Titanium Strings - Guitar/Lute/Dulcimer/

Subject: Tech: Titanium Strings - Guitar/Lute/Dulcimer/
From: GUEST,-gargoyle
Date: 14 Apr 04 - 02:42 AM

Has anyone in the forum had experience with titanium strings? (Sure there are lots of advertising hype from various googled sites) But, has anyone here actually used them? What is you opinion?

While using brass/iron on the lower/middle registers of a harpsichord, I have thought of replacing the highend with titanium wire....simply because I have lots of it in various gages.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Titanium Strings - Guitar/Lute/Dulcimer/
From: Spot
Date: 14 Apr 04 - 03:41 PM

hello Mr Gargoyle
                   Right...titanium strings...experience of guitar only..! Have tried everything over the years , Elixirs being the last so-called set miracles. Get some Rohrtech Medium tension titanium/nickel strings asap...they are bloody wonderful!! I've em my Lowden 032 for 10 weeks of hard playing...no sign of deterioration at all..Keep em clean with Dr Buzz's string care and enjoy.Available in Low and Med tensions...good for old stiff fingers....I cant praise them enough...!!!
                      www.rohrtech.com
havent been able to Blicky that site, sorry
                   regards to all....Spot

Subject: RE: Titanium Strings - Guitar/Lute/Dulcimer/
From: Wesley S
Date: 14 Apr 04 - 04:20 PM

I've never even seen them offered for sale - of course I've never looked for them either. Who sells them and what kind of prices are we looking at ? I would assume they are pricy. What advantages are they supposed to have ?

Subject: RE: Titanium Strings - Guitar/Lute/Dulcimer/
From: Spot
Date: 14 Apr 04 - 04:57 PM

Wes....
   Go to site above...Theyre a site cheaper than Elixirs...and,for my money,a site better!! I think I paid less than a tenner (UK£)..Again, I cant praise them enough..I'll not use anything else! Soon to be available , hopefully, same for banjo and mandolin......!!
I ordered them straight from makers and they were on doorstep in no time at all...brilliant!! The main advantage is their resistance to oils, sweats, acids etc...Read the site blurb..it seems to be spot on..(unusual!!)I love 'em...!! And they work with my Fishman mike/soundhole blend system...fabulous things....!!
                           Regards to all ...Spot

Subject: RE: Titanium Strings - Guitar/Lute/Dulcimer/
From: Hrothgar
Date: 15 Apr 04 - 02:57 AM

Are these for playing very light music?

Subject: RE: Titanium Strings - Guitar/Lute/Dulcimer/
From: mooman
Date: 15 Apr 04 - 03:41 AM

Thanks for drawing attention to these Gargoyle. I've never tried them before but will give them a go courtesy of the link provided by Spot.

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: Titanium Strings - Guitar/Lute/Dulcimer/
From: Spot
Date: 15 Apr 04 - 04:13 AM

Hello all...seems like I succeded with String link...amazin!!! Just like the strings themselves!!

               Regards to all...Spot

Subject: RE: Titanium Strings - Guitar/Lute/Dulcimer/
From: Spot
Date: 15 Apr 04 - 11:46 AM

Ermmm...looks like it wasnt me who fixed site link after all....!! Thanks to he who did ...got to do some learning next...Cheers Mick..


                      Regards to all...Spot

Subject: RE: Titanium Strings - Guitar/Lute/Dulcimer/
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 15 Apr 04 - 02:20 PM

I envisage three likely problems (four if you play mediums, as I do on one guitar, because these new toys don't come at medium tension, five if you count something the site does discuss).

1. The energy in a vibrating string is a product of mass and tension. So these strings may turn out to be quieter.

2. Most of the sound of a guitar comes from the vibrating top. Lower tension, less vibration of the top, less sound. Experience teaches that the character of the sound of a guitar is also partly dependent on the string tension - probably for the same reason. Luthiers sometimes call this "making the top work". So the guitar will likely be quieter and different sounding with these strings.

3. The lower stiffness means that the end correction will differ. The end correction is the distance that you theoretically have to move the theoretical pivot point of the string, the theoretical node (at both the saddle and nut), in order to make a mathematical model of how the string works. The end correction is physically allowed for in, say, "B" compensated saddles and the split angled saddlepieces in Takemines. So the intonation of the guitar may no longer be correct using these strings.

