The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #100967 Message #3128586
Posted By: reggie miles
04-Apr-11 - 06:54 PM
Thread Name: Guitar Strings: Elixir rant - THEY STINK!
Subject: RE: Guitar Strings: Elixir rant - THEY STINK!
breezy, I'm only trying to push that high 'E' string to 'A' not 'A#'. .008s snap, as do .009s, too lightweight for the tension, I guess. .010. or heavier strings snap because they're too heavy to withstand the tension level. I found a .0095 that seemed to hold for a while but it too eventually snapped.
Bee-dubya-ell, the guitar that I'm using is my own homemade resophonic, with a 12 frets to the body, square neck and a modified tail piece, which is shorter than most. This means that that the string itself is stretched farther than on a pin type bridge and even farther than most tail piece type guitars. My scale length is almost exactly 25".
What I'm wondering is, if strings companies today are merely using, what they have been using for the plain high 'E' strings, simply because no one has ever decided to experiment further into the modern high tension alloys available and the possibilities that they present for better tone and a longer lasting string. Again, I certainly understand why a string company might shy away from making a products that works better and lasts longer, because of the implications that it can have to its bottom line.
Like my 20 year search for a sweet old resophonic guitar that left me empty handed and ultimately forced me to make my own, I can see that this string desire might be moving me toward the same path, of making my own high 'E' strings. I'm certain that the steel alloys available today offer far better properties than those being presently used by every string maker that I've tried. All of those high 'E' strings seem to wear, rust and break far too frequently.
I think that the market is ripe for a new idea, a super string. One that sheds the past precepts of "good enough" and embraces the brave new world of technological advances. A string that is as resilient as it is resistant to wear and able to do more and be more than be just "good enough".
What do you think?