tw2_usa Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 I was A-B ing a couple guitars at a local shop and the salesman offered some advice which I wanted to get some second opinon on so please feel free. Phosphor Bronze vs. 80/20 Bronze. He said the Phosphors added a bit of muddiness to overall sound, and that 80/20 added a bit more brightness. So an overly-bright guitar could be balanced with the PB strings and a darker, muddier guitar brightened with 80/20s. Truth or fiction? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 The way I had it explained to me was that regular bronze is brighter at first but will dull quicker. The phosphor bronze will last longer but won't have quite the brightness as regular bronze. Might be oversimplifying it but it makes sense to me. (It needs to be simple for me to grasp it....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pohatu771 Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 I always heard that 80/20 is brighter, so if we're getting incorrect information, at least it's consistent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Player Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 I found 80/20's too bright for my small body maple Taylor guitar but the PB's sound heavenly on it. I figured 80/20's would be a good fit for my Gibson AJ but when I tried them against the Phospher Bronze, the PB's sounded much better to my ear. I have decided to just stick to what my ears are liking right now. It saves me the hassle of trying a bunch of different ones just to end up back at my Elixir PB Nano's... (been there, done that too many times) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modoc_333 Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 ksdaddy is right on. the 80/20 has a real zing straight out the pack, but it's gone VERY quickly. the PB sounds a bit fuller, but not as clear... they maintain the same sound longer though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinder Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 I just picked up some D'Addario 12-54 85/15 Bronze strings on discount at my local music shop. They are touted as being a compromise between PB mellowness and the extreme brightness of 80/20 Bronze. I strung all my working guitars up with them, and these are my thoughts: SJ200-horrible at first, stiff feeling and overtly bright sounding. However, after being on the guitar for occasional around-the-house playing for a couple of weeks, they sound really nice now. Deep, thrumming bass notes and crisp midrange articulation...nice. Hummingbird-installed them today and immediately noticed a big change compared to my usual D'Addario EJ16 PBs. They feel a lite stiffer but more positive when playing with a pick, and sound good if a little too lively and bright just now. They are louder than the EJ16s when hit with a pick, but quieter when fingerpicked, oddly. Guild-this is a chocolately sounding OM so these strings sound nice and bright, loud and fulsome with this guitar. They don't intonate as sweetly as the EJ16s on this one, but that might well change when they're played in for a day or two. On the original topic, I agree that PB is darker sounding and 80/20 (and, to a lesser extent, 85/15) is brighter. Finding the right strings for the right guitar is almost as much fun (or frustration!) as finding the right guitar in the first place! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertjohn Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 I restrung my SWD with Martin SPs at the weekend. They are PB and I use 12s. The guitar sounds like its being played through a tranny with all the bass rolled off.! Loads of complex harmonics going on to the point of sounding distorted when played hard. Open mic sunday so that will be the real test. My previous experience with these strings has been very good and I'm hoping I'll get some body to the sound as they go off a bit. I must say I hadn't changed the strings for some months and the last set were EJ16s I think - big difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 They feel a lite stiffer but more positive when playing with a pick' date=' and sound good if a little too lively and bright just now. They are louder than the EJ16s when hit with a pick, but quieter when fingerpicked, oddly.[/quote'] The way you're describing them, it's almost like the core is larger or made from a stiffer wire. That would explain the greater volume when picked but also the lower volume when fingerpicked, since it would take more effort to get a heavier string moving. The outside diameter could be exactly the same but one with a larger core/smaller windings, the string would feel stiffer and yet smoother*. *(unrelated but a side effect nonetheless) David Lindley spoke one time of walking into music stores shopping for strings with a dial caliper. I thought that was a little overkill at the time but I'm rethinking it now. Remember back to the days when we walked into a store and bought silver colored strings for our electrics and gold colored ones for acoustics? Ignorance is bliss sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larryp58 Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 I have decided to just stick to what my ears are liking right now. It saves me the hassle of trying a bunch of different ones just to end up back at my Elixir PB Nano's... (been there' date=' done that too many times) [/quote'] Ditto!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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