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Choosing Electric and Acoustic Guitar Strings
By Peter | November 28, 2009
As you play your guitar, the strings will gather dirt and oil from your fingers and the sound quality will start to deteriorate. You’ll notice that the sound of stings will begin to lose their “brightness” and tone. As the most touched parts gather more oil, they’ll vibrate less than other parts of the string, which causes problems with consistent tone and also makes it harder to tune the guitar accurately.
How long it takes before you should change the strings varies – it really depends on how often and for how long you play, and how discerning you are when it comes to the tone. A professional will often change their strings once a week. However, if you’re a play-at-home amateur, you can afford to change them much less often.
All brands of string are different, so it’s really down to personal preference as to which type you should use. I’ve tried dozens of different types, brands and gauges. I now almost exclusively use a RotoSound Phosphor Bronze (gauge 11 or 12) on my acoustic guitar. However, this isn’t a recommendation; it’s just what works for me. If you’re a beginner, you should try a few different brands to see what you like.
There are two main types of acoustic guitar string to look at when you’re buying new strings:
- Bronze Wound strings are commonly used by many players. They’re good for professionals who need a very bright sound initially. However, they lose much of their brightness quickly, so need to be changed often to keep a good quality of sound.
- Phosphor Bronze strings are made very similarly to standard bronze string, but with the addition of phosphor. The phosphor gives the sound a slightly warmer tone and also extends the life of the sting (well the life of the bright sound with the string).
With an electric guitar, the types are:
- Nickel Plated strings, which contain a steel core, with nickel plated steel wrapped around it. This is the most often used electric guitar string, and is a good place to start when trying new strings.
- Pure Nickel strings are made of a steel core with pure Nickel wrapped around it.
- Stainless Steel – Exactly as you’d expect: This is simply a string made of stainless steel.
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