String Test

[Freeman Keller]

 

String Test, Part 1

 

Its done! Well, maybe never done, but here is a start. The following is a comparison of five different strings that I think represent the options available to the acoustic guitarist. There are, of course, many more, but this should allow you to form your own opinion of what different TYPES of strings sound like. As in the Pin Test, I chose one guitar and tried to record it exactly the same each time within my limited abilities.

 

The guitar is my old Martin D-18, a typical good quality well aged mahogany dreadnaught that has had a few modifications made over the years (as well as lots of playing and love). For this test it is outfitted with a bone nut and saddle and stock Martin plastic bridge pins.

 

Each set of strings was brought to tune, then played for 10 or 15 minutes and recorded. I used the same format as the pin test

[Freeman Keller]

String Test, Part 2

 

To see how different guitars respond to different strings I took the same three sets after 3 days of play and recorded them on four different guitars. The guitars are

 

1) Martin D-18 from Test 1 and the Pin Test

2) Taylor 314 - Spruce over sapelle, bone saddle, Tusq nut, plastic pins

3) Yamaha FG-150 - laminated spruce over laminated mahogany, plastic saddle, nut, pins

4) Keller 000-28FK

[daklander]

I did a quick listen through on the 5 sets on the Martin, just day 3 so far with the exception of set #1. I listened to that both day one and three. No matter, it's not in the mix.

Gotta listen more to the others but that will be later and another day.

 

Freeman, thank you for putting in the time to do these tests. They have been interesting to say the least.

[Queequeg]

Much obliged, (again) Freeman.

Since I was a proponent for the blind taste test, and am widely known and recognized in these parts to have a tin ear on a good day, I want to jump in early.

I only compared Day 3 results.

Strings1 are not as loud or bright as Strings2. (I am favoring Strings2)

Strings4 sound muted and lack clarity when compared to Strings3. (I am favoring Strings3)

Strings5 are brighter than Strings1. (I am favoring Strings5)

In comparing Strings2 and Strings5, they seemed to go back and forth in volume and clarity depending on the attack (whether picked or strummed). I couldn't choose a clear winner between these two.

edit: in comparing strings3 to strings5 (which I hadn't done until this morning) I prefer strings3 over strings5.

[moctzal]

Freeman, you rock.

[daklander]

 

Strings1 are not as loud or bright as Strings2. (I am favoring Strings2) Strings4 sound muted and lack clarity when compared to Strings3. (I am favoring Strings3) Strings5 are brighter than Strings1. (I am favoring Strings5) In comparing Strings2 and Strings5, they seemed to go back and forth in volume and clarity depending on the attack (whether picked or strummed). I couldn't choose a clear winner between these two, but I prefer Strings2 and Strings5 to the others.

 

 

Essentially what I got from my very quick first impression. Those two seemed to be the ones I was going to flip between to choose from. But, I did want to hear #s 3 & 4 again as well.

[GuitarNoobie]

thanks for doing this freeman

 

starting my listening now...

 

 

EDIT: after listening to the DAY 3 strings, i have to agree with Queequeg...

String # 2 and String # 5 seem to have the most clarity, most brightness and sustain...

 

looking forward to the naming of the strings...

[FallingRock71]

Freeman, you're alright. I don't care what they say about ya.

 

I've been learning guitar for a whole month now and my rookie ears prefer strings #5. Second and third places go to #2 and #3 with a slight edge to #3. Since I like em, I'm bettin that #5 are the most expensive and hardest to find of the bunch.

 

Again Freeman hat's off to ya.

 

Considering the string test, the pin test, is my guitar sick, and countless other informative post and threads that Freeman has given us, I'm thinkin we all should consider pitchin in on a little sumpin sumpin for the good man to show our appreciation.

[d03nut]

I'm much too PUI to do your test any justice right now......but we must present you (and your ilk) the "key" to our city, the HCAG.

