It'n not you, it's me. Or the importance of being earnest in string selection.

[katopp]

It’s not you, it’s me…..

I’ve just helped myself to as very nice looking guitar. A Luna Vista Eagle. Top-of-the-line, very fancy woods, and best of it, I’ve got it new, boxed, with warranty and all for about 50% of the street price.

Riskless, even though I have bought it unseen, unplayed over the net. I can easily flip it with no loss. At least, that was what I’ve thought.

When it arrived, I was impressed by the looks and the sturdy construction. Definitively a guitar that could be used for some serious gigging. A test and some pics will follow soon.

But I was very unimpressed by the acoustic tone. The Vista series is the top of the line of Luna and they call street prices north of $700. The electric tone was more than ok. Very good preamp and pickup used, but the acoustic tone was quite frankly worse than that of an $180 Xaviere acoustic guitar from Guitar Fetish. Tinny, thin, biting, no bass, no soft trebles, just high mids and shrill highs.

I could not have been the strings? They looked and felt like D’Addarios and according to the blurb they should be EXP16. They looked like new. They tuned up nicely and stayed in tune, too.

In a shop, this guitar would have went back to the wall instantaneously.

Or could it …?

I’ve had a set of Martin Monel lying around. A string that I do not like that much, I think it sounds way toooooo much retro and I do not play Delta/Piedmont/early Folk that much. But just for trying it out … beter than throwing the strings into the dump.

Off the old string went - yes, they had the anodized ball ends - and in with the new.

Oh Dear, What a difference. Now, the Martins are no good match for this guitar, it possibly wants Elixir (hell, even Martin Guitars sound sh!t with Martin Strings…) but the difference was more than significant. This thing now sounded like a guitar. Still, it did not sound like $700 but more like $500, but I give that to the Martin Monel. Once they’re down (should not last too long) I will replaced them with Elixir or EXP.

But it is always amazing, how important strings are. More important than the guitar itself. A good guitar will sound sh!te with bad strings. A bad guitar will sound sh!te with bad strings and there will be no difference between the sound of a bad and a good guitar if the strings are sh!te...

 

[Freeman Keller]

You're preachin' to the choir, buddy. Happy new (retro) string day

[Grant Harding]

I've used EXPs on about 5 guitars and in every case they've sounded really bland and a tiny bit plastic, like nylon strings. It's tempting to compare them to Elixir, but there's just no contest IIMO. Whether it's the coating or the quality of the strings, they always sound great to me (after at least 30 minutes of playing in).

[Tony Burns]

Sometimes what strings sound better on each guitar can be something that doesnt make sense - on some guitars the Dadarrio's sound great , others the Martin SP's and then again others The Elixars ( both PB's and 80/20's ) lately thou I'm between the Martins and the Elixar's

 

One guitar ive been dying to try the Elixar light PB's is my AKS Goodall - they recommend the 80/20's in light , but Im not happy with their sound -

maybe try the PB's - any ideas ? its a Koa back and sides guitar .

 

I use to treasure PB's on just about everything , then i switched to 80/20's - now my old ears love that PB's sound (on some models )

 

[DeepEnd]

It helps to experiment with different strings but it helps even more to have a guitar that sounds decent in the first place. I used 80/20 lights on my Ibanez for years because they weren't prone to G string binding (which I still can't understand or explain) but a new TUSQ nut cured that permanently. I have 80/20's on it now simply because I had a set left over; otherwise I'd put PB's on it.

[katopp]

I usually string up almost all of my steelstrings with EXP16. I like sound and durability. I've restrung the Luna with Martins.