#1
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martin silk and steel or martin steel lifespan
so looking for some opinions. I really like the Martin lifespan 2.0 treated acoustic steel strings on my regular acoustics ( always used elixirs or D'adds up to couple months ago o them)
however, for my '29 archtop was thinking of trying either the Martin lifespan 2.0 treated acoustic steels or the Martin acoustic silk and steel strings? any thoughts on archtop strings for vintage sound...have used pro artes/elixirs/gibsons on her before but looking for something different thanks in advance for your input
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Don 1929 SS Stewart Pro Archtop 1921 G Houghton Archtop Banjo 2007 George Rizsanyi Custom Maple Banjo Killer 2017 James Malejczuk Custom OM Black Limba 1980 Norman B50-12 Norman B-20 Recording King single 0 1996 Takamine 1967 Yam G-130 Melvina 1980s Seagull S6 Cedar 2003 Briarwood 1970s Eko Maple 1982 Ovation 2020 Fender Telecaster Mandolin Yam THR5A Sienna 35 Kustom |
#2
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Silk and steel sets are lighter-than-light, even when the nominal gauges read "light." I can't imagine them driving an old archtop as well as any set of solid-cores, and anywhere near as well as any medium-gauge solid-core set. FWIW, the lightest strings I use on any of my archtops are Thomastik BeBops--and for acoustic-only playing, I prefer phosphor bronze mediums. (Guitars intended to be played amplified are a different matter--though old guitars certainly speak better with heavier strings.)
The abiding sin of guitar stores that offer old acoustic archtops is to string them with flats and/or lights. It makes it very hard to judge the instrument's real voice. |
#3
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Quote:
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Don 1929 SS Stewart Pro Archtop 1921 G Houghton Archtop Banjo 2007 George Rizsanyi Custom Maple Banjo Killer 2017 James Malejczuk Custom OM Black Limba 1980 Norman B50-12 Norman B-20 Recording King single 0 1996 Takamine 1967 Yam G-130 Melvina 1980s Seagull S6 Cedar 2003 Briarwood 1970s Eko Maple 1982 Ovation 2020 Fender Telecaster Mandolin Yam THR5A Sienna 35 Kustom |
#4
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There are more than a few questions to be answered when you think about optimizing strings for old archtops. Back when they were new, strings tended to be a lot heavier than we sometimes use now, and the guitars were voiced accordingly (and were new, and weren't expected to last forever). So a set of medium acoustic strings (.013" - .056") is often recommended, for tone and volume. A 95 year old guitar is, well, OLD, so it is going to have physical issues to a greater or lesser degree. It might have body issues, braces loose, wood dried out, unknown cracks, the neck joint might be marginal, the neck might have a little bow or twist. So a lot of people, me included, go with extra lights (.011" - .049") and put up with a very slight change (not a loss, just a difference) in tone and volume. Playing action and playing style often will come into play, often lighter strings get slightly higher action, etc. Hard chord chopping usually wants higher action while dense fingering and high rates of speed well up the neck want low, light action for some players.
Bottom line is you need to evaluate your instrument and your style, your playing needs, and try a lot of different strings. I will suggest that you try Newtone archtop strings, double wound, low tension. The best archtop strings I ever tried, by far. Archtops respond to the mass of the string, not the tension, so a high mass (double windings) low tension(smaller inner core wire gauge) really helps things out, and they are really easy to play too. A little hard to get, though.
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Brian Evans Around 15 archtops, electrics, resonators, a lap steel, a uke, a mandolin, some I made, some I bought, some kinda showed up and wouldn't leave. Tatamagouche Nova Scotia. |
#5
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Quote:
__________________
Don 1929 SS Stewart Pro Archtop 1921 G Houghton Archtop Banjo 2007 George Rizsanyi Custom Maple Banjo Killer 2017 James Malejczuk Custom OM Black Limba 1980 Norman B50-12 Norman B-20 Recording King single 0 1996 Takamine 1967 Yam G-130 Melvina 1980s Seagull S6 Cedar 2003 Briarwood 1970s Eko Maple 1982 Ovation 2020 Fender Telecaster Mandolin Yam THR5A Sienna 35 Kustom |
#6
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Give 12th Fret in Toronto a call, they used to be a stocking dealer for Newtone, and that's where I got mine from. Nice guys, and they actually carry them because they did a review and called them the best acoustic archtop strings, that used to be on their website also. Plus it's nice to visit their website just for the fun of it.
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Brian Evans Around 15 archtops, electrics, resonators, a lap steel, a uke, a mandolin, some I made, some I bought, some kinda showed up and wouldn't leave. Tatamagouche Nova Scotia. |
#7
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(According to my sound pressure app I can get close to 80dB with my phone on the music stand.) FWIW, Martin make a flex-core, PB silk-and-steel string that has a bit more tension, and you can get "silk-and-brass" strings in various gauges from Thomastik and Ernie Ball (AC111 or Earthwood S&S soft might be good starting points). Brass (80/20) would be more appropriate soundwise. GHS make a thin-core PB string that might be interesting too if you do prefer the PB sound and want something with a more metallic sound. I have so-so experience with the Newtone double-wounds; they made me some with brass winding. There were issues with the ball-end wrapping that are probably moot with an archtop's tailpiece but I think the double windings can move relative to each other when you dig in, causing intonation to waver (I never had A and E6 strings that fluctuated so much, making tuning very complicated). Fortunately I prefer the sound of silk-and-brass anyway (on a mini-jumbo).
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I'm always not thinking many more things than I'm thinking. I therefore ain't more than I am. Pickle: Gretsch G9240 "Alligator" wood-body resonator wearing nylguts (China, 2018?) Toon: Eastman Cabaret JB (China, 2022) Stanley: The Loar LH-650 (China, 2017) |
#8
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Quote:
- Increase the mass of a string (thickness or material density) while keeping the tension constant, and the string's Eigen frequency (= pitch) will drop. We all know that the B and E1 strings have comparable tension, and which of the two has the higher mass. - Decrease the tension while keeping mass constant, pitch drops. I guess we all know that too Combining the two can only give a more substantial drop in pitch. Case in point: carbonfluor trebles and Aquila Rubino are made from materials with a higher density than musical nylon (in the case of Rubino it's because of added metal powder), which allows these strings to be thinner than their plain nylon counterparts at equal tension (for the E1 comparable to that of a 10 or 11 plain steel string). This is also exactly the raison d'être for winding, historically speaking: it allows strings to achieve the required tension at a thinner diameter, which makes them sound a lot better. From what I understand, the main interest of a higher winding-to-core ratio, aside from the change in sound colour, is that strings become more flexible. If they also have a lower tension that is not because there is more of the heavier winding material, but because there's not enough of it to compensate for the loss of mass due to the thinner core wire (= the net density is lower).
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I'm always not thinking many more things than I'm thinking. I therefore ain't more than I am. Pickle: Gretsch G9240 "Alligator" wood-body resonator wearing nylguts (China, 2018?) Toon: Eastman Cabaret JB (China, 2022) Stanley: The Loar LH-650 (China, 2017) |
#9
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For something else low tension, you might like the John Pearse "Silk and Bronze."
Nice slinky feel (but not anywhere as slinky as Silk and Steel) and they sound kind of "played in" right out of the box. |
#10
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OK, somebody care to explain what that term means in relation to strings?
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I'm always not thinking many more things than I'm thinking. I therefore ain't more than I am. Pickle: Gretsch G9240 "Alligator" wood-body resonator wearing nylguts (China, 2018?) Toon: Eastman Cabaret JB (China, 2022) Stanley: The Loar LH-650 (China, 2017) |
#11
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Less tension.
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