Giant string experiment

[Tannin]

Just posting to say that (doubtless like many others) I am following this thread with interest.

[dwasifar]

Originally Posted by Tannin

Just posting to say that (doubtless like many others) I am following this thread with interest.

I'm glad to know that. Thank you for saying so. Sometimes I'm doing four or five posts in a row and I feel like I must be getting on people's nerves.

[Wrighty]

Originally Posted by dwasifar

I'm glad to know that. Thank you for saying so. Sometimes I'm doing four or five posts in a row and I feel like I must be getting on people's nerves.

No, it’s interesting to read the flow - keep it up!

[rstaight]

Keep posting. I may not have much to say but this is great info.

[memphis1]

Originally Posted by rstaight

Keep posting. I may not have much to say but this is great info.

100% agree! Thanks for going through the efforts of recording your experiences.

[dwasifar]

Originally Posted by Wrighty

No, it’s interesting to read the flow - keep it up!

Originally Posted by rstaight

Keep posting. I may not have much to say but this is great info.

Originally Posted by memphis1

100% agree! Thanks for going through the efforts of recording your experiences.

Thanks guys.

The process has been trying my patience at times. Lately I've been wishing it was finished and I could just pick one and go with it. Even though I bought all the string sets up front, I've been tempted to stop early. So it helps to know that people are interested. Keeps my motivation up.

[dwasifar]

Here's an interesting development.

If you follow this thread, you might have noticed that a few additions were made to the test group after the test was underway. I added a set of Webstrings to the group. I suspected Webstrings might be produced by GSM (Guitar String Manufacturing) in Santa Rosa, California. Then I learned for sure that GSM makes Black Diamond. There was already a set of Black Diamond in the test group, so out of curiosity I pulled them both out of their envelopes and compared them. They're similar, but not identical.

Then I noticed that the Black Diamond package lists them as being made in Florida. So to resolve my confusion I contacted Black Diamond and asked them to clear that up. I got an email explaining they had bought the entire Black Diamond operation from Cavanaugh in Sarasota and moved it, machinery and all, to their Santa Rosa facility.

The guy I was emailing with was super enthusiastic about their products and excited about this test. Not only did he offer to send me a fresh pack of California-produced Black Diamond, but he asked me if I was also testing their other house brand, Sfarzo Alloy 5109. I said no, all the strings in this test were 13-56 and the Alloy 5109 don't come in that gauge. He had a 13-56 set of those made for me and sent them too, completely free of charge. When I saw the sender name on the tracking - "Greg Sfarzo" - I realized why he had that kind of pull and why he is so pumped about the product. Apparently there is some connection there with the old D'Aquisto brand too.

Of course when the two sets arrived I visually compared them to each other and to the Webstrings. None of them are in airtight packaging, so there's no reason not to. They are all clearly similar, but also very clearly not identical, so they all go in the test separately.

Alloy 5109 is supposed to be a coated string. They don't look or feel coated to me, and they're priced like regular strings, so the coating must not be the kind of thing you find on Elixirs or EXPs.

As for the Black Diamond, the new set is brighter bronze than the old set. The older ones are darker than all my other samples, which leads me to think that set had been sitting around for a while at S&B before I bought them.

It still remains to be seen how all these will perform in the test, but I have to say I'm impressed with Greg Sfarzo himself and how he responded to my inquiries. You don't usually wind up with the head honcho handling your questions personally.

[LeftyKev]

This is good, very good, can't wait for the final outcome, keep it up mate!

[rstaight]

That kind of response from Mr. Sfrazo makes me want to try some of there products. To take that kind of an interest in this project is awesome.

[dwasifar]

Okay, final report on String Set K. Pretty much unchanged from my first impressions:

Construction: A
Volume: B
Tone: B
Playability: B
Flex test: A

These are nice but not my favorite so far.

When they settled in, they took on a little bit of a jangly tone, which is sort of the opposite of how things usually go, but I've seen it happen on a couple of other sets. They're perfectly fine; tone remains perfectly acceptable, with good solid bass, clear projection, and well-balanced overall except for the slight jangliness, which I mitigated by changing picks. Construction is flawless, which is becoming increasingly important as I continue the test and note more strings that have construction flaws.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them, and yet they are not going to be in my top contenders because there are others I've tested already that I like better. That's subjective, and I know it, so I don't want to diss on these strings too much. Someone else with a different guitar or different tastes in tone would probably think these are the best ever, and I can see why they might. They're good, but just not for me.

String Set K is Ernie Ball Earthwood 2144.

