Positive Experience with 80/20 Strings (YMMV)

[SprintBob]

In my current stable I have an all koa Taylor K-22 that is tonally very sweet and balanced but (for lack of a better term) somewhat subdued (i.e. not the greatest projection). I also have a Jake Robinson sitka spruce/mahogany 12 fret sloped shoulder dread. The other wood acoustics I own all have red spruce/Adirondack tops in combination with rosewood, cocobolo, and mahogany. I play 95% fingerstyle and I really love and appreciate the clarity and complexity of Adirondack as a top wood. I use mostly PB or Monel strings and what I came to find was that my Taylor and Robinson seemed "meh" compared to the Adi guitars, to the point my impression was they were not "as good" inherently for what I like to play.

I've been playing for almost 8 years and I think I had some 80/20 strings on one of the first Taylors I owned but I drifted away from them early on. Decided to try them again on the K-22 and Robinson this week and put on a set of Curt Mangan 12-53 uncoated 80/20's on both. For both guitars, it made a very nice improvement in improving clarity and depth in the high end of each guitar. In both instances, like getting a new guitar.

Lesson learned to me (that gets repeated here often) was if you find you are losing interest in the tone of a guitar, try some different strings.

[mr. beaumont]

I greatly prefer 80/20's.

They start out brighter than PB, almost shrill for the first few hours, but then they mellow out in a way PB never does to my ear, while still retaining clarity. Especially dig them on an acoustic archtop.

[generalliamsayn]

I have found that 80/20's sound great on my Collings 000-HK (sitka/koa). I feared they'd be too bright but they brought out the best of the instrument.

IMO koa like 80/20's.

[Misifus]

My Kinscherff was delivered with GHS 80/20s. Ample experimentation has resulted in John Pearse 80/20s becoming my go-to strings on that guitar. In fact, I have found that I prefer 80/20s on all my rosewood guitars, and PBs on my hog models.

Ymmv

[Shadowfox]

I love 80/20 on my Cocobolo/ Alpine Furch. They make it really sing. My favorite strings so far in 80/20 have been Phillippe Bosset see here: https://www.stringsbymail.com/philip...2-53-7842.html

[Joe Beamish]

I go with what the individual guitar wants, but loved 80/20s on my Santa Cruz OM. They also feel a little more flexible than PB's.

[RalphH]

I was stunned how different PB and 80/20s are when I tired 80/20s fir the first time recently. It's night and day. Almost as dramatic as nylon vs steel. I prefer PBs, but I can see the attraction of 80/20s when you need a guitar to set in a mix and not take up the entire audio spectrum with all the zingy harmonics of PBs, or just if the guitar prefers it

[rokdog49]

I’m sold on the Gibson Masterclass 80-20’s made by GHS.
They are a bit different than others in that the core wire is smaller in diameter and the wrap wire is thicker.
80-20’s do seem to start out brighter than PB’s I’ve tried but as was stated earlier they soon mellow into a really nice tone and the bottom is more pronounced if you like that. That tone seems to last for quite a while too.

[JBCROTTY]

Can't go wrong with the Mangans...my favorite string brand across varieties. They just nail it, in my opinion.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by JBCROTTY

Can't go wrong with the Mangans...my favorite string brand across varieties. They just nail it, in my opinion.

They are very good as well. Their Monels are better than Martin Retros IMHO.

[Slothead56]

I’ve been a PB guy for over 40 years buy I recently tried 80/20’s on my HD 28vs and it has brought this 20+ year old guitar back to life. Not loving them on other guitars but that big old box sings like a choir now.

[Jaden]

With bare fingers, 80/20 and monel are the only string alloys that allow for clarity - the fuzzy wuzzy dark blended colour of PB works against string and note definition for my purposes. YMMV

[jrb715]

Switched from D'Addario PBs to 80/20s on both a Huss & Dalton slope and my Martin HD28. More open, more alive sound on both. Made very good guitars exceptional.

PBs or NBs work better on my other guitars.

[SprintBob]

Originally Posted by generalliamsayn

I have found that 80/20's sound great on my Collings 000-HK (sitka/koa). I feared they'd be too bright but they brought out the best of the instrument.

IMO koa like 80/20's.

That was my thought also in trying 80/20’s on the K-22 but results were so promising on my Robinson that I want to try 80/20’s on the full stable eventually. I think they may be too bright/harsh for an Adi top but we’ll see.

[Lillis]

I'm enjoying DR Hi Beam lights on my Eastman E20 OO adi/EIR. full articulate tone.