Black Diamond Strings

[tvguit]

Can you guys date this box of strings? I don't think they are that old but I haven't ever seen them for sale. The sale price is $2.10 and I thought that might help date the box. Then I did a quick google search and found this little gem of a ditty.

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og7dMS-nyqA

[62burst]

Not much worry about those Black Diamonds having that "new string" sound. Must be pretty old, judging by the brittle look of that lacquered box, the typeset of the lettering, no postal zip code on the address... 1930's is my guess.

 

Fine video, too. Nice to see a young Russ Barenberg, keeping it simple here on his L-00 before he fell in love with his maple Banner. Jerry Douglas, dobro. On fiddle, Jay Ungar, whose Ashokan Farewell was covered here on the Gibson Acoustic Forum by one of our regulars (who wrangled a fine fiddle player to do so as she was heading out the door).

 

Thanks for posting.

[tvguit]

Russ Barenberg, keeping it simple here on his L-00 before he fell in love with his maple Banner

 

Actually, that box is sitting on the back of my maple banner J-45.

[uyasgali]

This may help.

 

http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=115837

 

I used to use Black Diamond strings...in the '60's.

[j45nick]

Looks exactly like the Black Diamond boxes of strings I used to buy in the 60's. They were cheap, and were all I could afford. Seems to me like they were about $2, but it's been a long time...

 

It's amazing how long strings last when you're poor. I would change them when I broke them--although you could buy individual strings then--or when they would no longer hold tune.

 

Guitar strings today are one of the world's great values.

 

Never was into "One W Harper" back then, thinking of that Guy Clark/EmmyLou duet. I shudder to think of it now, but I drank a lot of Southern Comfort in those days. Me and Pearl..... Sort of like drinking 80 proof cough syrup. Now it's more likely to be Lagavulin or Laphroaig if the whiskey urge strikes. And I can afford any strings I damn well please.,,,

[ksdaddy]

I think I've still got a couple boxes of them here somewhere. I need to cull that crap. Gretsch banjo strings from 19-God-knows-when, Black Diamonds, some brands I've never heard of. One would think it would be cool but it's earlier than my era so it's irrelevant.

 

Now if I could find an old Fender Super Bullets package or Nashville Straights or Goya in the clear blister cards from the 70s I would tack them up on the wall because it would remind me when my allowance was $2 a week and strings were still $4 or $5.

[tvguit]

From the replies and other research I'm thinking these might be 40s or 50s. I don't think 30s because the guitar that the box came from was made in '43, or thereabout. The box certainly passes what Modoc calls the "smell test" for age. That is much good for guessing a decade though.

[j45nick]

From the replies and other research I'm thinking these might be 40s or 50s. I don't think 30s because the guitar that the box came from was made in '43, or thereabout. The box certainly passes what Modoc calls the "smell test" for age. That is much good for guessing a decade though.

 

 

John, you could also contact the current manufacturer of Black Diamond in Florida. Their website actually comments on the fact that people contact them constantly asking questions about vintage boxes of Black Diamond strings discovered in old cases.

 

You could also contact Retrofret in New York, which seems to have a sub-specialty in vintage strings.

 

Also, here's a link to a guy doing research on the history of the company:

 

My link