[GrandStation76]

I like 5 the best especially after the 3 days, I hope there not elixers:cry: . #1 sounds like its having some issue on day 3;) ,but seemed the loudest(not necessarily the best) to me on day 1.

now on to the others.....

Good job:thu: :thu:

[babablowfish]

Thanks Freeman. It will take me a couple of days to download all the clips - Mac, dial-up, oh well. I'll listen carefully and let you know what I hear.

[learn'r]

Not ready to make a call, but I just wanted to thank you FK!

 

Update 1

The Keller is SWEET sounding!

Damb!

 

Update2

Test 1 is a tough call compared to Test 2.

Test 2 ..... I got to go with the PB's for the most part although 80/20's are close and could even be my choice depending on what type of music I might be playing. I also think I heard the PB's being louder. The coated strings still get no favor from me.

 

UD3

Tuff call but I'll take String 5 also. Hope that they are SP's ....... I got a bunch of new ones laying about here!

[bbarkow]

Thanks a million, Freeman.

 

I preferred 3 and 4 at day three.

 

[Hudman]

I gave them a quick listen.

 

Based on my laptop speakers, I liked 4 and 5 the best. The harmonics sound more defined.

 

Side note: My wife asked me why I keep replaying the same clip over and over. I explained to her that we were determining which strings sound the best. She said they all sound the same. She gave me one of these and a shake of her head as she walked out of the room.

 

What's the verdict? Which strings were used on each clip?

[GrandStation76]

I agree with the comment that that Keller sounds good, damn good. I think it was my favorite.

Hey Keller, since your so handy,and like testing, I wonder what you and others would think about a saddle material test? Then the saddle test, pin test, and string test(all very viable,useful test) could maybe lumped into one category, that would surly be the most popular hits on this site. Would only need to do one guitar really, to get the general idea.

???

[55gibby]

Thanks a lot FK... very useful and tons to think about.

 

At first blush I perfer #5 but I'll have to listen to them again (like 4 times isn't enough) and make my mind up. #3 and # 4 were very close in tone to my ears and #2 is in second place. I'll have to put them thru some better speakers to be sure (laptop speakers suck).

[AugTPD]

FK, there will be crowns in Heaven for you based on your work on the HCAG forum!!!!

[GrandStation76]

FK, there will be crowns in Heaven for you based on your work on the HCAG forum!!!!

Crowns? Why does he get two?

[Freeman Keller]

Glad you're all enjoying it. I'll probably edit the first post tonight to tell you what they are. Also, if anyone would like a cd with the string and pin tests (in both .wav and mp3) I can easily burn and send it to you (PM me a snail mail addy). A trick that many of you have figured out is to open two links simultaneously - you can then start and stop each one and compare.

 

An even better thing to do is download Audacity (a free song editing program) and get the dll that lets you convert .wav's to mp3's. You can open one or two of the clips and you get a neat little graph of the intensity vs time. You can start and stop the playing of two clips at exactly the same place - let's say the start of the strummed E chord and not only hear the sounds but see them.

 

Since it is free (and seems to be safe) I recommend that anyone who wants to fool around with music and computers should have Audacity. Let me know if you need links or help with it or anything.

[knockwood]

Thanks for this, FK.

 

My conclusion: My ears = not good.

 

Where I think I tend to run into problems is with my ears' memory. While listening to #4, for example, I'm straining to recall 1, 2 and 3, and I never quite trust my memory to be playing them back accurately. I wonder if this happens to others. Sometimes I'll get a tune in my head, want to play it out to see if I have the progression right - if I don't, the first few notes I play will completely obliterate the tune from my memory... Almost as if I literally have a one-track mind and can't run information on that track without derailing anything else that attempts to occupy space there. When trying out guitars in a store, I'm sure I run into the same problem aurally, but there's something more visceral and less clinical in being positioned behind the guitar that makes a preference check easier for me: in the store, I can't recall very precisely what I was hearing a few minutes ago, but I get a pretty clear comparative read on the visceral impact I'm feeling. Then again, I did once buy a Taylor...

