When did Phospher bronze and 80/20's strings first appear on the market place for acoustics?

[onewilyfool]

Apparently acoustics used to be strung with nickle wound strings, when did the transition take place????

[rar]

Apparently acoustics used to be strung with nickle wound strings, when did the transition take place????

The history is complicated, and the answer for "phosphor bronze" depends on exactly what you count as phosphor bronze. 80/20 guitar strings were introduced by the 1920s, as was the use of phosphorous as an additional ingredient. Gibson claims to have introduced the first phosphor bronze guitar string in 1932, I think because they began increasing the proportion of copper to tin in the alloy. Apparently, the first "modern standard" commercially available 92/8 phosphor bronze strings were introduced by D'Addario in 1974. In any case. brass/bronze alloys and nickle alloys have both been around almost since the beginning. I don't know for sure, but have the impression that brass gained the ascendancy around the time the folk boom began in the late '50s.

 

-- Bob R

[Martin 1940D28]

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