Strings?

[The Real Jake]

Acoustic Axe Men,

Question: In your opinion/ experience, Does the brand of strings greatly affect the sound of the acoustic guitar in terms of sheer volume?

I bought a Takamine g series gd30ce-12 (a 12-string guitar, a dreadnought),
suited it up with Ernie Ball Earthwood Acoustic Guitar Strings.

Ernie Balls had always been my go-to for electric guitar strings,
I wasn't even aware they made acoustic strings, but their product was cheaper than, for example, Martin brand strings. In store, the 12-string 'string options were limited.

Anyway, I'm happy with the Takamine guitar; for $300, it's a fine guitar, but it doesn't have nearly the boom in volume of, say, my Martin D-15, an all-mahogany dreadnought. That's likely due to the difference in quality of the guitars, the Martin being more expensive, but could Martin strings actually make a significant difference in volume when used on my Takamine?

Would different strings give my $300 guitar bigger Balls...?

-TRJ

[rokdog49]

The words "significant difference" are the key here.
Have you tried going on You Tube and doing a search for "loudest acoustic guitar
strings?"
Ernie Ball Aluminum Bronze are said to be among the louder strings out there and I would agree. Sometimes loudness translates to other things that you might not consider as being positive.
As is always the case, you should be receiving lots of suggestions soon.
Good luck!

[Oldguy64]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

The words "significant difference" are the key here.
Have you tried going on You Tube and doing a search for "loudest acoustic guitar
strings?"
Ernie Ball Aluminum Bronze are said to be among the louder strings out there and I would agree. Sometimes loudness translates to other things that you might not consider as being positive.
As is always the case, you should be receiving lots of suggestions soon.
Good luck!

Unfortunately EB doesn’t make an Aluminum Bronze 12 string set as yet.

Keep in mind that a Dreadnought 12 isn’t going to have the oomph of a Jumbo.
Also a 12-string set is 10-47 and a six string set is 12-53/54 for most people.

I’ve gotten the best tone out of Adamas 1616’s
But I occasionally use Dean Markely sets as well.

But if you’ve ever played a Jumbo 12, a Dread isn’t going to do, imho.
John Pearse makes a fine 12-sting set as well.
My advice is to hit one of the string vendors websites and buy a set or five of all the ones that interest you.
Then stock up on what you like.

[jseth]

After decades of experience with acoustic and electric guitars, it has become obvious to me that strings (brand and metal composition, coating or not) have a FAR GREATER IMPACT on the tone and volume of an acoustic than they do with an electric guitar.

Experiment and find out for yourself which strings "do it" for your guitars and your tastes...

I will say that there are many other strings out there that eclipse any strings made by Martin, in my opinion. John Pearse and Curt Mangan among them...

[vindibona1]

I can't really speak to strings for 12 stringers, but I can address volume in 6 string guitars.

The general question posed: Does string brand affect volume?

Yes, to some extent. However I have found gauge selection (in 6 string) within certain brands to be more of a contributing factor than the brand/set itself. I have two anecdotal examples...

I was dutifully using Martin Phos/bronze strings on my Martin D35. They sounded great. I don't remember why, but I got a set of DR Sunbeam 12's to test. When I put them on EVERYBODY'S response to the guitar with the DR's was "Holy crap, is that loud!". Cool. So if 12's are really good, perhaps 13's are better? NO!!!!! I put Sunbeam 13's on this same guitar and the guitar lost a significant amount of volume as well as it mojo. So back on went the 12's and all was well.

The second example was when I was testing GHS Signature Bronze strings. To get to the point without explanation, I had a set of GHS SB "True Mediums" to test and was less than impressed. The sound lacked energy. [For brevity, without explaining what I did next] I swapped the .056 low E for the .054 that came in the light gauge set. Suddenly everything lit up. The volume was almost twice what it was before swapping out the low E strings. The resonance had incredible improvement. I've explained this in other posts so I won't go into it here. But in my experience the low E is the lynch-pin to the entire set. Sometimes all you have to do to get more volume is go to a lighter gauge low E. [Note: The Santa Cruz low tension and medium tension sets share the identical low E! And I don't truly think it's about the tension because it messes up the parabola.]

I hope this helps in your situation.

[Brucebubs]

I like the volume, tone and feel of these D'Addario Nickel Bronze on my Guild F-412.

A bone saddle and bridge pins can also increase volume and sustain ... I'm using ebony pins in this picture.

[archerscreek]

Though not on a 12 string, I tried the Ernie Ball Earthwood strings on my Martin dread and they belonged six feet down in the earth because they sounded dead. That set and a cheap set of Dean Markley strings convinced me that saving a buck or two on strings wasn't worth it.

And by the way, check out "Just Strings" and "Strings and Beyond." Both of those places routinely give 15% -20% off orders. Strings and Beyond had 20% off all GHS strings yesterday and that may still be going on.

[The Real Jake]

archerscreek,

Were the Dean Markley's you spoke of their "Blue Steel" variety? I've had good experiences with them, but that was a long time ago; I was possibly out of my mind...

-TRJ