GHS White Bronze?

[dhanners623]

Anyone tried GHS White Bronze strings? Thoughts? Pluses? Minuses?

Ray Wylie Hubbard is among the people I follow on Facebook. He was musing today about becoming an internet “influencer” so he started name-dropping brands. Said he was heading to the music store to pick up some GHS White Bronze strings. I thought, “Hey, has he just influenced me to try them?” I’ve been using DR Sunbeams on my J-35 but I’ve been looking for something different.

Experiences?

[Gibson29]

I’ve used them on a National that had mag pickups.  Good strings, not expensive.

[62burst]

That's funny- I thought he might be heading off to pick up some Black Diamond Heavies. 😎. Hope you don't mind- I've no experience with the GHS White Bronze- just mixing in a little Gibson content topical to Ray Wylie and guitar strings:

 

[dhanners623]

12 hours ago, 62burst said:

That's funny- I thought he might be heading off to pick up some Black Diamond Heavies. 😎. Hope you don't mind- I've no experience with the GHS White Bronze- just mixing in a little Gibson content topical to Ray Wylie and guitar strings:

 

Never a bad time for RWH, especially when he’s playing an SJ Vintage Sunburst.

As for Black Diamond strings, it’s weird. I wanted to get a set for nostalgia purposes to try on a ‘54 Stella H929 parlor I got this fall, and BDs are darn-hard to come by in the UK. A set of mediums through Amazon costs £24, more than $30 at today’s exchange rate. I’d like to try a set, but I don’t want to try them that bad….

[Murph]

I've used GHS Vintage Bronze since a while now.

And I can always dig some RWH.

[jvi]

good thing a newbie didnt ask this.....

[Sgt. Pepper]

3 hours ago, jvi said:

good thing a newbie didnt ask this.....

Yeah us experience guys would have jumped on him like a pack of wolves if he wasn't a seasoned member.

Never seen or heard of them. I will maybe give them a try.

https://www.ghsstrings.com/products/11234-white-bronze

Edited December 29, 2023 by Sgt. Pepper

[dhanners623]

3 hours ago, jvi said:

good thing a newbie didnt ask this.....

And why is that, exactly? I stuck “GHS White Bronze” in the search box and found no other threads….

[62burst]

11 minutes ago, dhanners623 said:

And why is that, exactly? I stuck “GHS White Bronze” in the search box and found no other threads….

Was wondering the same thing. 

Instead, maybe Murph can let us know what he likes about the GHS Bronze strings.

[Aggie]

I’ve heard that GHS manufactures the Masterbuilt 80/20 strings that come with J-45’s and other Gibson models. These strings sound great on my J-45. Does anyone know if the standard GHS Bright Bronze 80/20’s are, in fact, what comes with Gibsons?

[Murph]

13 hours ago, Aggie said:

I’ve heard that GHS manufactures the Masterbuilt 80/20 strings that come with J-45’s and other Gibson models. These strings sound great on my J-45. Does anyone know if the standard GHS Bright Bronze 80/20’s are, in fact, what comes with Gibsons?

Yes, GHS made the Masterbuilts, but that was a long time ago, I don't know who makes the Gibson branded strings now.

[Murph]

17 hours ago, 62burst said:

 maybe Murph can let us know what he likes about the GHS Bronze strings.

It's hard to describe a string, eh?

And the tone on strings will change a little every day as they age.

But, then, maybe I'm aging too.

I told my wife my strings get more mellow with age, and she asked me why I was getting grouchier.

I told her to shut up and make me a sandwich...

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

4 hours ago, Murph said:

It's hard to describe a string, eh?

 

Anything is hard to describe. Think of how you would describe to a person who never had a steak or peice of chocolate, what it’s going to taste like.

[Aggie]

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.”
 

[Murph]

4 minutes ago, Aggie said:

 about this subject I’ve come to these conclusions:

—Murph is right 

 

Just sayin'.....

[Murph]

[livemusic]

On 12/29/2023 at 12:31 PM, Sgt. Pepper said:

Yeah us experience guys would have jumped on him like a pack of wolves if he wasn't a seasoned member.

Never seen or heard of them. I will maybe give them a try.

https://www.ghsstrings.com/products/11234-white-bronze

I really like how their website actually described the product as such...

Why Should You Play White Bronze?

• You're using a magnetic pickup with your acoustic guitar
• You want to coax the full dynamic range out of your acoustic guitar
• You want a string that can last a long time, that isn't coated

[Murph]

45 minutes ago, livemusic said:

I really like how their website actually described the product as such.

I've been happy with all things GHS since I started using their strings. 

U.S.A.

Hey, livemusic, where you at in Louisiana? I lived in Lake Charles for over a decade. About 82 to 93/94.

[livemusic]

13 hours ago, Murph said:

I've been happy with all things GHS since I started using their strings. 

U.S.A.

Hey, livemusic, where you at in Louisiana? I lived in Lake Charles for over a decade. About 82 to 93/94.

In another country from where you lived -- near Shreveport. You know the drill... it's East Texas. Well, actually, music-wise, it's not. Cross the line to Texas, and people actually appreciate music, even original music.