Hey Chris,
Each and every person to their own my friend. I’m certainly not saying that is
how it should be done, simply what I do, nothing more. You carry on doing what
you do, I’m sure it’s right for you smiles. As for Martin Guitars, never
actually owned one so can’t really speak with any authority but, I’ve never
heard anything bad about them. Certainly not in terms of tuning issues. For
myself, I quite favour Faith.
Steve
From: vibe-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <vibe-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Chris
Norman (Redacted sender "chris.norman2" for DMARC)
Sent: 27 August 2020 18:59
To: vibe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [vibe] Re: Guitar strings for a Martin acoustic
Sorry mate, I do them all at the same time after stripping the guitar (mainly
to wipe the salt off the body), then to wear them in I take them between my
index finger and thumb, and pluck them extra hard to make a snapping sound like
slap bass. Sounds terrifying, but 2 rounds of that and they're in for good.
Also, the Simon Patric I'm using rarely goes out of tune, not like them Martin
monstrosities! :)
Take care,
Chris Norman
On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 at 15:10, Redacted sender stevehdryden for DMARC
<dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
Hi Andy,
Sorry mate, I’ve just been up to the neck with things over the last few days.
I think, the suggestion of Elixir strings and Martin strings are sound. I’ve
even used Martin strings on my Faith guitar and they are great. It does also
depend on your style of playing. You might have mentioned this before, if so,
my apologies as I’ve forgotten. But, a heavier gauge is nice for strumming as
you get a really deep resonant tone. They’re not so good for fingering as
they’re thicker and therefore more difficult to manipulate, particularly if you
want to bend strings. A little string lubricant will certainly help to lessen
the audible squeaking noises you can get. Also, try to train yourself to
reduce the level of pressure on the strings when you change chord. Obviously
you will do this anyway but, I mean even less pressure than you might leave.
This would particularly be the case when, as I think you mentioned, you were
using power chords.
As for changing the strings. The way I do it personally is one at a time
starting with the bottom E. This helps with maintaining the tension and
integrity of the strings. Never ever take all strings off at once. I tend to
only feed the string through the tuning peg only once for E A D and G but leave
a reasonable amount of string slack so as to allow the peg to wind in the
slack. I never tighten the string right up as this applies a considerable
amount of pressure on the string at the point of the edge of the hole. I
generally double thread the B and E strings just to give some extra strength
but, again, leaving some slack to allow the winder to pull in the slack. Once
all the new strings are set up and initially tuned. For a few hours and even
more, I will constantly give the strings, each of them, a gentle pull to give
them the opportunity to stretch a little. They should settle in a day or so.
I’d also keep them lubricated with a little guitar string oil.
Hope that helps a bit mate.
Best wishes
Steve
From: vibe-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:vibe-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<vibe-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:vibe-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > On Behalf Of
Andy C
Sent: 27 August 2020 13:58
To: vibe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:vibe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [vibe] Re: Guitar strings for a Martin acoustic
Thanks everyone for all the help and shared experience on this topic. Chris, I
live in Devon, so a bit far to travel up to Coventry, especially with all the
considerations these days. I bought my guitars from Andertons in Guildford, and
all the reviews I read before doing so, commented on how well they played
straight out of the box as it were. Have to say that does feel pretty true,
they have already been well set up with a low action which is what I like.
as to Elixir strings, I’ve actually found a set that I’ve had for a few years
but never used; they are the nanoweb ones. I’m going to give them a go later
today. I would really appreciate some stringing tips to help get a good result.
Is it best to begin with the thinner strings or the thicker strings when
attaching them? Do I push the string just once through the hole in the tuning
peg? I read somewhere about thumbing/stretching the strings when they’re new
and are being attached in order to help them stay in tune.
All help much appreciated.
Andy Collins
Sent from my iPhone
On 27 Aug 2020, at 11:46 am, Chris Norman (Redacted sender chris.norman2 for
DMARC) <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> >
wrote:
I've never heard -or felt - strings wear "in", but definitely feel them wearing
out quite quickly.
