"Smooth"-sounding strings

[Bookstorecowboy]

On another thread, I had a lot of suggestions for strings that sound smooth (silky, buttery, jazzy) instead of "sparkly" or "bright." Any other suggestions?

Original list:

• GHS Silk and Bronze
• D’Addario Silk and Steel
• Elixir Polywebs
• Newtone roundwound 12/54
• DR Rares
• La Bella Silk & Steel
• Thomastik-Infeld Plectrums

[Brucebubs]

Martin Titaniums.

[Steve DeRosa]

Martin Monels - IME give them about a week or so to break in before you make any judgments...

[kizz]

Originally Posted by Bookstorecowboy

On another thread, I had a lot of suggestions for strings that sound smooth (silky, buttery, jazzy) instead of "sparkly" or "bright." Any other suggestions?

Original list:

• GHS Silk and Bronze
• D’Addario Silk and Steel
• Elixir Polywebs
• Newtone roundwound 12/54
• DR Rares
• La Bella Silk & Steel
• Thomastik-Infeld Plectrums

Smooth on which guitar and which playing style ?
For picking you could try different picks, for me thicker can be more smooth, for fingerstyle i don´t know, but it really depends on more than just strings.

[sdelsolray]

Magma Flat Wound Phosphor Bronze

[SingingSparrow]

i used to try to have the mellowest sounding strings that i could find on my waterloo a while back. frankly any set of really old strings should do fine.

although perhaps john pearse silk and phosphor bronze goes well with that list you have up there. i loved those and the ghs silk and bronzes a lot.

i'd also be curious to try something like dogal flatwounds or d'addario flat tops for that smooth mellow sound. i have not tried any of these myself yet, though.

although, four month old silk and bronzes are a fine ticket to this ride i think.

[YamahaGuy]

SIT Silencers if you can find them.

[rollypolly]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

Martin Monels - IME give them about a week or so to break in before you make any judgments...

I would second this. I just put them on my D-18 and they’re my favorites so far. Pretty darn warm but still got some sparkle in the treble strings. They’re not as warm as silk and steels but on a d-18 they work.

I’d try d’addario jazz strings as well. In my limited experience they were not as silks though.

[Bookstorecowboy]

I meant for acoustic guitars, not electrics.

[LakewoodM32Fan]

As a broad generalization I have found round wound strings to sound "smoother" or "less bright/trebly" than their hex wound counterparts. Round cores that I've tried include DR Sunbeams and Newtone MasterClass and Heritage. I'm intrigued to try some Curt Mangan round core models in the future.

[Bookstorecowboy]

I'm trying out Optima Silk & Steel and so far they are great! And they go in tune unbelievably fast, even faster than the Santa Cruz low tension set I am using on another guitar.

[Jim Owen]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

Martin Titaniums.

These are really balanced on my J 50. I also like Pure Nickels and Monels.

Fwiw, the Titaniums last a long time.