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Continued
Medium gauge 13-56
This is the fattest and heaviest gauge of string.
Offering the biggest tone and projection and the best
tuning stability. However there are a lot of guitars
that simply will not take the tension of this gauge
of string and they become very hard to play. Some
instrument manufacturers, particularly on the smaller
bodied parlour size and finger style guitars warn
against using this heavier gauge of string since the
high tension can cause damage to some instruments.
We are not quite sure why the string industry chooses
to name these Medium gauge since it is one of the
heaviest gauges and most high tension string available.
This can be confusing and lead to wrong choice to
some beginners. I remember buying a medium set for
my first guitar. Once I attempted to string it up
to concert pitch the action at the 12th fret measured
over 10mm and the guitar was impossible to play. Having
said that, on a high end dreadnought set up correctly
this gauge can sound awesome.
BRANDS
D'Addario
Definitely our favourite for all round tone and playability.
We favour the phosphor bronze strings. We find these
tend to be warmer sounding than the 80/20 bronze but
the tone lasts longer. Where as the 80/20 strings
start off sounding brighter but do not retain the
bright new sound for very long. The phosphor bronze
strings tend to be a little more expensive than the
80/20 bronze. D'Addario now produce a coated string
which is said to last many times longer. The wrap
wire is coated with a microscopic polymer layer which
stops sweat and grease from deteriorating the strings
quite so quickly. They call these the EXP series strings.
We found the EXP strings excellent. the tone is almost
identical to the non coated strings in either Phosphor
bronze or 80/20 but the 'new' tone seems to last forever.
Martin
Martin produce various types of acoustic string.
We favour the SP (Studio Performer) series of string
that they produce. These strings use a brass electro
plating on the non wound strings (even the steel string
that is the outer winding is wound onto is electro
plated). The strings have a softer tone than the D'addario
and produce pleasing harmonics and overtones. Again
these come in Phosphor bronze and 80/20. They have
also just release a finger style version which have
slightly more flexibility. less tension and are great
for finger picking.
Elixir
These are the original coated strings. We found these
very bright sounding with reasonable tone. These strings
retain the 'new' tone for a very long time. However
we found them lacking in bass when fitted on our Taylor
test guitar and particularly when compared to a similar
gauge in the D'Addario range. Taylor use these as
stock for their instruments. A high quality string
that lasts a long time.
Well that's it for now. We hope you have found this
guide useful, and informative.
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