What is it with guitar strings?

Why are there so many different gauges to choose from?

I mean choosing a brand is easy ‘cos there’s only a couple of hundred of them, but then there’s gauges and there’s coatings and every brand has a couple of dozen and none of them are the same gauge and none of them use the same coatings and why are there NO standards? After all with every manufacturer doing their own thing how do you choose?

OK so lets see if we can help you choose. Two questions.

1. What type of guitar are you playing?
2. What sort of guitarist are you?

There are rational reasons for asking those questions. One is because certain types of guitar just won’t work with certain types of string, or not for very long anyway. For instance if you try to string a classical guitar with heavy gauge steel strings it won’t be too long before your neck departs your body. I’m talking about your guitars neck and body here, but if that just happened to be an expensive guitar, well it might be that you achieve anatomical separation soon after.

Nylon Strings

Lets start with the non-metal string guitars. Two types here Classical and Flamenco. Although they look superficially the same the Flamenco is made of thinner wood, the body is shallower than the Classical, the action is lower and the sound is brighter, percussive and loud. That lower action allows a bit quicker playing technique and there’s a tap plate to protect the wood from your nails. The Classical sound is warmer, somehow richer, the body is deeper and you’re going to have to learn not to hit the wood with your fingers.

So strings. Flamenco strings are usually low to medium tension, classical medium to high. But, that’s your choice, though I wouldn’t want to risk high tension strings on a flamenco, for reasons given above. It’s your neck though.

So what about the type of string? Well, up to the 1940s most strings were made from animal gut. Then came nylon and after that fluorocarbon. Nylon is less dense than gut and fluorocarbon is the densest of all three. AS for guages there are 3 of those as well, light medium and heavy, but as I said earlier, there are no standards for these and each manufacturer will have their own versions. So what’s the difference. Well, in general the lighter the string the softer the sound. That’s because a heavier string is more massive (weight is just mass responding to gravity) and that allows it to transfer mor energy through vibrations, so they sound louder. And that applies to the 6 strings on your guitar, not just the different gauges. The downside is that the heavier strings don’t sound as bright. So, louder and duller (where’ve I heard that before?) or quieter and brighter.

Not all nylons are the same. Depending on the base materials (and the resultant number of carbon atoms in the material) two strings of the same size can have different qualities. In addition the lower strings are usually metal wound over a nylon core and the alloy used there can also make a big difference. Some manufacturers will also use different nylons as the core for those lower strings than they do for the upper ones.

Some types of string may be coloured red or black. They’re usually aimed at the folk/flamenco market probably because they look a bit funkier than boring, transparent “Classical” strings. Scientists tell us they don’t sound any different. Individual choice again. Personally, I like to see my strings against my fretboard. These, like ball ended strings really just come down to a marketing ploy.

Fluorocarbon strings are made of a polymer called polyvinylidine fluoride (PVDF). This gives a brighter sound than nylon and even gut, which it is closer to in sound, but you don’t get the feeling you’re wallet has been mugged and the care, longevity and tuning problems are greatly reduced. However, nothing is perfect in this world and with PVDF strings that can be heard most commonly on the G string. The added stiffness cause uncomfortable, unpleasant sounds best described as inharmonious. And that’s just playing the string by itself, so if you bought a set don’t get any airs about it. The sound is also unsustainable. No, I mean it, there is just reduced sustain.

Longevity. A week after you’ve restrung with nylon your top strings won’t sound as bright as they did. They’ll have stretched. For personal use you can probably live with that. If your performing or recording that can work out ot be expensive.

So the choice is down to you. Good or poor sustain. Dull or Bright sound? Longevity or doesn’t it matter?

Metal Strings

3 types of guitar here all with slightly(!) different characteristics and very different needs. We’ll be looking at acoustic, electric and bass guitars. I hope you’ve read through the item on nylon strings because much of the science is identical. To reiterate, the heavier the string, the louder, but duller it will sound.

Looking at these instrument types then, obviously bass will be louder and duller, and that’s before you crank your volume control past breaking point. You can get a bit of attack back by using a pick or by pulling, but you just don’t have that top end. If you want something that’s got a lot of high frequencies play something else.

One thing that most guitarists will want to take into consideration is bending of the note. Here we come down to why the gauge is important. Whether you’re playing bass, acoustic or lead, somewhere down the line you’ll want to bend a note. How easy that’s going to be will depend on two, related, things. These are the string thickness – the gauge and the tension. The thicker the string the greater the tension. You may find your bass guitar hs a steel rod running from the body to the top of the neck to cope with the higher tensions of its strings. So thinner strings, lower tension, greater bends. You can do a full tone bend, or more, on an electric with extra-light strings and light strings on an acoustic might get you to a 3/4 tone bend depending on how strong you are.

Leaving basses out for the moment (I’ll come back to you guys, honest) lighter strings are better suited to beginners or lead guitarists because they don’t hurt your fingers so much and they’re easier for that full tone bend in Wish You Were Here . If you’re more into the power sound, you’re a rhythm guitarist or you want some good chunky chord sounds then you might want a heavier gauge. It will need a bit more strength to bend a note but you should have developed some of that over the years.

The tones of the various gauges follow the rules set out in the Nylon String part above – lighter brighter, thicker warmer. Choose what type of sound you want and pick the gauge range. On an acoustic if you want chunky chords and warm sound you’d aim for the heavier gauges. factor that in with the type of playing you do. Are you a jazz/blues type or folk/rock/pop chordie?

Then you need to check out the coating on the strings, if any. Uncoated will give you a brighter tone, are usually a bit cheaper, but don’t last quite as long. Corrosion from sweat (acid in nature) and air moisture, as well as skin cells from your fingers will cause degradation. You’ll wind up buying them more frequently, but for studio or live performance work that might not be a bad thing. But again it all depends on what sound you want when you play. Don’t be afraid to try things out. You might find you like a cheaper set than the ultra high price set labelled “Pro” by the marketing department.

Last but not least, we come back to the Bass Player. The one instrument that never stops playing in any single, often forgotten even if your riffs aren’t. For you we’re looking at 3 major string types – round-wound, flat-wound and half-round.

Round-wound; bright, edgy almost piano-like in sound. Lots of very good bass players have and still do use them. Those that are still alive, anyway. If you’re playing rock, pop, punk or funk you’ll most likely use these.

Flat-wounds tend to used on fretless basses. They’re less damaging to the fretboard and are better at emulating the double bass sound. Bends and slides are easier with strings that don’t try to rip your fingers to shreds.

Half-rounds. Considered by many to be an abomination and with good reason. When they came out, the round wound bit was below the fretboard and supposed to give you the brightness of the full round-wound since the round bit is over your pick-ups. For some reason it doesn’t work out that way so you either go full flat or full wound and feel much happier about your decision. Some more modern half-wounds have the winding not quite as flat as a flat-wound. That too just doesn’t seem to work, not really pleasing anyone.

The links below will take you to some pages where you can see our recommendations but remember, no matter what we or anyone else tells you this is your choice. Buy what suits you, what fits your style of playing and your pocket. Just because John Entwistle help Rotosound design the Swing Bass series doesn’t mean you have to buy them.