Acoustic Strings...

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Atom Bomb

Atom Bomb

Wtf is a PRS
Ok Firstly thanks to whoever fixed the bug that was keeping me out of this thread. Id give you some rep but i figure your loaded with it anyways.

Ok, Question.

Having played an electric guitar most of my life i think i have been babied. I fiddled with acoustic guitars a little bit but thats about it. In the last year or so i have been playing an acoustic more and more. One thing thats kind of hindering me is my strings. Here me out.

I had borrowed a friends for along time, and his strings played like butter. They werent like other acoustic strings and they definitely werent electric strings, and they werent nylon? But still played amazingly. Had a great tone/

I bought my own when i moved here, and i havent played a set like my buddies since. Ive asekd him nuerous times and he has no clue. (they sound and play so good he hasnt changed them) The ones that came with the one i bought felt good they just lacked tone. I tried some old electric strings on it and it played well just had no tone. I bought some Ernie Ball Coated Titanium Acoustic (?Extra Light?) and even with my action set as it is (low) i find even those to be hard to play. Hard to play as in i dont think i should be putting as much pressure down on those strigns considering the action i have set.

Maybe i just need to take it in and have my guitar tuned up as well? A combination of the two?

IS there any recommendations (other then telling me to suck it up) that anyone can offer up.

Im looking for strings that have a decent tone but have a very easy playability?

I dont do alot of picking or finger picking. Its alot of chords up and down the neck. Youd think I would be a bit less of a candy ass but after 25 minutes on those Ernie Balls it's a little tiresome and frustrating.

Also re: those ernie balls, they claim to be rust resistant. Which they are but instead of rust i get a really odd BLACK! coating on it in the well played areas. Lame. If it werent for how they sound (which is the point of em right??) I wouldnt tell anyone to run out and buy them. Sorry ernie ball you failed me here.
 
Wash your hands before you play. Double your string life.

Sounds like you were using coated strings. Some people hate 'em... You know the drill. Just keep trying brands till you find one that works for you.
 
Supercreep said:
Wash your hands before you play. Double your string life.

Sounds like you were using coated strings. Some people hate 'em... You know the drill. Just keep trying brands till you find one that works for you.
Click to expand...

use Elixirs. Light hates them so we know they're good.
 
Elixer Nanowebs.

The coating wears off over time, and the strings may turn dark. The coating is Gore-Tex so it kinda shreds a bit on the picking end of things.

No biggie. They keep their tune more than twice as long as conventional strings.

About the playability....... suck it up. If it was easy girls and children would play guitar.

:p
 
Smash the acoustic, burn the pieces, and go back to the electric.
 
Supercreep said:
Wash your hands before you play. Double your string life.

Sounds like you were using coated strings. Some people hate 'em... You know the drill. Just keep trying brands till you find one that works for you.
Click to expand...

Frequently rub your hands with talcum powder, absorbs oil, sweat, salt, grease, beer, and other foreign matter. My strings last a long time. I find coated strings sound dull, also they may stay shiny longer but ultimately a string will lose its tone because its molecular properties have changed even if the string is not tarnished. Strings should be changed frequently just for this reason.
VP
 
The "black" (instead of rust) is probably the dirt build up from your sweaty fingers.
The action and playability might not be the strings but your acoustic guitar. Most people learn on an acoustic (builds up the finger muscles, you know), which makes playing an electric easy later - vice-versa doesn't work.
Try different name brands, different gauges - or swap out that guitar!
 
Victory Pete said:
Frequently rub your hands with talcum powder, absorbs oil, sweat, salt, grease, beer, and other foreign matter. My strings last a long time. I find coated strings sound dull, also they may stay shiny longer but ultimately a string will lose its tone because its molecular properties have changed even if the string is not tarnished. Strings should be changed frequently just for this reason.
VP
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Please do not start handing out this advice again we have dealt with this before.
 
I use Martin Silk and Steel strings on my acoustics. They seem to have a little more "give" and stretchability than regular acoustic strings. I play mostly electric and have simply come to terms with the fact that acoustic guitars are just a little harder to play than electric. More practice to build up hand strength is the only way I've found to make acoustics easier to play.
 
Victory Pete said:
Don't knock it until you try it!:)
VP:cool:
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I don't need to try it but we've been over this before haven't we. Where is the absorbed sweat, grease, dirt going to go? Is it going to magically disappear? No it is going to end up in the windings on your strings. That is what causes strings to deaden and not stay in tune along with wear from the frets. A string has to have the same mass per unit length to work correctly and have no foreign muck lodged in the windings. It has absolutely nothing to do with changes in molecular structure of the string over time. What you imagine to be happening is know as work hardening and doesn't really happen during the average lifetime of guitar strings or to any significant level on the alloys used to make them.

The best advice has already been given. Keep your hands as clean as you can and learn to live with your own body chemistry and how it effects the life span of your strings.
 
muttley600 said:
I don't need to try it but we've been over this before haven't we. Where is the absorbed sweat, grease, dirt going to go? Is it going to magically disappear? No it is going to end up in the windings on your strings. That is what causes strings to deaden and not stay in tune along with wear from the frets. A string has to have the same mass per unit length to work correctly and have no foreign muck lodged in the windings. It has absolutely nothing to do with changes in molecular structure of the string over time. What you imagine to be happening is know as work hardening and doesn't really happen during the average lifetime of guitar strings or to any significant level on the alloys used to make them.

The best advice has already been given. Keep your hands as clean as you can and learn to live with your own body chemistry and how it effects the life span of your strings.
Click to expand...

You couldnt just let this be. Nothing ends up in the windings because the powder keeps everything dry so there is no muck. Older strings are always tighter than new ones, try measuring tension with a spring scale. New strings are always more flexible. I even notice my relief increases with the added tension from old strings.
VP
 
I haven't changed my bass strings in 7 years. Are they still good?
 
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Especially for your style of play, to cut down on fret noise I'd say go with Elixir strings. Nanowebs tend to sound a little better than thicker coated polywebs but the nanos tend unravel from pick use...but keep tone a good while longer. There are other coated strings out there but due to Elixir's patent, they coat the winding and not the string and in my opinion neither sound as good or last nearly as long.

As others have said here, keep your hands clean and wipe down the strings and playing surfaces after use. With all that and a good setup you can make an enjoyable transition from electric to acoustic playing.
 
Victory Pete said:
You couldnt just let this be. Nothing ends up in the windings because the powder keeps everything dry so there is no muck. Older strings are always tighter than new ones, try measuring tension with a spring scale. New strings are always more flexible. I even notice my relief increases with the added tension from old strings.
VP
Click to expand...

No, I won't just let it be because it is both very bad advice and also flawed.

The powder thing is obvious to even a kid in kindergarten. Tell us how powder stops your fingers sweating and makes dirt dissapear?

The tension thing was obvious to Pythagoras around 450BC. He derived (quite correctly) that frequency was directly linked to the unit mass of the string, the length of the string and the tension of the string. You change one you change the others.

Your neck relief cannot change unless the tension in the string increases. It does not unless you change either the mass per unit length of the string or the pitch. If it does your strings are either changing in mass on their own (something even quantum physicists haven't suggested is possible) or more likely you are playing out of tune or imagining it.

Here is an explanation of the fixed properties of vibrating strings. Learn it and understand it before you reply and then show me some evidence that there is a molecular change in the material properties of the string that alter their behaviour.

Simple maths and physics does not cheat on us.
 
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