From Murph’s info & then reading older posts about this subject I’ve come to these conclusions:
—Murph is right that for many years GHS was the supplier of Gibson’s Masterbuilt 80/20’s. The closest equivalent today would be GHS Bright Bronze 80/20’s
—No one seems totally sure where Gibson gets their current Gibson-branded strings—but it’s not GHS—& more than likely is D’Addario. Has anyone compared the current Gibson 80/20’s to the now-discontinued Masterbuilt 80/20’s? Or, the Masterbuilt 80/20’s to D’Addario’s 80/20’s?
For those interested, this is an AGF posting from 2019 by Rokdog49 that adds some info…
“On Tuesday I called GHS Customer Service and in so many words here is what happened. It's interesting reading, so hang in there.
I spoke with a very nice gentlemen name Jim Chowney. I explained that an AGF forum member had noticed the uncoated Masterbuilts were no longer being offered on Gibson website. I also told him that one of our members (vindibona1) had called Gibson directly and was told those strings were discontinued.
I then voiced mine and others displeasure with this and then I asked him directly, "is GHS the manufacturer of these uncoated Masterbuilt Strings?"
He hesitated for a moment and then he said that "yes, we are."
As it turns out, Gibson is/was a large "house account". As a result of their recent bankruptcy, Jim explained that Gibson is "streamlining" and re-focusing on their guitars.
So that's that. Now for the more important stuff.
If you don't care, stop reading.
The next bits of correspondence were via emails between Jim and me on Wednesday and Thursday.
GHS will continue to manufacture Masterbuilts through the month of August. They will not be available through Gibson.
They will be available through current distribution as long as they last and that part is unknown. I didn't ask how much production there will be. I figured it's none of my business.
The Masterbuilts are in fact GHS Bright Bronze (Masterbuilt 80-20) and regular GHS Phosphor Bronze (Masterbuilt PB's) with a couple of differences, here they are:
Masterbuilts are cut to 39" string length, GHS are cut to "36 1/2".
Masterbuilts have a "gold colored" ball end, GHS are not colored.
Masterbuilts Hex Core wire is specified ever so slightly thinner than GHS.
The example Jim gave me was the 24 gauge. Masterbuilt Core wire = .0127
GHS = .013. He said this was consistent with the other gauged strings and has zero effect on the sound of the string. It's just the specs Gibson gave them from the outset.
Finally, Masterbuilts wound Strings have Bronze "plated" Hex Core wire. GHS have tin "plating". Again, the plating is so thin it has zero bearing on the tone.
You can draw your own conclusions as to why - longevity maybe?
So, now for the biggie. "Do the GHS Bright Bronze and Phosphor Bronze strings sound like the Masterbuilts and can they be used as "happy camper" replacements? According to Jim, the answer is unequivocally, "YES."
At this point, I would really like to thank Jim Chowney and the folks at GHS of Battle Creek, Michigan for their candor and assistance. Jim told me they have no problem telling the world that they are/were the makers of the Masterbuilts.”
