Do luthiers voice guitars for particular strings?

[beatcomber]

When I acquired my '64 Gibson F25, it was strung with phosphor bronze strings and it sounded okay, but not great. Kinda thin, kinda clangy.

On a whim I tried monels (Martin Retros) and the guitar took on a nice, fulsome woody thump, with the sweetest treble. The guitar just sounds 'right' to me with the monels.

My understanding is PB strings were not yet available at the time my guitar was made, and that monels were the standard in the early-mid '60s. This leads me to wonder if guitar designers base their instruments' voicing around particular string types?

[s2y]

Some do, yes. My Razo OM was braced for 12s.

[mercy]

Bracing/thicknesing can be done purposrfully but I doubt that Gibson did that.

[EverettWilliams]

If you have a house string alloy, you may make adjustments as you go toward that. I know many build with particular gauges in mind. I know Tom Ellis favors a particular set of strings on his mandolins (DR) and so I guess you could say he builds with that in mind. But my guess is that most have a target, find the best strings when they get there (or else just say D’Adarrios are cheap, I’ll use those as many seem to do), and then otherwise keep refining.

But Monels do sound right on somethings (old Gibsons in particular), so there’s something to be said for using what would have been used.

[Tony Burns]

My assumption ( Yes i know what the meaning of assume is )
is that when they list an instrument to handle light gauge strings-
( or they tell you that when you ask them )
its bracing is made to handle that - nothing heavier

Id say if you used mediums on a guitar thats designed for lights -
your not thinking straight ! you can have problems

[tadol]

Builders will usually have a recommendation (some, a requirement) about the gauge of string, which could be interpreted as a tension level, for their guitars. That would be pretty normal, but to voice a guitar for a specific type or brand of string would be an extremely fine adjustment, and I don’t think many big shops do much hand-voicing at all.

Smaller shops, who actually spend some time with each guitar as its finished, may, over time, adjust voicing to what they want to hear, using a readily available string brand as their reference. Santa Cruz actually went so far as to design strings that met their specs for tension and chemistry, and now voice their guitars with those to get the even tone and balance that is their goal. But thats kinda unique - you can’t walk into very many shops and buy a Santa Cruz guitar, or Santa Cruz strings.

Most of the time, I think the builders cut a deal with a string maker, and get very cheap or free strings in exchange for adding a hang tag or other advertising for the string maker in the case. Big shops are frequently more interested in strings that will sound bright and loud longer, and less likely to suffer from corrosion and fatigue, so the guitar will hopefully sound good longer if it hangs on a wall for an extended time, and gets handled by a lot of people. But they do not voice them for that -

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by beatcomber

When I acquired my '64 Gibson F25, it was strung with phosphor bronze strings and it sounded okay, but not great. Kinda thin, kinda clangy.

On a whim I tried monels (Martin Retros) and the guitar took on a nice, fulsome woody thump, with the sweetest treble. The guitar just sounds 'right' to me with the monels.

My understanding is PB strings were not yet available at the time my guitar was made, and that monels were the standard in the early-mid '60s. This leads me to wonder if guitar designers base their instruments' voicing around particular string types?

Hi bc

While we players certainly gravitate toward certain instruments, we are so diverse (some strummers, some finger pickers, and some of us flat pickers) that it would be rare for builders (who want to sell all the guitars they can) to voice instruments so they only fit one weight of string with/without flatpicks or only fingerpicked, or only for singer songwriters, or only one style of music.

On the other hand, I did have a guitar built very lightly and it really is limited to no heavier than .012 (Light gauge) in standard tuning. It's a very responsive guitar, so that's not really a limitation for me.

I've seen guitars with warnings stamped on the back brace "Do not use strings heavier than Light Gauge on this instrument" so it would be seen when you look in the sound hole.

[srick]

My Bourgeois Country Boy 00 was voiced for D'Addario EJ16s. Yet, when I asked Dana B. about string tensions and various brands of strings, his reply was basically, "Experiment, and if you like it, then use it."

Similarly, I have had this discussion with Dale Fairbanks, and he feels the same way. He will voice his guitar for a standard string (D'Addarios I believe), but if you want to use another tension or brand, he doesn't sweat the small stuff.

[guitar george]

I like to think that guitar builders are using only the best sounding and correct gauge strings for the guitars that they are producing. Theoretically, the strings listed in the specs are the ones that should be used to get the best sound from that guitar. They would match the strings to the guitar and not the guitar to the strings. Why do so many people buy a new guitar and the first thing they do is change the strings to some other type or gauge? Someone should tell the companies what strings sound better and maybe they would change their specs.

[Moocheng]

I think most build with a gauge in mind,
but as for string type, they know thats something only an individual player can decide

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by guitar george

I like to think that guitar builders are using only the best sounding and correct gauge strings for the guitars that they are producing. Theoretically, the strings listed in the specs are the ones that should be used to get the best sound from that guitar. They would match the strings to the guitar and not the guitar to the strings. Why do so many people buy a new guitar and the first thing they do is change the strings to some other type or gauge? Someone should tell the companies what strings sound better and maybe they would change their specs.

George, this is wishful thinking. Large scale guitar manufacturers decide on which brand of strings to use based on business considerations: which string company will give them the best OEM price, and which of the strings they offer will hold up the best in music showroom conditions.

When there are hangtags recommending a specific brand of strings on the new guitars, that invariably means that the string manufacturer gave the guitar manufacturer a better OEM price in exchange for deploying the hangtags.

The one exception to that is when the guitar company also has a division that makes strings, as with Martin.

Anyway, it’s not until you get to small shop operations like Santa Cruz or National Reso-Phonic and individual hand builders that you start seeing the stock strings chosen for their tonal quality. Those outfits and individuals don’t have the economies of scale working in their favor, so they might as well choose the strings that they put on for the way that they sound.

But that’s simply incorrect for the large scale guitar manufacturers, no matter what their PR materials might tell you. Naturally they want their guitars to sound good, but the OEM price is a much more major factor for them than it is for small shop operations or hand builders.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

[M Sarad]

Rick Ruskin has his McAlister built to handle light guage.

[The Bard Rocks]

I assume the OP was more interested in type of string rather than gauge. Answering that, I doubt they build for certain strings (unless asked to). They know everybody has their preferences and that these preferences vary considerably between us. what they put on going put of the shop may be dictated by price and what they feel more people will prefer