4. No mediums, and no heavies for people who play D or C tunings.

5. The lower stiffness will, as the site points out, in theory permit a greater range of harmonics. Good or maybe good (sound is so subjective) if you want your guitar to sound brighter and janglier. Not if you don't. So, just fantasising for a minute, if you made a set of these things with a polyweb coating on, you might damp off these extra vibrations, and get a string that sounded just like a guitar string, and was twice as corrosion proof.

Subject: RE: Titanium Strings - Guitar/Lute/Dulcimer/
From: Mooh
Date: 15 Apr 04 - 02:21 PM

This is a new idea to me too. I just called my local (kinda a mom'n'pop shop) string supplier and the guy on the phone hadn't ever heard of them either. I'm curious though, so I'll look in the big city on the weekend. Thanks for the heads up.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Titanium Strings - Guitar/Lute/Dulcimer/
From: Spot
Date: 15 Apr 04 - 04:46 PM

Richard..
             That was a hell of a heap of theory mate....!!!
From my point of wiew, I'll try to respond to your suggestions..

    1st - My guitar does not sound quieter. If anything a tad louder and for longer..... My guitars a Lowden 032.

    2nd - My 'top' feels alive and , if sound is different, then for me its better...louder and more sustain.

    3rd - Too theoretical, therefore for me, not relevant.I have a split saddle and experience no intonation probs.
   
   
    4th - My strings are Rohrtech med tension. whether that conforms to your conception of medium, I cant say and, to be fair, I dont use alt tunings so I cant comment on that one...

    5th - You got some bloody queer fantasies!!(HEE-HEE!)

          I re-iterate..Mine have been hard gigged for 10weeks and show absolutely no sign of deterioration whatsoever...!!! And ,no I dont work for Rohrtech!!!

          All I can say is ..get some, try em and report back when youve worn em out (2005??).
                      Interesting discussion here....

                        Regards to all....Spot

Subject: RE: Titanium Strings - Guitar/Lute/Dulcimer/
From: Grab
Date: 16 Apr 04 - 12:01 PM

Spot, I'm also on an O32 (cracking guitar eh? :-) The guys on the Cult of Lowden recommended Newtone strings which I've been using for a little while now. They don't last long but they're cheap, and they've got a more "rich" sound with more overtones. Have you tried Newtones before, and if so, how do they compare to these titanium ones?

Graham.

Subject: RE: Titanium Strings - Guitar/Lute/Dulcimer/
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 16 Apr 04 - 01:28 PM

I've got Newtones on my O25, special set for Open 'C' tuning, and they're excellent. A guy I know uses standard Newtones on his O32 for Standard and drop-D tunings and he swears by them. He says thay last longer than D'Addarios but not as long as Elixirs.

Subject: RE: Titanium Strings - Guitar/Lute/Dulcimer/
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 17 Apr 04 - 03:18 AM

A very good guitarist (and guitar fettler) I know has recently taken up Newtones, and on his range of Martins the Newtones are audibly superior (to both his ears and mine) to Martins or D'Addarios. He hates Elixirs, I like them. He has acid fingers and was finding D'Addarios lasting about a week or less, but is finding the Newtones lasting almost three times as long, although then going "off" very suddenly, almost overnight.

I showed him the site for these titaniums and when he gets back from a short holiday he may well try them. If I hear more,I will report back.

Subject: RE: Titanium Strings - Guitar/Lute/Dulcimer/
From: Spot
Date: 17 Apr 04 - 05:09 PM

Grab....Only ever 'sorta' heard of Newtone strings...(Newtownards?)Hoping not to sound snobbish, I tend to shy away from cheapo things, having been bitten before...!! On your recommendation I'll look for them in a different light.Will report back if ever I wear Rohrtechs out!!!   032.. oh my!! I wouldnt sell mine ever..I want it to go my son and my son's sons etc.etc...I believe it will..!! Fabulous piece of kit!

   Regards to all ...Spot (still missin t'auld doggy, dreadfully!!)

Subject: RE: Titanium Strings - Guitar/Lute/Dulcimer/
From: mooman
Date: 17 Apr 04 - 05:27 PM

Dear Spot,

Where I don't or can't use use Elixirs (e.g. non-"standard" instruments), I use Newtones. They're made in Derbyshire, England by hand by one Malcolm Newton (from whence "Newtone") and they are excellent strings, available in both standard sets and "any custom gauge set you want". I can personally endorse them as well.

But I will still be trying the Rohrtechs in due course...!

Peace

moo