What strings for Maple Guitar?

[Rosewood99]

I've had my new Breedlove Pacific with quilted Maple for a week now and loving it. The previous owner was not positive but thought the strings on it now are Elixir PBs which sound pretty good but I'm wondering what strings other Maple guitar owners use. I've always been partial to John Pearse PBs but not sure if they would be good for a Maple guitar.

[bobdcat]

I keep Martin FX PB lights on my 0-28VS custom birdseye maple. But, I'm not much of a string fetishist. Most any decent string will do for me as long as it is light gauge.

[RussMason]

Of all the tonewoods, maple is the least resonant. That is why it is used for jazz guitars and violins - you can hear single notes very clearly and there aren't a lot of overtones present.

Therefore you need a warm string and phosphor bronze is probably the warmest, although the 85/15 formulations might be OK also. They are more mellow than phosphor bronze. D'Addario used to make the 'Great American Bronze' string, which was 85/15, but they are no longer made. I think Dean Markley has an 85/15 string, and perhaps GHS also.

What I would suggest, however, is Rohrbacher Titanium phosphor bronze strings. They are wonderful sounding, particularly on guitars that are not especially resonant. Because they are titanium, they will not corrode the way steel will; so one set might last you a year or more. They are all I use now. I have moved on from steel, and have no regrets. The sound is very lush, when compared with steel strings.

However, if you use an electric pickup, it won't work on titanium strings, and they do not withstand changing tunings very well. I have broken a few B and E strings at the nut by changing the tunings.

But if you play in standard tuning (or don't change tunings much) and don't use an electric pickup, then I heartily recommend the titaniums.

www.rohrtech.com

[mcoliver77]

The sitka/maple I used to have really sounded good with Elixir PB's and the coated Curt Mangans.

[Joseph Hanna]

Originally Posted by paulzoom

I've had my new Breedlove Pacific with quilted Maple for a week now and loving it. The previous owner was not positive but thought the strings on it now are Elixir PBs which sound pretty good but I'm wondering what strings other Maple guitar owners use. I've always been partial to John Pearse PBs but not sure if they would be good for a Maple guitar.

Paul,

There is no definitive maple sound and even if there was (which there's not) there'd never be a definitive type of string that any two guitar players on earth would ever agree sounds good, bad or indifferent on a maple guitar.

The higher end Breedloves I've played in the past have all been at least unique if not down right one of a kinds. That's such a cool guitar if it were me I'd try sets one at a time till one lights up in your world.

[Howard Emerson]

[QUOTE=RussMason;2885457]Of all the tonewoods, maple is the least resonant. That is why it is used for jazz guitars and violins - you can hear single notes very clearly and there aren't a lot of overtones present.

Russ,
How exactly did you come to that conclusion about maple?

Regards,
Howard Emerson

[Taylorplayer]

My 612ce really likes D'Addario EJ16's....

[mulausk]

My new maple H&D MJ is on its way to me... should arrive Friday... and has been strung with Curt Mangans. I've never played those strings, so I'm interested to hear how they sound. Waiting in the wings, I have some John Pearse PBs that I'll put on eventually for a "taste test." I've been happy with JP PBs for some time now.

Lots of reasons to love this forum, but threads like this are at the top for me. Love the input and experience(s) shared here.

[bobdcat]

[QUOTE=Howard Emerson;2885498]

Originally Posted by RussMason

Of all the tonewoods, maple is the least resonant. That is why it is used for jazz guitars and violins - you can hear single notes very clearly and there aren't a lot of overtones present.

Russ,
How exactly did you come to that conclusion about maple?

Regards,
Howard Emerson

I was wondering that also, Howard. Perhaps he has heard only maple archtops. I have owned a '74 Guild F50 and currently own a custom Martin 0-28VS in Adirondack and birdseye maple and both have plenty of overtones along with strong fundamentals.

[Howard Emerson]

[QUOTE=bobdcat;2885594]

Originally Posted by Howard Emerson

I was wondering that also, Howard. Perhaps he has heard only maple archtops. I have owned a '74 Guild F50 and currently own a custom Martin 0-28VS in Adirondack and birdseye maple and both have plenty of overtones along with strong fundamentals.

Bob,
Guess what kind of guitar I use as my primary bottleneck guitar?

A 1927 Gibson L-5.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6GhoxlfU5U scroll ahead to 3:40 to hear it.

My 6 & 12 strings are both maple & red spruce made by David Flammang and they're strung with D'Addario EJ 16 wounds with medium plains.

I have no idea where observations like that come from.

HE

[Rosewood99]

Originally Posted by RussMason

Of all the tonewoods, maple is the least resonant. That is why it is used for jazz guitars and violins - you can hear single notes very clearly and there aren't a lot of overtones present.

Therefore you need a warm string and phosphor bronze is probably the warmest, although the 85/15 formulations might be OK also. They are more mellow than phosphor bronze. D'Addario used to make the 'Great American Bronze' string, which was 85/15, but they are no longer made. I think Dean Markley has an 85/15 string, and perhaps GHS also.

What I would suggest, however, is Rohrbacher Titanium phosphor bronze strings. They are wonderful sounding, particularly on guitars that are not especially resonant. Because they are titanium, they will not corrode the way steel will; so one set might last you a year or more. They are all I use now. I have moved on from steel, and have no regrets. The sound is very lush, when compared with steel strings.

However, if you use an electric pickup, it won't work on titanium strings, and they do not withstand changing tunings very well. I have broken a few B and E strings at the nut by changing the tunings.

