onewilyfool Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 Do you guys ever use silk and steel strings on any of your guitars…especially older guitars that may not be able to take the tension of modern strings??? Are there any coated S&S strings?? AS I remember, they didn't last very long when I used them a LOOOOONNNNG Time ago??!! Are there any alternatives you've tried that may have a more useful life or a good sound at low tension?? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 I have a set of D'Addarios on my 12-fret and they really melt the guitar down. Put a Martin set on the avatar 1963 SJ the day before yesterday and they are only breaking in. Might work miracles. . . . The D's are 11 - 47 where the Marts go 11,5 - 47. The 5 other strings are the same too. As said they mellow the nature of the sound and in some cases - fx recordings - it make sense. However I'm pretty sure 95 % of this Board would dismiss them as being too weak, , , almost like betraying the acoustic instruments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestripe Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 I like silk n steel as a change of pace type of string, and the lower tension feels nice to play. I've tried the Martins before because they are cheap and you can find them anywhere. I would love to know if there is coated silk and steel string available anywhere because they did deteriorate somewhat quickly. Not sure I would ever put them on a dread or jumbo, I have really only used them on my Martin 00. But E-minor's post got me thinking... what would they sound like on an AJ, lol. Might be nice for some folky fingerstyle and/or recording. I guess at the end of the day it is a cheap experiment to see how you like them on any guitar. As an alternative you might want to try out some of the nickel or Monel string options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 my Band mate tried them on a lark abut a year ago, he said he loves them. I'm not going there though,, I don't know if I can ever go away from Elixr Nanowebs!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smurfbird Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 They're absolutely wonderful if you wish to make your J-200 sound like a sitar!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAMELEYE Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 I use them on my Martin 0-16NY and (soon to be for sale) Gibson F-25N. Great for fingerpicking, love the tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 A bandmate of mine uses silk & steel strings on a classical guitar. He loves them for feel and tone, but they deteriorate relatively fast in case of sweating profusely on his fingers. Seem to be suited best for the cool sort of gigs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fsharp Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 I have a 42 year old Aria 12 string that I left untouched for years and the top caved in a bit. I brought it to a local guitar store. They reset the neck and put silk strings on it to keep it from getting worse. The strings are awful. It used to be a very lively guitar but now it just has absolutely no punch or volume. I don't have much choice as the tension from normal strings would destroy it, but its not much fun to play this way either. Its my own fault I guess for ignoring it but then again even if I had been playing it frequently, I would have had the tension on anyway so I don't know that it would have been any different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 ... what would they sound like on an AJ, , , , Have the feeling S & S's would sort of embarrass the Advanced Jumbo. It's too big. The reason I use them is that both the 12-fret and the Southern Jumbo has a weak spot around the G-string, which tends to be slightly hollow with normal steel. But yes, recording wise everything changes and sound becomes something else - why not try some summer-silk and report. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted June 24, 2014 Author Share Posted June 24, 2014 A friend recommended these…..John Pearse silk "lined" PB wound "SILKS"..supposedly takes away the "jangle" of PB strings…may be worth a try??!! http://www.stringsandbeyond.com/jope61siphbr.html Company Description….."012, .016, .024, .032, .042, .053 The exciting new SILKS sets mark a departure from orthodox acoustic string design. Formulated for the electric guitarist who doubles on acoustic, this set features a never before possible "playing ease" tension married with the warmth and projection for which our acoustic strings are famous. Our triple annealed mild steel is pulled through a draw plate to make an extra skinny core. Onto this is wound a silk multifilament which cushions a phospor bronze winding. This is NOT a silk and steel set. The natural edginess of the phosphor bronze winding is tempered by the silk cushion to produce a tone that studio players everywhere are likening to our 80/20 bronze sets after they have been played in." Right now I've got an email into customer service to try and get the pull in lbs. neck tension. They also come in 11's…will keep you posted!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 A friend recommended these…..John Pearse silk "lined" PB wound "SILKS"..supposedly takes away the "jangle" of PB strings…may be worth a try??!! http://www.stringsan...pe61siphbr.html …will keep you posted!! A good find there - the 12-53's are very tempting. Are you able to compare with other normal S&S's when you report ? (do you have forehand-experience with these) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldergreene Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 I use the 11 - 49 Pearse silk/phosphors on a somewhat fragile 30s Stella, & they're a world away from the silk & steels I've tried in the past - very much more like regular PBs in tone, but very easy on the fingers; I've also tried other low-tension options ( Newtone Heritage, Martin FX, etc ), & the Pearse beat'em all - worth a try! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 I use the 11 - 49 Pearse silk/phosphors on a somewhat fragile 30s Stella, & they're a world away from the silk & steels I've tried in the past - very much more like regular PBs in tone, but very easy on the fingers; I've also tried other low-tension options ( Newtone Heritage, Martin FX, etc ), & the Pearse beat'em all - worth a try! Aha. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted June 26, 2014 Author Share Posted June 26, 2014 Some examples of low tension strings…Ive used the Heritage on some of my older parlors, which lasted quite well, but sound a little "brassy", and the Martin S&S which did NOT last long at all. I'm going to get a set of those JP's and check them to! John Pearse Silks, 11's : tension is 129.8 pounds John Pearse Silks, 12's : tension is 152.4 pounds D'Adarrio S&S pull 127 lbs. Martin S&S pull 122 lbs. Some Newtone Heritage Low-tension strings Newtone 10's pull 94 lbs. Newtone 11's pull 114 lbs Newtone 12's pull 131 lbs Newtone 13's pull 155 lbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8_4thesh0w Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 What's wrong with picture...? Much earlier today I tried a search for john_pearse which yielded 0 results. Tried again with "john pearse" and got 190 results, most of which have no mention of JP strings. Tried again with proper Caps in case it was case sensitive, still no results... and before any one asks, I did perform said search in the Acoustics Forum. This is the exact reason I hate Amazon and Google and eBay. Luckily for me I just happened to stumble across these posts?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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