posted by JCook1

If you have several guitars, maybe the ones that stay clear sounding are ones you don't play as often. If so, they would probably have less of your skin oils on them, and therefore collect less dirt and grime. And the ones you play more often have dirtier strings faster than the others. Or maybe they stay in their cases longer (if you keep them in cases) and aren't as much affected by humidity as the more often played ones. I'm not really sure exactly what the effect of humidity is on steel strings, but it does seem to be a factor in tuning, for example. Just a theory, but it could play into the scenario along with different types of tonewoods.

Jack

I don't fully agree with this view. It will make a difference if you play guitars at different rates but it's not causing the deterioration as seen within the same time span on instruments which are kept in exactly the same conditions with new strings and equal playing time on them.
All my acoustics change strings at exactly the same moment and the guitars are rotated on a dayly basis. All strings are MSP7100's and all guitars have received the same playing time and are kept in their cases when not played.
All strings on the played guitar are consistently wiped at the end of the day.
Still there's a significant difference in clarity between a few of them. On top of this I bought a CS-OM-13 which still has stock strings on it which haven't been changed thusfar and it sounds significantly clearer then my other guitars, which had a string change around the time I purchased the CS.
In terms of top stiffnes the CS-OM-13 is the youngest guitar and uses 5/16" GE braces on Alpine. My Martin OMJD has 1/4" standard scalloped on a thinner Adirondack top and looses it's low end vibrancy within two weeks.
Both are OM's with Madi backs and only the neckshape difference and binding could play a role in this as their bodysizes are identical.

Ludwig

[JTFoote]

"Why do strings dull quicker on some guitars?"

I'm going to go with:

How often you play the guitar
Whether you keep the strings wiped down, and if your hands are clean before you play
The type of string material
If you use a capo regularly
How hard you press the strings against the frets
Environment
The quality of the sound you prefer from a particular guitar

Changing any one of the six out of the seven elements listed above can have an effect on string life and the resulting sound. There's not much that can be done about your preferences on the best sound quality that can be obtained from a specific guitar ... that's a personal opinion.

... JT