Old Strings New Strings

spantini

spantini

COO of me, inc.
I decided it was time to replace the strings on my Taylor Big Baby. These are the originals from 10-27-2017. They don't have a lot of play time on them, maybe somewhere around 20 hrs or so, but they are quite dirty and not as playable.

I wanted a deeper sound but strings can't help too much there, a larger body would. I went for a heavier gauge anyway just to maybe cut some brightness from the guitar's built-in character.

[EDIT: 12-15-23 The new strings applied more tension to the neck, so I tweaked the truss rod about 1/8 turn to bring the strings back down]

I recorded the old strings just before the changeover, then the new. My ears are telling me they sound almost alike. The lighter gauge strings dulled by dirt and age sound almost exactly like the newer medium gauge. Interesting . . .

Well, here's some chords I cobbled together for this demo. Not a song. . . yet, anyway. Maybe never, but who knows.

AT2020 XLR [ 6 inches from and parallel to the neck at the body joint ]
MOTU M2
Taylor Big Baby Acoustic
Reaper

Here's the raw tracks :

First take : MONO : Old, original, Light Gauge dirty strings : Elixir Light .012 - .053
Second Take : MONO : New Medium Gauge strings : D'Addario 80/20 Bronze EJ12 Medium Gauge .013 - .056
Third Take : STEREO : The two together - Panned Old L / New R @ 35%
 

Attachments

  • Acoustic Strings Old +.mp3
    2.6 MB
  • Acoustic Strings New +.mp3
    2.6 MB
  • Acoustic Strings Old & New +.mp3
    2.6 MB
Last edited:
I've always been reluctant to get into the string change thing. I know the old strings are often sweat bound, dull and less good, but I have the original 1974 strings on one bass, and from new it was a 'duh' bass rather than a 'dunnnng' bass - very low sustain, and it sounds pretty much the same. The New takamine guitar cuts my head off with top end, but I'm wondering if it's just a very bright guitar?

If you'd not said it was a strings thing - I'd have said a bit of EQ tweaking?
 
I remember my first "real" bass guitar. An old SG a co-worker sold me with an Earth amp & cab for $300 around 1978 (IIRC). The strings on that bass were black from dirt. Very dull sounding. I never changed them as they sounded better when I upgraded to an Ampeg half-stack. The strings that came on my '65 Höfner 500/1 style (purchased around 1980) were used and I only had them changed when I had it's neck separation repaired at a luthier. Those strings were about 10 years old at the time - not too dirty, though. Still played and sounded good. The one bass I would maintain new strings on (should I still own it) was my 80's Fender P-Bass. Amazing sound playing live with new strings.

The main tonal difference I heard with the above acoustic string swap came from the new strings (B and High E) when I emphasised them in certain parts. They were definitely brighter. Clearer.

I added no processing, just reduced the New Strings track about 1.4 dB when rendering as it was a tad bit louder than the Old Strings track in the mix.
 
I usually hear a pretty big difference when I change strings. Most of the time, the strings will be on a guitar for a year or more, and the new ones bring back the "zing", whether it's electric or acoustic. My bass guitar (a cheap Peavey BXP-4) had the same strings for about 15 years, but I changed them out for ground wound strings to eliminate the finger squeaks and it change the tone pretty significantly. My buddy just changed the strings on his Guild JS-2 for the first time since the mid 70s. It had flat wounds, and was so "dull" sounding that sometimes it was hard to tell what note he was actually playing. It was more thump or thud than a distinct note. After changing to round wounds, he said that the notes are much clearer now. I'm interested in hearing it next time we get together.

I haven't changed the strings on my Baby Taylor since I got it about 4 years ago. It might be time, but I just use it for picking around when I'm sitting in my recliner. It also needs a bit of truss rod tweaking.
 
I tweaked the truss rod on mine a tiny bit when I first bought it. I didn't have the wrench, but I found a thin-walled socket that just barely grabbed the nut. That worked but I didn't want to push it - I purchased the correct wrench.

I've been a long-time user of D'Addario Phosphor Bronze, but this is the first time I've tried their 80/20 Bronze. Before the Big Baby, on full size dreadnoughts, I was used to a noticeable increase in brightness and that "zing" you mentioned. I hardly get an increased brightness with these mediums on the 15/16 sized Taylor. The "zing" is there, but that's about all.
 
