Recommend some bright / brite acoustic strings

[Armchair Bronco]

I'm ordering some electric strings from Music123.com (Gibson Brite Wires) and am looking for some recommendations for bright / brite acoustic strings.

 

My EG is a Takamine EG-334/SC, and I do a lot of broken chords with the thinnest pick I can find.

 

What should I add to my order?

[takanick]

d' addarrio

or Martin's

[Armchair Bronco]

I think I'll try some Martin strings. Should I go 80/20 bronze or phosphor-bronze strings?

[takanick]

I like Martins on my martins and d'addario on my other acoustics, ernie ball on my electrics.

Martin's phosphors are bright but warmer than their 80/20's

[Armchair Bronco]

Thanks for the suggestions. I ended up ordering a 3-pack of Martin Phosphor-Bronze light (12-52) acoustic string. http://www.music123.com/accessories/martin-m540-phosphor-bronze-light-acoustic-guitar-strings--3-pack

[takanick]

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I ended up ordering a 3-pack of Martin Phosphor-Bronze light (12-52) acoustic string. http://www.music123.com/accessories/martin-m540-phosphor-bronze-light-acoustic-guitar-strings--3-pack

 

 

Anytime, excellent choice, I would've chosen the exact same.

[Samilyn]

 

I think I'll try some Martin strings. Should I go 80/20 bronze or phosphor-bronze strings?

 

 

Phos bronze are customarily warmer than 80/20 strings. D'Addario makes excellent strings of both compositions.

 

For bright, crisp tones, go with D'Addario EJ-12. These are 80/20 (brass) strings. For a warmer acoustic tone and deeper sustaining bass end, go with D'Addario EJ-16. These are phos-bronze.

 

Another excellent string is DR-Rare phos bronze. To my ear these are slightly brighter than D'Addario's phos bronze, but sound wonderful nonetheless. I like the extra brightness on a cedar or mahogany top guitar.

 

I'm no fan of Martin strings - they simply don't sound good and don't last very long. Others here like coated strings, such as Elixir Nano, for their increased string life.

[knockwood]

I'd definitely suggest 80/20 if you're looking for bright. The 80 is copper, the 20 is phosphor tin. The higher the tin content, the brighter the string.

 

If you're buying uncoated strings, just my $0.02 but brands probably do not differ too much from one another in the 80/20 realm. Martin or D'Addario are good suggestions, IMHO, because they're relatively inexpensive but still very high quality. The strings you've just purchased are 92/8, which is more or less typical p/b. Plain p/b like this is a personal favorite of mine, but won't be as bright as 85/15 or 80/20. The good news is that 92/8 will remain tonally consistent for longer. The reason for this is that the brighter strings get, the harder the bronze windings are, and this means that they fray off the steel core of the bass strings faster with vibration from playing. So while they're brighter, they also go "dead" noticeably faster than p/b strings in the 92/8 realm.

 

If the strings you've just bought aren't bright enough for you, I'd recommend trying some 80/20s down the road.

[Armchair Bronco]

 

Phos bronze are customarily warmer than 80/20 strings. D'Addario makes excellent strings of both compositions. For bright, crisp tones, go with D'Addario EJ-12. These are 80/20 (brass) strings. For a warmer acoustic tone and deeper sustaining bass end, go with D'Addario EJ-16. These are phos-bronze. Another excellent string is DR-Rare phos bronze. To my ear these are slightly brighter than D'Addario's phos bronze, but sound wonderful nonetheless. I like the extra brightness on a cedar or mahogany top guitar. I'm no fan of Martin strings - they simply don't sound good and don't last very long. Others here like coated strings, such as Elixir Nano, for their increased string life.

 

 

Fair enough. I don't like D'Addario electric strings, so that biased me towards their acoustic strings. I think the last last set of strings on my Tak may have been DR-Rare, but I didn't keep the packaging. Too bad, because I really like them.

 

The Martins were relatively cheap and I plan to change my acoustic strings more often, so if I don't like 'em they'll get banished to backup duty.

[Terry Allan Hall]

Ernie Ball "Earthwoods" are the brightest-sounding strings I've ever used.

[Freeman Keller]

Any uncoated 80/20 is "brighter" than any 90/10 (PB). The mellowest string I've tried in a long time were the 99/1 Reds. If you want really really bright consider nickle wound. Most coatings seem to mellow the tone a little, Elixers quite a bit, others like EXP or Alchemys or DR's not as much.

 

Also, in our pin test, brass pins seemed to brighten otherwise mellow guitars (FK puts on his flame proof underwear and gets ready for the flames.....)

[Pine Apple Slim]

On my big boomy D28, if I want the absolute best tone possible, I go with 80/20 bronze.

Its a trade off tho. They are gonna go dead fast. 6-8 hrs and they tone down significantly.

If I want em to last longer I get Phos Bronze.

 

But usually I'm lazy and cheap, and want a set of strings that will last me a few months, so I get Elixers.

Duller than Phos Bronze out of the pack but still pretty decent, and they stay that way a LONG time.

I've had Elixers on guitars that don't get a lot of playing time for a year or 2 and they still sound good if you wipe em off after every use.

[BrotherJake]

I tried out the Martin Lifespan 80/20's and found them to be a very bright sounding string and long long long lasting. They aren't a coated string from what I understand. The string is treated with some patented process by a company called cleartone. A little more expensive but you can probably wear out three sets before you wear out one set of these.

[katopp]

 

I tried out the Martin Lifespan 80/20's and found them to be a very bright sounding string and long long long lasting. They aren't a coated string from what I understand. The string is treated with some patented process by a company called cleartone. A little more expensive but you can probably wear out three sets before you wear out one set of these.

 

 

Lifespan is coated. They claim to have the thinnest coating in the industry.

They keep that Martin sound for even longer.

 

But I do not want to keep that sh!t sound for even loger... I'd rather stick to my EXP16's

[Pine Apple Slim]

I might try the lifespans. I do not like the Diadario coated strings. Brighter than

Elixers but not in a good way. Annoyingly raspy sounding to me.

[DeepEnd]

 

Ernie Ball "Earthwoods" are the brightest-sounding strings I've ever used.

 

That's what I'm using at the moment: Earthwood "medium/lights" (.012's, equivalent to "lights" from anybody else except maybe DR). My usual strings of choice are Martin 80/20 lights. You might try DR Hi Beams next time: http://www.juststrings.com/drstringsacousticguitarhibeam.html.

[katopp]

Earnie Ball's acoustic strings are next to Martins when it comes to crappy sound in my book, but then - this might just what the OP was looking for. Thin, bright, tinny...

[EdBega]

Didn't care much for Martins strings on my Dreads but I tried a set of M540 on my 000 body and thought they sounded very good.

[Hudman]

80/20's in any brand.

[DeepEnd]

 

80/20's in any brand.

 

^ This pretty much. I'll use any 80/20 lights. I normally use Martins simply because everyplace sells them. I bought a set at Eddie's Guitars a couple of years ago and the guy didn't even ask what brand, just handed me a set of Martin strings. They're absolutely ubiquitous. I bought the Ernie Balls on sale at Guitar Center but I'll undoubtedly go back to Martins. That said, I'd like to try a set of DR Hi-Beams if I ever find a set.

[Seorie]

Adamas Strings are good

1414 are 80/20

1818 are P/B's