Classical Guitar String Comparison

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGK8pXqr9yY

Sorry for the bad sound quality, this is right off my laptop. There is a subtle difference in the sound of the strings, I'll talk more on the playability later in the thread.

Which strings sound the best to you?

ALoha Laron, Mahalo for the time and effort put into the comparison. I personally rate these starting from the favorite 1, 3, 4, 2. My tastes so don't expect anyone to agree but I like the punchiness of set #1 your original Savarez set best. #2 a tad too mellow for me. When going low g you ever use anything besides D'addrio J4804? Mahalo nui again.

Ahnko,
The sound comparison was really close and difficult to hear the difference with my recording setup. #1 is definitely bright, clear, and with the best sustain, possibly too bright for a tenor for my liking. Those are fluorocarbons. The #2 are nylons, and less bright but thicker strings for those who don't like the thin Alliance strings. #3, the J71s, are a bit quieter in sound all around, although balanced, seem to lack the responsiveness for acoustic playing. Less sustain than the other 3, but perhaps good for pickup playing. #4, another fluorocarbon set, similar in brightness like #1 but not as bright. Because they are not as bright, they bring out a slightly fuller sound than #1. Hard/high tension strings that are rigid and thicker than #1. I'll leave these on a try them out for awhile, they are Kekani's favorite, and now I see why.

As for the low G strings, Kekani recommended J4804, the hard tension bronze wound "D" string. All other "D" strings for classical guitar would do. The J4704 are normal tension bronze wound and seem to be in stock. The J4304, J4504, J4604, and J4404 are silverplated copper wound in light, normal, hard, and extra hard tensions. You can choose depending on the tension/thickness you desire.

I have used the J4304 light tension silverplated copper wound which is .028 in diameter. I have not compared them to the higher tensions. I used this on tenors and concerts.

Like mentioned in other threads, the silverplated copper wound strings tend to be a bit more boomy for low G but are said to last longer than the bronze wound. You might have to try a few, they are less than $2 each. Make sure you share your experience.

Most players will just pickup a set, what they don't realize is that someone put this set together from singles. The advantage of choosing singles is that you can customize your strings to the sound and playability you desire from YOUR uke, not a generic setup. Also, if you break a string or one of the string wears out quicker, you can just swap it out without having to buy a whole set.

For those interested, here's the string diameters in GCEA:

Savarez Alliance

541J 0.0252
543R 0.0331
542R 0.0272
541R 0.0244

Savarez New Cristal

501CJ 0.0295
503CR 0.0406
502CR 0.0327
501CR 0.0287

D'addario J71

J4401 0.029
J4603 0.0410
J4602 0.0327
J4601 0.0285

D'addario T2

T4601 0.0285
T4603 0.0410
T4602 0.0325
T4601 0.0285

and for comparison Aquila Tenor Nylgut

0.0287
0.0393
0.0330
0.0263

Excellent comparison. I bet you're tired of changing strings. I really like the sound of the Saverez Alliance.

The one thing you can't really do on YT is feel the strings - the tension, how they respond, the texture etc.

Thanks for doing this!

Thanks Ukua,

This is very helpful.

Take care,
Thomas

Mahalo. Very informative and helpful! I like the Savarez Alliance the best. I have to get me some.

mahalo for your mana`o, uluapoundr. i, similar to kekani, like the t2. have you had the chance to try the 540J trebs? i prefer higher tension (from reading kekani's posts regarding higher tension allows for lower action) and would like to see if this works. i have a couple packs ready to be strung up. maybe it's too extreme but i'm hoping brighter strings will help crispen my soundmonster. i guess by trial and error i'll work my way down.

Thank you for this!

I'm think of trying these on the Kala Slimline
Travel Tenor I hope to buy:

http://www.juststrings.com/toi-kr116.html

They are intended for classical or fragile old
steel string guitars and have ball ends.
I use them a flat-top guitar & an archtop
because they're just loud enough there
and my hands are weak.

I don't think anyone makes a magnetic soundhole
pickup small enough for a uke but these strings
are all magnetic. Sound good that way.
They're sexy but expensive.
Sexy is always expensive, though, eh?

Good comparisons! I had an pono ohai tenor and the savarez alliances really fit it well, but on my kala lacewood w/sprucetop they sound a bit too punchy so I prefer high tension d'addarios. They fit perfectly for my uke and I really like the tension and feel of them.

Thanks for the review. I have the Savarez Alliance on my MB and love the way they sound and feel. I need to talk to my string guy to get more sets of them. If only his boss would give him the night off of painting and printing-a slave driver that guy is
Thanks again for the informative review.

Thanks everyone for your input. I'll give my summary on the feel, but you have to remember, I just had them on for minutes...and perhaps they didn't fully stretch out, although I tried my best to get them stretched before I recorded the song.

Hank, I can send you a couple more sets and then order more later, it will save you the hassle, and I have stuff to mail you anyway. I hope my boss give me off tonight, having a rough day at work, hence the late lunch break.

Aloha everyone!

Thanks again Ulua,

I finnaly got my strings from strings by mail about 2 weeks ago. I was satisfied with worths until the assortment arrived, but there is a world of difference. Particularly noticable when playing harmonics.

I tried the Savarez Alliance, Savarez Cristal corum and Dadario T2s.

They are all three really nice strings. I am torn between the 2 Savarez strings though.

Still havent tried the Low G assortment I recieved based on the other thread though. I have 4 low g strings to try, we will see.

Anyway, thanks again,
Thomas

Thomas,
Glad you like the strings. There are a lot of great strings out there, just takes some time experimenting. I've actually never tried worths, thanks for sharing your experiences.

You arent missing much with the worths...