New String Sound

underwhelmed · #1 03-30-2004, 03:59 PM

I hear lots of talk of people restringing their guitars right before gigs, or about how they love that sound right when you first string your guitar.

Am I the only one that absolutely hates how brand new strings sound? To me the sound is way too bright, almost jangly or abrasive. I think strings need a good hour or two of playing time before they reach their best sound. Don't get me wrong, really old strings sound bad too, but I don't get what people like about the sound of brand new ones either.

Am I alone on this? Am I crazy? Or do other people feel the same way as me on this issue?

pollajak · #2 03-30-2004, 04:06 PM

Giving a few hours of playing for them to adjust self tension, I like new strings. They sound lively.

P.S. I use Phospher Bronze strings.

dane337 · #3 03-30-2004, 05:03 PM

I lead a Friday night service at our church, with a band that only plays together at those services. I like to change strings before we rehearse on the Thursday before so they have a couple hours of playing time, but are still 'fresh' by Friday night. All I know for sure is, I change them waaaaaay too often.

bradley dr20 · #4 03-30-2004, 05:15 PM

It depends on your guitar. My Tacoma DR20 is super-low and deep, so new strings make it sound perfect. New strings on a brighter guitar might make it a little over the top.

Jimendus · #5 03-30-2004, 05:21 PM

The new string sound, is really bright to my ears, I prefer "day old" strings, they don't sound tinny, but are still very lively, then they start to slowly decay and grow "moldy". thats usually a good sign to change them...

Carlos

jhchang · #6 03-30-2004, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by underwhelmed
Am I alone on this? Am I crazy?

Yes you Are!!

MarkB69 · #7 03-30-2004, 07:50 PM

I absolutely prefer the the sound of strings after they've aged in a couple days or so. That bright tinny sound just doesn't agree with my ears....

Barnzy · #8 03-30-2004, 07:59 PM

I 100% agree. New strings sound too "sharp" to me. I should be immune to this from playing/listening to drums (cymbals), but my strings need a good 10 or so hours of play time to wear off the "brilliance". I think this is why I've begun to switch to Daddario EXP 80/20's from nanos. I like bright, but not too bright!
Thanks
Barnzy

R.C · #9 03-30-2004, 08:32 PM

yeah...you're not alone on this and you're not crazy... no worries. its all preference and there is no right or wrong to think or feel..

i prefer a more settled in string sound, not sure why, but i just prefer it than the bright sounding strings.. that fades away in like a few hours?

mackmtl · #10 03-30-2004, 10:14 PM

I read an interview with some bass player-I think it wasDuck Dunn-a few years back and when they asked him about strings he said that he had some strings from 1963 on his bass and he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth at this point in his career. I know this has no bearing on acoustic guitars whatsoever, but it's an interesting story.

underwhelmed · #11 03-30-2004, 10:43 PM

Good to hear that others feel the same way. All the string threads with people complaining about strings that lost "that new string sound" after a couple hours had me worried.

Okay, what about on electrics? I don't really have much of an opinion myself, I mostly just change my strings on my strat when I break one. That's probably because I play acoustic way more though, I'm not exactly an electric tone guru.