I listened to the old and the new, spantini. I'd say the new ones were brighter, just listening on my laptop speakers.

There is a youtube video where some bass player demonstrates how to turn old dirty strings into new sounding strings.
His method was to (as he put it) 'slap da shit outa them'.
He would loosen the strings, and then give them some major twanging, so they slapped hard against the neck and pickups, dislodging all the dirt.
You could scrub them, or better still, put them in an ultrasonic bath to regain their youth.

I'm still researching acoustic string guages. I like an unwound G string, for bending. Am trying different guages on different acoustics.
Horses for courses.
 
I only change my guitar strings when they break. I used to repair them depending on where they broke and some of those repaired strings lasted for ages. I've always mixed brands and gauges, both on my 6 and 12-strings. I've never noticed any discrepancies between string sounds.
Ditto with the bass. On my 5-string, I changed the strings after a few years because I wanted a twangier sound but a few years after that, I went for flat wounds to facilitate sliding and less finger noise. I find that the strings will be as bright as I want them to be. There are all kinds of ways {tone knob, amp, preamp, EQ, playing style, pick, fingers} to get the sounds I want, whether bright or duller/deeper.
 
The new strings are a little brighter and noticeably louder - project more. I got a fatter audio wave when they recorded. Had to trim the channel fader a bit on those when I mixed the two. I've never tried cleaning my strings. I've heard of boiling them - that sounds like it should work to release the dirt and oils, but how does that affect the metals?

I always keep the most recent old set in a guitar's case or bag, just in case. I'm not prone to breaking strings but I have had a couple of bad ones right out of the box that sproinged while I was putting them on - just when their eyelets were pulling up tight on their pins. I think I recall having only one bass string go on me while tuning up at practice. I don't remember if I put on a new set or just the one.

I'm not a finger-picker, though I have tried lazily to teach myself. If I were, I'd probably be much more particular about which strings I put on my acoustics. As it is with my strumming style, I go for whatever "rings" nicely when I strum - sometimes hard.

I plan on keeping new strings on my Fender Jazz, keeping the Yamaha for experiments.
 
Yep - new ones are brighter and richer. Not a huge difference. But it's there.

@rob aylestone - bass strings are an entirely different consideration when it comes to changing strings. I don't dig clangy new bass strings on my P. Old, worn, and somewhat dead are where it's at, IMO.
 
I will change my strings on my acoustic more often than on my electric. On the acoustic I can hear the difference, on the electric, I am usually messing with the sound through the amp/sim so I can't really tell.
 
DM60 said:
I will change my strings on my acoustic more often than on my electric. On the acoustic I can hear the difference, on the electric, I am usually messing with the sound through the amp/sim so I can't really tell.
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Same here. Though my Strat has a great unplugged sound with new strings, I can't make much use of that other than to just practice unplugged. I do think about miking it like an acoustic just to hear what it sounds like.
 
I don't play with a ton of distortion, so the sound of the new strings comes through. The worst part is having to wrap the new strings. I solved that on my semi-hollow Heritage by putting new locking tuners on last month. Man, that made all the difference. Changing strings is a snap with them.
 
Other than when I'm winding a new one that suddenly jumps as the winding tightens up, I've never had a string slip at the tuner after tuning. Always at the peg. The closest that I experienced was a tuner that just suddenly free-spun while I was tuning. Stripped gear, or something else came apart inside.
 
spantini said:
my Strat has a great unplugged sound with new strings, I can't make much use of that other than to just practice unplugged. I do think about miking it like an acoustic just to hear what it sounds like.
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I've done that on a couple of songs. It's an acquired taste but definitely worth it for the songs I did it on. It's not something I'd ever do regularly. On the two songs I tried it on, it was for contrast. On one of them, I did it on the 6 and 12-string. Actually, I think I did that on both songs. It's a very thin sound, but then when the plugged-in guitars come in, you can hear the beef moo-ing !
 
I've found that if I have a dull sounding string or strings on a guitar (mainly acoustic) , I just back it off untill it flops. I let it set that way for a minute , then tune it back up. Amazing how much zing it brings back. I usually do run a cloth down it while it's loose. Doesn't seem to help at all on high B and E. ms
 
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