It entirely depends on how much you play, and your body type. I'm a pretty
sweaty player, so I'd warrent my strings go off faster than my wife's, even
though she plays more than I do.
To check, run your hand down the strings from the neck to the bridge. Where
your pick has been, you'll likely feel scuff marks. They get there fast, but
they definitely get worse.
As a rule of thumb: If you're wondering whether your strings need replacing or
not, they probably do.
Also, a good guitar setup can make all the difference. I didn't realise this
until fairly recently, and my god has it made a difference.
The bloke we use in Coventry is an absolutely wizard. One of his clients comes
all the way from Wales with his instruments, just so John can do them up. If
you're living near Coventry, or you don't mind traveling, I'd highly Recommend
Noise Works on Far Gosford Street.
I'm not saying everyone should come to Coventry, but I do know there's plenty
of ways to do a bad guitar setup.
Take care,
Chris Norman
On Thu, 27 Aug 2020 at 08:12, Andy C <andyc003003@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:andyc003003@xxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
Thanks David and Chris.
It rather sounds like it’s a problem here to stay because the problem really
isn’t so much in the string type as it is in the hands that play. I’m still
using the same strings that came with the instrument six months ago, and I’m
beginning to think the problem is getting worse not better with age. I also
have an electric with its original strings on from 12 months ago. This last
year is the first time that I’ve started being serious about my playing, and
have dedicated more practice time to it. I know strings wear in before they
wear out, but those of you that are more experienced players than me, how much
life is there in a set of strings used on a daily basis?
Andy Collins
Sent from my iPhone
On 26 Aug 2020, at 11:28 pm, DandGReay (Redacted sender dandgreay for DMARC)
<dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
Hi, Andy,
This is a subject dear to my heart. I'm a very squeaky player. Sometimes I
put it down to feeling my way around the frets. I use a lot of rather
tortured jazz chords and go up and down the neck a lot. String squeak is the
bane of my life. I recently made some recording sfor a solo album and bought
loads of sets, coated and non-coated. I even went to the lengths of putting
six bottom E strings on my own Martin OOO to see which squeaked the least.
Guess what! They all squeaked exactly the same. The one thing I thought made
a difference was the gauge. I normally use Martin lights with the E string at
12. I thought 11ss, with their slightly lighter winding squeaked less than
12's. I didn't try 10's, but the same may apply. Of course, power chords on 5
and 6 are likely to be pretty squeaky. The more wound strings you play and
slide about on, the more squeak you'll get. I did once find some ground
strings, which are wound and then ground smooth. I think they were D'Addario
and supposed to be for blue grass. I tried to find them recently on the
Strings Direct website where I originally got them, but couldn't find them.
Trouble was, I didn't really like their tone much anyway. On an electric jazz
guitar I use tapewound strings for less squeak and an authentic sound, but
I've never seen these for acoustics. I believe John Williams put a lot of
work into learning to lift the fingers off the strings when moving up the
neck to avoid the squeak, but it takes some doing! A sound engineer I
recorded with recently said you should rub your fingers on your scalp to get
a little grease on them to help avoid it. I also find new strings squeak more
than used ones and that using lubricants such as Fastfret make it worse. Hope
something in my ramblings is helpful,
Cheers,
David
-----Original Message-----
From: vibe-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:vibe-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:vibe-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ;<mailto:vibe-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> ] On
Behalf Of Andy C
Sent: 26 August 2020 22:27
To: vibe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:vibe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [vibe] Guitar strings for a Martin acoustic
I bought this Martin acoustic 000-15 M 12 months ago, and it came with the
recommended strings for this model. The whole guitar is solid mahogany and it
has a lovely tone and is very playable. However, I’m getting a lot of string
squeak, particularly playing power chords on strings five and six. anybody
got any suggestions for strings that produce warm tones but with less finger
friction sound?
Andy Collins
Sent from my iPhone
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