 

Like Queg, I stuck to strictly Day 3. In a pinch, I'd go with Strings 3.

[Queequeg]

Knock, I strongly suspect we all "suffer" from this. And that's why I scoff silently to myself when I hear people say their guitar sounds a lot better now than it did 10 years ago. Not that I don't believe that it does indeed sound better, and it should, but who can remeber what it sounded like 10 minutes ago? So, with FK's string test it is necessary to have the two samples up side-by-side played in quick succession. I can't even listen to the entire sample. I have to break it apart into its various sections & listen to the first open string run-up, then the other strings sample, then back to the first set of harmonics, then the opposing sample of harmonics, and so on; and A/B them, then the next two samples, and then the runoff competitions.

[smatel]

First I wish to thank Freeman Keller for doing this. Obviously well though out and, most importantly, effective work like this gives this forum bigtime credibility and helps to make me a better musician. Very interesting experiment. Thank you!

 

Based on strengths and weaknesses in the areas of loudness, intonation, brightness, the promenence of the fundamental note, the level of harmonics, tone and string noise, these are my impressions:

 

I liked strings #3 on day 3 played with pick or fingers. These strings stood out from the field on day 3, although I really disliked them on day 1, on almost every point.

 

I liked strings #4 on day 3, played with fingers. The weak spot on these strings is the string noise in the slide test.

 

I liked strings #5 on day 1, played with pick or fingers.

 

I can't decide if I like stirings #3, on day 3, or strings #5, on day 1 better.

[babablowfish]

I ain't done processing all the clips and I don't want to read anyone's comments until I am done as I don't want to be influenced. So ... Bump.

[babablowfish]

OK. I have listend to the 5 strings both days and have not read anyone else's comments. I hope I haven't chosen the Elixirs but here are my impressions:

 

The only strings I do not like are #4 - they sound too "muted."

 

The remaining strings I would rank 3,5,1 and 2. All sounded acceptable but I liked 3 and 5 the best. I am not in love #2.

 

My ears are not sensitive enough to hear much difference between day 1 and 2.

 

Thanks again Freeman!

 

Now I am going to read what you all said.

[Freeman Keller]

OK, I've added the names to the first post.

 

It seems like most of you would pick phosphor bronze over plain bronze (80/20), but I think it is also interesting that some of you did pick Strings number 3 - the much loved/hated Polyweb which are 80/20 with the thicker Gore coating. Could that have been my recording of those strings rather than the strings themself, or does the coating seem to mellow the brightness of the 80/20 alloy?

 

One thing that I found surprising was how noisy the Polys were - I've alway thought they had almost NO squeek but I heard quite a bit in the 5th string slide. The Polys are still on my Taylor (and remember that Taylor recommends Elixers, for whatever that is worth) - I'm going to leave them on for a couple of months ands see what they sound like (assuming they don't break, they are pretty tired). I'm going to leave the DR's on the Martin - like many of you I really like them and I want to see how they sound in a month or so.

 

It is interesting that the DR Sunbeams got such high remarks (I liked them too) - they are a PB string wound on a round core (most string have hexagonal cores which bite into the winding). DR says that the round core helps the sustain of the note - I think I can hear that in some of the harmonics.

 

I want to thank DaveW who had DR ship me the strings - I'm going to try a set on my 000 next change and maybe also try the extended play strings that they sent. If you folks want to give DR's a shot be aware that their naming is not the same as the rest of the industry. For all of these tests I used 0.012 to 0.053 or 54 which almost everyone calls "Lights". DR on the other hand names these "Mediums". They also make a "Medium Light" (0.011 - 0.050) and "Lite" (0.010 - 0.048), and this probably shows their background as in the electric guitar string business.

 

Anyway, the players have been identified, I hope this has been helpful, and if I haven't learned anything else, I know now that the answer to "what is the best string for my guitar?" is ......