Can I nylon-a-fy my baby Taylor?

[givempills]

Just wondering? I'm guessing it would work? Right?

[kudama]

ya probably if you can get those nylon strings with ball ends on them. might not sound amazing, but it'll work.

[jmiked0]

It would sound horrible and not have any volume. Plus, the action would be much too low unless you changed out the nut and saddle.

[Garthman]

It will work fine. You may need to widen the treble nut slots a touch to accommodate the thicker nylon trebles - the basses will fit OK - and possibly slacken off the trussrod a little. But string up first - it might be OK.

[Garthman]

Originally Posted by jmiked0

It would sound horrible and not have any volume. Plus, the action would be much too low unless you changed out the nut and saddle.

This is not the case. The volume will be pefectly acceptable and the action should be OK unless it is really low. All that may need doing is the truss rod may need slackening a little and the treble nut slots widening - see above^^^^^.

[gdeleo]

Please let us know if you try it and the results you get. I have a big baby I would like to try it on.

Thanks
Gary

[Herb Hunter]

I disagree that putting nylon strings on a Baby Taylor or any steel-string guitar would produce acceptable results, though I concede that what is acceptable to someone who has played nylon string guitars for a long time might be different from someone who has no experience with classical guitars.

The problem is insufficient string tension. The Big Baby was designed for a total string tension of roughly 160 pounds whereas a classical guitar is designed for an overall string tension in the neighborhood of 75-90 pounds. When a guitar is loaded with insufficient string tension, not enough energy is transmitted to the soundboard and the result is very low volume. Furthermore, a steel-string guitar is voiced differently than a classical guitar so nylon strings on a Big Baby, apart from yielding low volume also produces a poor tonal balance. In other words, the strings sound like rubber bands. My brother-in-law put nylon strings on his steel-string and they sounded sounded like rubber bands.

[andylie]

You would do better to put on some Silk and Steel strings. I put them on a Baby Taylor I once had and they warmed up the guitar quite a bit.

[Garthman]

Originally Posted by Herb Hunter

I disagree that putting nylon strings on a Baby Taylor or any steel-string guitar would produce acceptable results, though I concede that what is acceptable to someone who has played nylon string guitars for a long time might be different from someone who has no experience with classical guitars.

The problem is insufficient string tension. The Big Baby was designed for a total string tension of roughly 160 pounds whereas a classical guitar is designed for an overall string tension in the neighborhood of 75 pounds. When a guitar is loaded with insufficient string tension, not enough energy is transmitted to the soundboard and the result is very low volume. Furthermore, a steel-string guitar is voiced differently than a classical guitar so nylon strings on a Big Baby, apart from yielding low volume also produces a poor tonal balance. In other words, the strings sound like rubber bands. My brother-in-law put nylon strings on his steel-string and they sounded sounded like rubber bands.

Well - the string tension and top-loading / bracing argument is always quoted. But it's just a theory that's probably come about because, historically, steel string guitars evolved from nylon string guitars but had to be built more strongly to withstand the higher tension of the steel strings. People then assume that nylon strings don't work on a steel string guitar but they do - especially if you use hard tension ones - they have ample tension to give a good sound.

This is my nylon string dreadnought:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuuc0f0frLE

Do the strings sound like rubber bands?

[john bange]

sounds great, Garthman...we seem to address this every 2 weeks or so. I have found a few steel string guitars that were unsatisfactory with high tension nylon but most have been fine.
My only issue would be the width of the nut. john

[Herb Hunter]

Originally Posted by Garthman

Well - the string tension and top-loading / bracing argument is always quoted. But it's just a theory that's probably come about because, historically, steel string guitars evolved from nylon string guitars but had to be built more strongly to withstand the higher tension of the steel strings. People then assume that nylon strings don't work on a steel string guitar but they do - especially if you use hard tension ones - they have ample tension to give a good sound.

This is my nylon string dreadnought:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuuc0f0frLE

Do the strings sound like rubber bands?

When I said that the result would be a rubber band sound that was hyperbole (in the original, literal sense of the term) meaning I was making an exaggerated statement not intended to be taken literally as in; I'm so hungry I could eat a horse. Nevertheless, when I played my brother-in-law's OO size steel-string guitar, strung with La Bella black nylon strings, what came to mind was rubber bands but then I've been playing classical guitars since age 10 (though you wouldn't know it if you heard me play). I also got the same impression from a college roommate's Gibson J-160 which he had strung with nylon strings because he found the steel-strings too painful.

As I conceded in my original post, what is acceptable to someone who has played classical guitars for a long time might be different from someone who has little to no experience with nylon-string guitars.

[Garthman]

Originally Posted by Herb Hunter

. . .As I conceded in my original post, what is acceptable to someone who has played classical guitars for a long time might be different from someone who has little to no experience with nylon-string guitars.

I think it very much depends on the classical guitar. A top end concert classical is going to sound very good indeed and a steel string guitar strung with nylon wouldn't come anywhere close to that sound.

But when you come down to the market level classicals - Yamaha, Washburn, Ibanez, etc - the comparison becomes much closer. And when you compare a nylon strung steel string guitar to a nylon hybrid you can get very close indeed.

[Garthman]

Originally Posted by john bange

sounds great, Garthman...we seem to address this every 2 weeks or so. I have found a few steel string guitars that were unsatisfactory with high tension nylon but most have been fine. My 12 string is nylon also.
My only issue would be the width of the nut. john

Thanks, John. Yes - I tried nylon strings on my old EKO Ranger VI and it sounded crap. But then the EKO is built strong enough to hammer in fence posts and - if truth be told - it doesn't sound so hot with steel strings either LOL.

I'd like to try nylon strings on a Seagull S6 Cedar - the guitar has a 48mm nut and I think it would play well with nylon. We don't often see them over here though.

[Taylor814]

In addition to the problems already mentioned, it would be very difficult to wind the thicker nylon trebles on the narrower tuner posts of a steel string guitar. That's why the tuner posts from a classical tuner are a greater diameter than their acoustic counterparts.

[Jeff M]

As long as you don't care that it will make your Baby Taylor sound much worse,
yes, you can.

Steel string guitars like the Baby Taylor are braced heavy to with stand the pull of the steel strings. Not a problem with steel strings, as they transmit much more energy to the top with that extra tension.
Nylon strings exert much less pull...hence transmit much less driving energy to the top.
That's why nylon stringed guitars are braced lightly, close to the edge of implosion, to get all they driving energy they can from the nylon strings.

(Just saw that Herb said the same thing. Sorry to repeat.)