E-minor7 Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 I would like to know is what kind of acoustic steel strings were used in the 50's, 60's and early 70's. Have an idea the variety of brands, types, thicknesses and so were limited. What was the common gauge ? Was plain bronze the norm ? How did things develop ? Any major break throughs ? Can anyone recall at all ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rambler Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 Martin and Gibson. Guild. Epiphone. Harmony and Kay. Goya (Sweden. Asian imports (I think) followed the folk/Fab boom, once it was established their was a market. I recall seeing Yamahas in our [small] town around 71-72. Something like that. Black diamond strings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 Black Diamond! Slap 'em on a Harmomy Sovereign and they would ring till Kingdome Come. Well, not really, but they were cheap and you could pick 'em up at any drug store or hardware Store. I also sometimes used Gibson Sonomatic strings on my electric. I think acosutic strings were often wrapped with a copper alloy. I don't recall much about guages or anything but one thing us geezers would sometimes do was to string a guitar with a Banjo high E and then bump all of the other strings down so that B becomes E and G becomes B and so on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 Martin and Gibson. Guild. Epiphone. Harmony and Kay. Goya (Sweden. Asian imports (I think) followed the folk/Fab boom, once it was established their was a market. I recall seeing Yamahas in our [small] town around 71-72. Something like that. Black diamond strings. For some reason, I don,t have much recollection of my string usage through the years. The names that you mention were probably the main choices. I have an old pak of orange box Set No.40 Gibson Hi-Fi Flat-Wound stainless allow wound electric strings rated at Medium guage as follows(.014,.018,.025,.035,.045,.058) Also an old box set of Black Diamond(Guitar Set steel 754) No guage given on envelope or elswhere. Simply says E or 6th wound on steel No.745. Each string has a No.(E=745; A=744 ; D=743 etc.) They were manufactured by National Musical String Co. New Brunswick, N.J. It seems that the 'custom guage' and 'alloy/composition' voo-doo came in later, as a marketing tool/ploy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suburude63 Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 Heres Guys take ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og7dMS-nyqA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 I'm not old...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortyearspickn Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 Like Murph, I'm not old either. But, in the mid-60s, all I used or even knew existed was Black Diamond. Break one, Replace one: Wait for it to 'break-in' and sound like the other 'vintage' strings. Now I drink boutique beer and use Elixer nano-long lifes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larryp58 Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 Like Murph, I'm not old either. But, in the mid-60s, all I used or even knew existed was Black Diamond. Break one, Replace one: Wait for it to 'break-in' and sound like the other 'vintage' strings. Now I drink boutique beer and use Elixer nano-long lifes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneS Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 Heres Guys take ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og7dMS-nyqA "You break one, you change one--it's as good as it gets. You can play all year long on 2 or 3 sets." Love that he wrote this about Rodney Crowell's parents... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drathbun Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 Anyone old enough to remember Nashville Straights? I loved those strings. They came in a long cardboard box about a yard long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 I'm sure I'm 'old enuff'......But still don,t rememberum... :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAMELEYE Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 I worked in a music store in the '60s. Gibsons often came with monel strings. Guild marketed their own brand which I think were PBs. D'Angelico strings were also popular. Don't remember what Martin did back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted December 21, 2010 Share Posted December 21, 2010 Beginning in the 1920s and through the 1960s, at least, Gibson made its own brand of strings, Gibson Mona Steel Strings. I've got 2 packages of NOS WWII strings, given to me by a woman who made them during the war: Their gauges are not marked, but they seem like lights, 12 - 54, to me. I'll get out the calipers and check. For a very cool presentation of vintage string package art, visit the Fretboard Journal site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted December 21, 2010 Share Posted December 21, 2010 But, in the mid-60s, all I used or even knew existed was Black Diamond. Break one, Replace one: Wait for it to 'break-in' and sound like the other 'vintage' strings. Do ya'll recall how the windings on the G string would separate in several places (usually pretty quickly) so you could actually slide them back and forth on the core or twisting the high E or B together above the nut because you had a gig and the stores were closed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted December 21, 2010 Share Posted December 21, 2010 Beginning in the 1920s and through the 1960s, at least, Gibson made its own brand of strings, Gibson Mona Steel Strings. I've got 2 packages of NOS WWII strings, given to me by a woman who made them during the war: Their gauges are not marked, but they seem like lights, 12 - 54, to me. I'll get out the calipers and check. For a very cool presentation of vintage string package art, visit the Fretboard Journal site. Yep, like the old Black Diamond set that I have....They don,t mention the guage. Take what ya get and be thankfull... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted December 23, 2010 Author Share Posted December 23, 2010 I'm not old...... Don't worry - it will come to you soon. Hey fellows, thanks for the answers. Looks as if Black Diamonds covered alot of ground back in time. Great pictures, great video. The National Straights sounds like something to remember. I understand they weren't rolled up and came in long slim boxes almost twice the length of the ones for violin-bows - amazing. And what a beautiful collection on the Fretboard Site. I really fall for the artwork of these aged tone-wires. They appear like dream-cards or tickets to romance, so aware of the vibe they're brought into this world to provide ~ even flirting with motion picture poster aesthetics. I think contemporary layouters should learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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