How to choose guitar strings


Let's make a small review of guitar strings, namely for acoustic and classical six-string guitar.

It is great when the guitar is made of quality materials, but the strings have the most important role in the instrument and there are many types of them.

Types of strings

Bronze strings are the strings with the highest rigidity and difficulty to clamp. They are quite durable, loud, suitable for playing the guitar with a fight, learning chords, because it is quite difficult to play notes on such strings. Bronze strings can be attributed to cheap.

Steel strings - have a pleasant shade in the sound, especially when playing in the style of heavy metal, rock. You can feel the long sound of each note, especially the open string. The first 3 strings, despite the material, are quite thin, short-lived, and can easily break when overstretched. Moderate difficulty in clamping the strings. As a rule, the strings are thin and compact, so they can be lowered closer to the neck for easier playing.

Bronze-phosphor (phosphor bronze) - easy to clamp metal strings. They have a long sound, but not at all like steel or bronze strings. The original sound can be both liked and vice versa. These strings are more expensive than bronze and are better suited for playing notes, learning the guitar, at least you can play them for a while.

Nylon (carbon) - strings suitable for classical guitar. The easiest to play with the least tension. The first 3 strings are polymers, the last 3 strings are copper or silver-plated (silver) wrapped around a synthetic material thread. I would not recommend choosing the variant of strings where 4 upper strings have a winding and 2 lower strings are made of nylon. It is better to choose and get used to the 3/3 option - 3 with winding and 3 of pure nylon. The sound quality of silvered winding is much better than copper. Copper ones are cheaper.

Application

The acoustic guitar has a more stable structure than the classical guitar, so it allows the use of metal strings with high tension and tension on the lower threshold. Such strings include bronze, steel and bronze-phosphor strings.

The classical guitar is fully designed for less string action on the neck and lower fretboard and will 100% correctly use nylon strings, which will not cause any disturbance or damage to the classical guitar by using metal strings.

Some Soviet classical guitars are able to withstand the tension and you can get a louder sound with metal strings.

Classical guitars of new production are designed only for nylon, carbon strings, and there are also low tension strings with a steel core and nylon tape wrapping.

Nylon strings sound louder on an acoustic guitar than on a classical guitar, they are easier to play on an acoustic guitar, and this is also a very pleasant achievement.

Tips and warnings

Never save on strings, it is better to save on the guitar.
Strings easily draw in the fretboard finish and deteriorate.
When installing new strings on the guitar, gradually and evenly increase the tension of all 6 strings.
If there is a reserve of string length left after installing the string, it is better to save it in case the string breaks and there was an opportunity to tie it or there was a sufficient length to install the string again.
The thinner the gauge of the string, the easier it is to play, but the sound quality is lost. Strings of larger caliber are more durable.
Changing the strings changes the pitch of each note on each fret.

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