I love Tommy's playing and I very much like Tommy as a person, but Tommy's hearing is not the best. He's listened to a lot of loud electric guitar amps and he has said many times that he was born with some hearing troubles. So I'm not sure how good Tommy's hearing is regarding strings, but it's OK with me if Tommy adds a little myth to guitars and strings. I think the bottom line is that we all like to hear something different after a while.

- Glenn

I like D'Adarrio 80/20 Bluegrass strings. Heavy bottom and a 12 top. For some strange reason the 12 feels more like an 11 on my Ovation CL2079AX. The guitar has the deep contour bowl and the heavier bass makes this guitar smoke. I play a lot of JT's songs and these strings sound great acoustically and plugged in. That and they're inexpensive. I used to have an acidity problem, but I was a jeweler for 12 1/2 years. I had to wash my hands 25 times or more a day, because they had a gold retrieval system. Needless to say, the acid problem disappeared. So I started buying every string I could buy. I like these and the new Martin flexible core strings. The price is a big plus. If you play fingerstyle, try the Fred Kelly speed picks. Great thumbpicks and really comfortable after a few times of wearing them.

The thing about Tommy is he does so many harmonics, you have to have new strings to get those kinds of harmonics. The guy sure was nice to me. I had him sign my cap and he asked my why I didn't buy a cd. I told him I had them all and I do.

Don't get me wrong, Tommy is at or near the top of the heap of acoustic players IMHO and he seems like a truly good person. I just thought that was an interesting comment from his interview and whether or not it holds water doesn't really matter. I wasn't aware of his hearing disorder. I just enjoy his amazing abilities, musical contributions and showmanship. I saw his Public Television show last night but have never seen him live. He'll be in Montgomery next month and it'll be worth the drive from Huntsville.

Hi DCannon,

I hope you didn't think I was criticizing your comments in any way. And I didn't think you were being hard on Tommy particularly. I just felt like throwing in my own 2 cents on my experience with personal encounters with Tommy over a couple of years. On one occasion, my wife and I sat in the Syracuse, NY airport for almost 2 hours with Tommy in 2008. We traded his Kalamazoo guitar back and forth, he and his soundman, Brad, sang "Willie's Shades" for us right there in the middle of the airport, with Brad singing high harmony. Mostly, he talked to my wife about what to get his daughter for her upcoming birthday. He was heading to England to see her; we were heading back to Seattle, all by way of Chicago. My wife is fairly soft-spoken and doesn't like to talk loud for fear she will interfere with others. Poor Tommy kept asking her to repeat herself because of his hearing issues. It was one heck of an experience...

- Glenn

More like being exposed to a nearly constant stimulus like sensory fatique? Folks do that with after shave/cologne...they can become oblivious to their own daily blast of Polo green...and then douse themselves with Aramis. :D

My point: I don't think he's simply saying he wears out his strings...and Glenwillow provides an anecdote that can exacerbate that phenemenon.

I agree with the "unfortunately" part...just another grain of salt.

Just like in every respectable guitar interview, Tommy was asked which brand of strings he played. That's when he went on about changing brands all the time because the guitar got used to it.

Of course, the reasonable answer would've been that his ears got used to the same brand/tone and that he enjoyed a change every now and then. Alas Tommy went with the more esoteric/spacey answer... ;)

Oh no....not at all, Glenn. I just wanted to make sure everyone understood that I wasn't being negative in any way regarding Tommy and just found the comment interesting relating to the basic subject of the thread. I am, however, envious of your encounter with him, and enjoyed reading your comments. He's one person I'd like to meet.

BTW, to everyone involved in this thread, I apologize for turning the subject from James Taylor to Tommy Emmanuel! Wasn't my intention.

It definitely will be worth the drive! He is amazing....so is James Taylor! ;)

Great thread gentlemen!
I just can't get over the idea that JT uses such light gauged strings.
I have been using bluegrass gauged strings for so long it might be time to lighten things up just to see where it takes me.

Yeah, I'd love to see James Taylor as well. Hey, how about the two together.

BTW, after first reading this post, I got a couple sets of Adamas 1818E and John Pearse 600L phosphor bronze to compare with the Martin M540 and MSP4100 I've been using for several years on all my guitars. I've always liked the tone, consistency, playability, and longevity of the Martins on my guitars, but it's good to have an open mind and try other things.

I play in DADGAD tuning and tried the Adamas first on my inherently bright Wechter TO8418 since it was getting time for a string change. The Adamas had a fairly nice tone, good volume, mellower than the Martins, but there was something I just didn't like about them. To me, they played and sounded "soft" and seemed more suited for fingerpicking than any intense strumming, which I get into with some of the things we do in the Celtic band and Irish music sessions. These strings just didn't work for me.

On the other hand, the John Pearse 600L strings are superb in all respects and I like them better than the Martins on the TO8418. Excellent tone, volume, balance, sustain, playability, and intonation. What I'm hearing is a bit more "guts" and depth overall than the Martins, yet sound sweet and ringing when fingerpicking or lightly strumming. Very solid and responsive. I capo a lot on the 5th and 7th frets, and these strings respond beautifully. Most newly installed strings, including the Martins, take some playing-in to optimize the tone, but I couldn't believe how good these strings sounded immediately after installing. I'll have no reservations about restringing just before a performance with JP. Big thumbs-up and looking forward to trying JP on my other guitars.

Hi DCannon,

Interesting observations about the Adamas 1818E and John Pearse 600L strings. I agree that the Adamas strings feel soft; they work well for me for fingerstyle playing but I can see where they would not be at their best for strumming. And I can see the Adamas strings feeling even softer in DADGAD.

The John Pearse strings are very solid sounding strings, and I think they are more of a "general purpose" string. Glad you've discovered some new possibilities!

- Glenn

Hi Glenn,
Yes, the Adamas were okay for fingerpicking light, pretty music, but I found the JP to be even better for fingerpicking as well as strumming, and truly an "all-around" quality set of strings that perform very well in DADGAD. I also found the Adamas a bit more difficult to keep in tune and they just never sounded solidly in tune as a "set". Hard to explain, but I was always tweaking a string here and there, and it was like I was playing six individual strings that weren't working together as a set. Again, hard to explain. But not so with the JP, which sound solidly in tune as a set, working very well together. Excellent strings.

Denny

I agree...;)