But if you play in standard tuning (or don't change tunings much) and don't use an electric pickup, then I heartily recommend the titaniums.

www.rohrtech.com

I did some research on the Rohrtech strings and they really sound interesting though most recommend the titanium and nickel ones. I might give them a try. It would be cool not to have to change strings for a year.

[GibbyPrague]

About 4 months ago I bought a maple 2001 Gibson J-150 jumbo. It had on her a new set of Elxir PB's. Nice shimmery tone but a bit too bright, combined with the maple.

I tried my go to strings in DR Sunbeams and I found the mellowness of the Sunbeams combined with the brightness and clarity of maple combined together really well.

Worth a try.

[Rosewood99]

Originally Posted by RussMason

Of all the tonewoods, maple is the least resonant. That is why it is used for jazz guitars and violins - you can hear single notes very clearly and there aren't a lot of overtones present.

Therefore you need a warm string and phosphor bronze is probably the warmest, although the 85/15 formulations might be OK also. They are more mellow than phosphor bronze. D'Addario used to make the 'Great American Bronze' string, which was 85/15, but they are no longer made. I think Dean Markley has an 85/15 string, and perhaps GHS also.

What I would suggest, however, is Rohrbacher Titanium phosphor bronze strings. They are wonderful sounding, particularly on guitars that are not especially resonant. Because they are titanium, they will not corrode the way steel will; so one set might last you a year or more. They are all I use now. I have moved on from steel, and have no regrets. The sound is very lush, when compared with steel strings.

However, if you use an electric pickup, it won't work on titanium strings, and they do not withstand changing tunings very well. I have broken a few B and E strings at the nut by changing the tunings.

But if you play in standard tuning (or don't change tunings much) and don't use an electric pickup, then I heartily recommend the titaniums.

www.rohrtech.com

Saw this on their website, have you heard of these:

Medium Tension Phosphor Bronze - Surface Treated - Formulated with Dr. Buzz's patent-pending, ceramic-like "silsesquioxane" treatment for longer life; corrosion resistant; equal in tension to conventional, "light gauge" steel core acoustic strings

[Mokai]

Originally Posted by RussMason

Of all the tonewoods, maple is the least resonant. That is why it is used for jazz guitars and violins - you can hear single notes very clearly and there aren't a lot of overtones present.

Therefore you need a warm string and phosphor bronze.

www.rohrtech.com

Russ confirms what I found through experimenting on my Maple Gibson J-185. I was using the Gibson Masterbuilt phosphor bronze quite happily until they discontinued carrying a set with a 25 on the G string. Arbitrary change after years of providing a specific product. Not the first thing Gibson has done to annoy me.

I agree with the general characteristic of a Maple guitar would be as Russ describes - I would say it more like: Speaking of flat-tops, not as resonant and with lower overtones than many rosewood guitars. Which is an advantage to my style of playing.

[spock]

Ervin Somogyi - On Tonewoods

MAPLE

Maples usually have a low "Q" and tend to make passive backs in that they don’t ring, sustain, or further the vibrational activity of the face very much. In fact, they help to absorb the vibrational energies of the face and kill them. As an extreme example, consider the sound you’d get in tapping a guitar back made of cardboard. This is not necessarily a bad thing, however. Besides being beautiful, maples help to create a sound which is damped and short-lived and which is perfect for jazz style playing. The jazz musician will play many notes, and the music is such that it is not desirable for any of the notes to linger in the air. Such music does not need the sustain of Brazilian rosewood. For jazz, one wants quick notes that come out and then disappear -- because there are many more notes coming. This quality is also desirable for certain parts of the modern classical guitar repertoire, which has at this point somewhat abandoned the lush, dark and expressive tonalities so much appreciated in the Romantic classical repertoire. Again, there are exceptions to all these statements; but, as rules of thumb, these descriptions are accurate.

From the Taylor Guitar Website:

A dense hardwood, maple’s tone is like a laser beam — very focused — and dominant on the fundamental. Often described as having a “bright” sound, maple has fewer overtones than other medium-density woods, resulting in quicker note decay. This makes it a preferred guitar wood for live performance settings with a band — especially with bass, drums and electric guitar — because it cuts through a mix well, allows the acoustic sound to be heard, and is less prone to feedback issues. It has some midrange, and a lot more treble sparkle than rosewood.


From Dana Bourgeois

Maple and walnut tend to be more acoustically transparent than other tonewoods, due to a low velocity of sound and a high degree of internal damping. That is to say that they allow tonal characteristics of the top to be heard without the addition of extraneous coloration and may even serve to attenuate some of the overtones emanating from the top.

From LMI (Luthiers Mercantile International)

Maple is the only wood used for backs and sides in the violin family so it is well known to instrument makers, even though just a modest percentage of guitars are made with it. The fact that it is a domestic wood augments its popularity and it is often used on electric guitars, most notably the Gibson Les Paul. Maple with figuring is preferred over plain maple, but the figure has no real bearing on the sound of the wood. The figure is, however, strikingly beautiful. Most common are curly maple (also known as flamed maple or tiger maple) or quilted maple (a bit rarer, this wood has a billowy, bubbly appearance). Plain maple (rock maple from the East Coast) is often used for electric guitar necks, but bigleaf maple (from the Northwest) and European Maple (from the former Yugoslavia) are the common choices for acoustic guitar back and sides.
Maple is well known for imparting bright tone to an instrument, with excellent separation (a guitar with good separation allows each note of a chord to ring independently as opposed to sounding thick or clustered). It has long been a popular choice on the Gibson Jumbo series because the bright tone helps balance out the boomyness of guitars that have a large body.