I need the advice of all of you sages out there. I am an electric player cobverted to acoustic and the very proud owner of a CJ Koa. I have tried both light and medium gauge strings on my Collings and have decided to stick with the mediums. I have also tried coated "Elixer" strings and found them to be a little dead. What are you using, and are the coated strings worth it? I'm used to changing my strings weekly or so, so the coated strings longevity isn't all that big an attraction to me. TIA!

Joe

"There are 10 types of people in the world, those that understand binary and those that don't."

I use lights for smaller body guitars (OM/000/00) and Medium for (D/J/CJ) I tried medium on my OM but it not responding as good and sound very tight to me.

Due to the high humidity (100) in my area, I use only Daddario because their package is air sealed. Other strings lost its brightness even before I put them on... I uses their EXP cause I can kill strings in 1 to 2 hours.. With their EXP, it last around a week for me if I played 1 to 2 hours per day.

D'Addario medium phosphor bronze have been the most consistent tonally for me.

For the past couple years I've been using lights (.012-.053). Right now it's John Pearse, but I also like the D'addarios, Phosphor Bronze. I even switched on my Martin dread. The lights just seem more responsive, and this is from someone who used mediums on all acoustic guitars for more than 20 years.

Hey guys - thanks.

I did notice that light strings were more responsive. I put lights on my CJ and liked the feel and the tone. It just buzzed like crazy, so I put the mediums back on instead of screwing with the factory neck adjustement. The thing is brand new.

Once it is a little more broken in I will throw lights back on and tweak the neck to get rid of the buzzes. That will give me a true comparison.

I did come to the conclusion that the D'Addario Phoser bronze were the best sounding string. I didn't know if there were any boutique strings out there that people were high on though. I will stick with the D'Addarios. Thanks.

"There are 10 types of people in the world, those that understand binary and those that don't."

Joe:

There are as many opinions about strings as there are people, so here is another. I have found Martin SP phospher bronze the most likable on all my Collings guitars. They last a long time, as long as the coated strings, and they sound better. Coated strings sound to me like used strings. I break strings alot. The Martin SP's have given me the most sound for the longest time with the least breaks. I do use Medium on D sized and Light on smaller guitars. Gutiars are set up to work better with appropriate strings. I find D sized do not drive well with lights, and OM/000 are too constricted with mediums ( I agree with Ed about OM's and medium strings).

Jeff

Jeff

Well, here's yet another opinion...

I've been using the GHS Signature True Mediums on my Collings koa Om and my Santa Cruz OM/PW. They sound FANTASTIC on both. The set is kind of a cross between medium and light. They're phosphor bronze, btw.

I stick with lights on my Martin 000 12 fret.

I've tried most of them and settled on John Pearse .12s. There's nothing better to my ears. If you're not so concerned about longevity don't waste too much time on Elixirs, unless you're playing a Taylor (I'm not being a smart @ss, I actually like them on Taylor's).

BTW, great signature! Very clever. I have a friend that I'd swear can read binary code like it's his native spoken language.

Thanks Everyone - great feedback...

Elambo - I wish I could take credit for the signature, but I saw it on a networking BB that I belong to at work and stole it. I really like it and wonder how many people get it - obviously you did. I know a couple of guys who seem to speak in binary myself.

"There are 10 types of people in the world, those that understand binary and those that don't."

I use John Pearse 80/20 Bronze light gauge on my OM2H and John Pearse Phosphorus Bronze Mediums on my Gibson Advanced Jumbo and on my Martin HD-28.

Bob McCarthy

Slaínte,
Bob McCarthy
Winnisquam, NH
nello4d8@mac.com

Joe,

Jeff says, "There are as many opinions about strings as there are people...," and based on the discussions here and on other forums, he's got a great point. Then he goes on to praise strings that I have always thought were terrible when I tried them!! Go figure!

I play a couple of Collings dreads, an IR D-3 and a D-1, both with sitka tops. I agree with the good things folks have said about J.P.'s and D'Addario's; to my ear and hands not too different, so I lean towards the D'addario's because they are a little cheaper.

I favor lights, mostly because they are easier to fret and manipulate. Most of my bluegrass buds think lights sound too thin and tinny, and I know what they mean. But I have gone to Fender extra heavy rounded triangle picks and I feel like, with them, I can get a tone comparable to mediums on light strings.

Don't know if other folks have tried the strings that are wound around a round, rather than hex, core. Two companies that I know of make them: Newtone (English?) and DR (which also makes a variety of other strings as well, including the hex wound). I've seen a few notes about them in the various forums and I was intrigued. I have recently tried the DR's, both lights and mediums, and I like them a lot, particularly on my rosewood guitar. They are reputed to have rich tones and long sustains, and I think I have seen that. I like an edgy tone out of my D-1, and the DR's mellow it out a touch more than I prefer. But they seem to increase the richness and depth of my already deep and rich D-3, and right now I'm inclined to think I'll be using them on it for a while: they make the best-sounding guitar I have ever heard sound even better! But I've gone back to D-addario lights for my D-1, and I think I'll stay with them.

If you are sampling, these might be worth a try.

well, here's my take.
I have to go through strings pretty regularly. I've played almost every string & make and have a Koa guitar. Koa is an interesting tone wood it doesn't have the deep bass or the highs of maple. Walnut and Koa are very similar woods.
Without getting to geeky about the shape of the string core...
I've found that almost every reputable comapny's medium guage 80/20 phosphor bronze works with almost any guitar (Pearse, D'addario, GHS, Pyramid, etc..). I agree with Allen's staement:
"D'Addario medium phosphor bronze have been the most consistent tonally for me." I use them the most often on all my guitars. I also like the Martin Marquis as well.
I'm not into waterproof strings - I also hate the fraying of the Gore-Tex on the strings from pick wear. that may account for so of the "deadness" you're hearing. The gore-tex fibers mute the transient noise of picking.

for the curious, if you want to minimize the amount of "seep" (my term for the the noise the left hand fingers make) GHS makes a semi-flat (actually rollerwound - like their Nickel Rocker cousins for the electric) set for the acoustic guitar.
Pyramids are interesting made in Germany and handwound. They use unpolished bronze so every string has a slightly different hue. I've found it to be a very dark string.

As a great musician once said to me: the SOUND is in your hands!" and he's right. you'll get exponentially more timbre variation from switching pick guages than strings guages.

Cheers,
B.