favortie strings for a Gibson Jumbo?

[gusfinley]

Its time for new strings on my Gibson J-185. Any suggestions as to what strings work well with this guitar?

[solitaire]

I own an J-100 myself and I while ago I posted a similar thread on Gibson forums. Till date I've gone through the original 012 Hydrophobic phosphors ("is this guitar a dud or what?"), Dean Markley Alchemy Gold Phosphors (a bit metalic sounding but with a depth) and DM Blue Steels (OK for fingering but elsewise overdefined).

 

I got the tip by a J-185 user to try on Martin 80/20s but I've never been a fan of Martin strings as I generally find them too muddy. I will however try them on, as well as a variety of Gibson strings and DM Bronze.

 

Gus, could I just ask you something: if you were to pick either Bronze or PhosphorBronze as a matter of alloy tonality, which would be your choice? Since maple is a relatively hard tonewood and many Phosphorus strings could make it sound overdefined you might want Bronze. Persay you do a lot of soloing and fingering or want a harder edge to it, Phosphor Bronze might work better for you.

[guitarcapo]

Medium D'Adarrio Phoshor Bronze would be my first choice but I can never seem to get them cheap.

[Zer0beaT]

I just went through a bit of an experiment with both string types/brands and gauges (I'm not done but I can give you my impressions so far).

 

Though my jumbo is a Tokai J200.

 

I tried John Pearse 80/20 .013 gauge, Martin SP .012 gauge, Martin Marquis .012 gauge, John Pearse phosphor bronze .012 gauge, and Gibson Masterbilt .012 gauge, and Gibson Masterbilt .011 gauge (I actually only tried these for their gauge, I decided to buy cheaper strings to find the gauge I wanted, then experiment with type and brand, turned ou I liked them most! and they're cheaper!)

 

I'm having a tough time choosing between the two Gibson gauges I tried. (the .013 gauge of all brands were aweful on my jumbo, the wound strings had aweful note seperation and sounded really terrible, I thought my guitar was a lemon).

 

I am really surprised though, I find the Gibson strings sound significantly better than the others I tried and I'm shocked! They just have a better tone to my ear, and a nice amount of grit sort of, and a nice shimmer without harshness that the others didn't have to my ear.

 

Though, perhaps I am really a fan of the .011 gauge strings on my jumbo since most of the others I tried with heavier gauge(huge huge improvement over the .013's and slighty better in most aspects than the .012 gauges I tried, I think the thicker strings were just too much for the jumbo body to handle with adequate definition.

 

Anyway, maybe that might give you some ideas.

[gusfinley]

 

Originally posted by solitaire Gus, could I just ask you something: if you were to pick either Bronze or PhosphorBronze as a matter of alloy tonality, which would be your choice? Since maple is a relatively hard tonewood and many Phosphorus strings could make it sound overdefined you might want Bronze. Persay you do a lot of soloing and fingering or want a harder edge to it, Phosphor Bronze might work better for you.

 

 

Ya know, I really have no idea.... I usally just get Martin SP strings, and call that good. I don't really change my strings that often to hear the differences between sets. I did by those Elixor Polywebs once and the sounded really terrible on my old guitar (Ibanez Talman TCY10) but with that guitar the body seems to make a minimual contribution to the tone, and it just sounds like a bunch of strings flapping around........

 

Thanks for the suggestions everyone... I'll have to see what they carry at the local shop ( Its not really that exciting of a place, when it comes to selection)

[geddyentwistle]

i have a gibson j-100 and use exilirs starting at 11, but i pluck with fingernails

[Jere Mealer]

Originally posted by gusfinley I'll have to see what they carry at the local shop ( Its not really that exciting of a place, when it comes to selection)

 

Try www.juststrings.com if you want some serious string shopping.

[Chubby Checker]

Elixer med nano's-J-100 BC

[solitaire]

No matter what your local reseller carries, I suggest you try some bronze-strings with your Gibbie. The softer tone of bronze could be sweeter for the ear.

Though I haven't tried them on my Gibby yet, I use DM Alchemy GoldBronze on my Birch-wood boclied Landola Jumbo. Used polywebs on it at first, but they just sounded hard and thin.

 

What kind of style do you play, Gus? Phosphor Bronze may suit fingering better than Bronze, but then it depends on brand of strings. E.g DMs are both nicely rounded and has a lot of presence for fingering.

[gusfinley]

I mostly do chordwork with some small-scale riffs and appregios, I love my gibson j-185 for its balanced tone and so I definately want to bring that out.......

[solitaire]

Originally posted by gusfinley I mostly do chordwork with some small-scale riffs and appregios, I love my gibson j-185 for its balanced tone and so I definately want to bring that out.......

Chords really are the Bronze strings strong suit. Phosphor Bronze could have tendencies of sounding a bit harsh., espec on hardwood guitars such as maple and birch wood.

That said, I aggree with Zerobeat that Gibson perhaps make their own best Phosphor Bronze strings. Not that airy and focused compaired to DMs, but well balanced and tempered for Gibsons.

You could download mp3s of Gibson maple bodies on www.gibson.com > exchange > downloads. I'd pay extra attention to the J180EC2 file, the tonal balance of the J-180 series really comes through.