String set L will go on tonight. Ordinarily I would leave this set on a little longer, but I'm concerned that my jimmy-rigged string repair will let go and injure me or the guitar.

[bmyers]

Thanks for this thread. I'm loving it! Looking for the perfect strings for my Larrivée LV-09.

Burt

[dwasifar]

Okay, kind of a snag here.

I figured out why a few of the string sets got jangly. It turns out I have a very slight string buzz problem on the high E. It's not bad enough to be audible when you fret and play that string by itself. But as soon as you put more pressure on the neck, like when playing a chord, it comes out if the high E is fretted at any of the first three frets. So in ordinary playing, the metallic chatter of the slight buzz gives an overall jangly tone.

This didn't happen with the earlier sets because partway through the test I took the guitar to a luthier to have the fretboard edges rolled a bit. He had to do a setup after that, and it looks like whatever he did took that string down too low. I'm meeting him tomorrow to show him the issue.

This is a problem in that it calls into question the validity of all the string tests I've done since receiving the guitar back from him. That would be string sets F through K, plus the current set L, which I haven't said anything about yet. But it does make sense that they would jangle after a little while, as they settle in. String Set L got jangly immediately, which enabled me to find the problem.

Speaking of String Set L, they sound pretty nice, and they are obviously not normal phosphor bronze. They're too yellow for that. So that means they almost have to be the GHS Vintage Bronze. I didn't realize when I bought it that it was an alloy halfway between 80/20 and PB. But I'm not sure whether to bother evaluating them as they're probably going to be casualties of the luthier visit tomorrow.

[Wrighty]

Originally Posted by dwasifar

Okay, kind of a snag here.



I figured out why a few of the string sets got jangly. It turns out I have a very slight string buzz problem on the high E. It's not bad enough to be audible when you fret and play that string by itself. But as soon as you put more pressure on the neck, like when playing a chord, it comes out if the high E is fretted at any of the first three frets. So in ordinary playing, the metallic chatter of the slight buzz gives an overall jangly tone.



This didn't happen with the earlier sets because partway through the test I took the guitar to a luthier to have the fretboard edges rolled a bit. He had to do a setup after that, and it looks like whatever he did took that string down too low. I'm meeting him tomorrow to show him the issue.



This is a problem in that it calls into question the validity of all the string tests I've done since receiving the guitar back from him. That would be string sets F through K, plus the current set L, which I haven't said anything about yet. But it does make sense that they would jangle after a little while, as they settle in. String Set L got jangly immediately, which enabled me to find the problem.



Speaking of String Set L, they sound pretty nice, and they are obviously not normal phosphor bronze. They're too yellow for that. So that means they almost have to be the GHS Vintage Bronze. I didn't realize when I bought it that it was an alloy halfway between 80/20 and PB. But I'm not sure whether to bother evaluating them as they're probably going to be casualties of the luthier visit tomorrow.

That’s very frustrating for you - will you redo them all or try to compensate for the jangle in an edit?

[dwasifar]

Originally Posted by Wrighty

That’s very frustrating for you - will you redo them all or try to compensate for the jangle in an edit?

I'm definitely not going to redo them all. This is taking forever as it is.

I haven't really decided how I'm going to handle it.

The guitar is at the luthier now getting some adjustments made to the action. So I have a few days to think it over.

[dwasifar]

String set L had a short tenure.

As I suspected from the color, these are GHS Vintage Bronze.

Construction: A-
Volume: B
Tone: B
Playability: B
Flex test: B

These sound substantially different from all the others, as you might expect, given that they are a different alloy, halfway between PB and 80/20. They're not the tone I want on this instrument. Less bass, more emphasis on midrange. It's not a bad sound necessarily, it's just not what I want.

Playability is average. Flex is slightly stiffer than Martin and D'Addario, which have become my testing standards.

I gave them an A- on construction because, although the windings and ball ends and everything are done fine, there is less wound string length available on these than any other I've tested, and more useless core wire sticking out - around 6". I like having a little bit of core wire sticking out because it helps with threading the string through the post, but 6" is unnecessary, and if you were stringing a guitar that strings down to a tailpiece, you might not have enough wound string to reach the post. Two of these strings only had 3" of windings left on what was trimmed away, and I use a locking method with only a single wrap around the post. If I was doing three wraps like a lot of you guys do, that'd be cutting it close. (Pun intended.)

That said, if you're looking for a happy medium between PB and 80/20, this might be the string for you.

String set M goes on today as soon as I get all my other chores done.