[srick]

And I just found that conversation from 11-3-2015 search on username = Siminoff

Roger - I have a few questions that have bugged me for many moons. We usually talk about the wound strings and their variables, but always ignore the unwound strings.

- Do most manufacturers us the same alloy for their unwound strings?
- Do manufacturing processes (ie) how you draw out and/or anneal the wire affect the resultant tension?
- How about gauge? is a .012 from one company equivalent to another?
- How about tone? Are their tonal differences in unwound stings?
- Are the unwound strings coated in the same way?


I think you get my drift. Thanks - looking forward to your thoughts here.

best,

Rick
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[reply from Roger]

Rick…

You're going to open up my flood gates if you get me talking about strings! (All great questions - thank you!!!)

Same alloy? As far as the steel itself is concerned, there are several manufacturers of high-carbon steel "mandolin wire" (in the US and worldwide) and the specs for their alloy is virtually the same, and the resultant wire is virtually the same. The key difference between these makers is how accurately and consistently they draw their wire in its initial bulk size (before being drawn down to musical wire sizes). (As a point of interest, the wire is called "mandolin wire" up to .050" and called "piano wire" in thicknesses above .050").

How wire is drawn? Yes, how the plain wire is drawn, how many sizing dies it goes through, the condition of the dies, and how efficiently its temperature is controlled during drawing does affect its hardness and the resultant elasticity, both of which affect tension. What sets manufacturers aside from each other is how they draw their wire. The critical factor here is how the wire is straightened and the number die stages the wire is drawn through as comes from the starting spool and is drawn down to fractional sizes for musical core wire. The greater the number of dies, the greater the quality of the wire - metallurgically, and dimensionally. (The elasticity of this wire is an interesting side note. You may have noticed that as your strings go out of tune, you are always tightening them UP to pitch. The high-carbon steel wire is considerately elastic; on a 26" scale instrument, a plain .012" E string will stretch about 1/4" from when you have the string snug to when you bring it up to pitch.)

Gauge? Yes, we're measuring our wire to 5 decimal places and it has been my experience that most wire manufacturers are reasonably consistent, gauge wise. I've not worked with many of the non-USA based wire manufacturers, so I can't really comment on the wire quality and consistency of some foreign-made string sets.

Tone? As long as the strings being compared are a high-carbon steel (HCS), and the gauge of the test string is the same as the string it is being compared to, there is virtually no difference in tone, sustain, or amplitude.

Coating? There are really two issues here: plating and coating. The high-carbon steel wire - whether used for plain strings or as core for wound strings - needs to be protected because it is very susceptible to corrosion. So, while the alloy of the wire itself (as previously mentioned) might be virtually the same, the plating process is quite different among musical string manufacturers. (How this is done and what plating techniques are used would take a whole page here, and some of the processes are confidential to musical string manufacturers.) Regarding coating, as I mentioned in a previous post, the bronze wrap must receive a protective coating to keep it bright in the package and on in-store guitars to prevent it from tarnishing.