The Right Strings For Your Classical Guitar with Philippe Bertaud

Hey Folks!

That is like the question I get all the time:- Philippe, what strings do you put on your guitar?and, I know when I look in your eyes that you guys had… and maybe still have if you did not read this article yet, the same issue(s) I had. Finding the right strings! Honestly, if you get into a store and look at the brands, you really start feeling woozy, and then you start to try one set, and another, and another… and arrive on my blog – or come to one of my clinic – and anxiously ask me about strings.

Because I tried them all, and there is not a week that I do not receive a set from a string company. Some are okay… the first days of their life but, like the butterflies, they do not last a long time. Others – let’s be honest – most of the brands have intonation issues… you have to run to the store to buy other 1st or 3rd strings (no kidding! I live in Texas and the time I get to the store it’s pitch dark, that’s how far it is!!!) and you realize you have to go back to the store because the new ones you get still have intonation problems… Other sets have they basses dead in 2 or 3 days… or break.Seriously: do you want me to break in string during a show? I tour and play a lot and want to have reliable strings! And y’all know I bang the guitar and take all the guts out of the poor thing.

You never see me re-tuning the guitar when I perform (if you saw me, it’s because I was about to play open tuning… or it was when I did not have Alhambra Guitar… just buy the right stuffs guys) It’s not because I’m deaf … neither because I’m blond… it’s because the strings I use stay in tune, never break, last forever… are cheap and American. Read that well coming from a Frenchy: they are MADE IN ZE USA! Okay… Should I share more about the spirit? You want me to tell you I fence my Texas ranch with those strings?

So, what is the mystery? Well, I went to Africa to meet a wizard in Zambia and he gave me the answer… are you ready?

The basses are round and rich because they use the best wire, the highest quality. Not the cheap one that will rust in no time. Also for the "EXP" basses, they put the coating ON the wire, not just on the strings. See? Have you tried the other ones? The ones that have been made the "fast way"? Just the coating sprayed on the whole string... and what happenend after that? It's peeling off!!! Not only it looks nasty, like if your guitar contracted leprosy - or you which is worst! - and because of the peeling-off-fast-spayed-coating... your strings buzzes. Hey, you know what I'm talking about.

But not the strings I use... Did you hear my guitar buzzing? Peeling? Strings shredding away? Mais non!

I go great basses strings! The "Must", the "Best". They got the sustain you are looking for and the harmonic support.
What am I talking about?
- Go to the end of the concert hall next time you attend a classical guitar recital… you barely hear the basses. They are weak. But not the one I use!

And the trebles... no intonation issues. Why? Because they want to be so perfect they measure each string two hundred times.
How many times? 200 – TWO HUNDRED TIMES, dos cientos, zwei hundert, δύο εκατό!!! 200 times!
Those guys are so crazy about precision, they measure EACH string 200 times. It’s not only for fun .. or because they have time to kill… It’s because they have a vision:- They want to make the best products ever because they take pride into what they do.- One dissatisfied player will be talking to 8 people about how the strings caused them problems and they will talk to others who will talk to others… and so forth.

First, to measure the strings with such precision, they thought about hiring a bunch of elves, fairies and dwarves from the "Enchanted Forest" but, over the past 30 years, guitar strings have benefited from a wealth of engineering and manufacturing improvements and the brand I use are now made by utilizing automated computer-controlled winding machines. The result has been unprecedented quality and value for the guitarists. The trebles are sorted by a sophisticated computer-controlled laser machine which performs diameter/tension measurements and quality checks to insure precise intonation. They want to make you satisfied… And they are.

What do I play?The only real strings for pro… D’Addario.

I use the Pro-Arte and also, on my spruce top guitar the Composites to give my guitar a warm "touch".

D’Addario Composite wound strings exclusively feature Zyex(R) multi-filament stranded core material, which delivers gut-like tone with extremely long life and consistency. The trebles come with two 3rd strings, one from the regular Pro Arte line (clear nylon) and one made from composite polymer (coffee colored) which has a brighter tone (the 1st and 2nd are also from the regular Pro Arte line).

Cheers!

-Philippe

www.philippebertaud.com

EXP Strings

Fresh strings. They feel great, they play great, they sound great...eventually. As much as I love a new set of wires for my guitars, it does take a bit of break-in time to get them sounding the way I want...bright, but not too bright, fat but not dull. A regular set of non-coated strings need a few hours or days (depending on your willingness to stretch and play them) before they settle in to a tone that lasts a good while until they gradually wear out.

That's the way it has always been, and most folks are fine with that. I stretch strings and play guitars to break them in every day for a living, no problem. But ever since the EXP strings became available, I have been skipping the break-in period on my own acoustics and using the EXP sets as soon as they are strung up and tuned. The coating serves two purposes for me: 1) It offers protection against corrosion and fret wear and 2)It starts out sounding like a broken-in set and stays there for a long, long time.

This is especially true in a recording situation. The coated strings seems to minimize the squeaky hand position shifts that are emphasized on a new set of regular strings. The overt brightness is gone, letting you string your guitar and put a mic in front of it immediately. Not to say the coated strings are duller or less responsive...more like a precision EQ that notches out the harsher sounds and lets the chime ring through.

I've found that guitars with EXP strings are easier to record and give you more mic options, since the super top end is not as present. Even a bright mic like a C-414 can be used without rolling any EQ off. The best part is that I can leave a set on for weeks at a time and they still sound great. Check out the EXP coated strings from D'Addario...you just might find the tone you've been searching for...yours.

Strings & Pedalboards with Bryan Beller of DETHKLOK!!!

Hey there. I just came around to thinking that, since I’m about to go out on tour with the most brutal metal band ever not to actually exist – that being Dethklok, of course - this would be a good a time as any to write a blog post about some of the D’addario and Planet Waves stuff I’m using to pull it off.

When it comes to strings, first and foremost I’m a ProSteels guy. I just really dig D’addario’s brightest stainless steel strings, always have. My gauges are pretty standard: 45-65-85-105, and a 130 tapered-core B for my main axe, a Mike Lull Custom 5-string. But my job on tour with Dethklok isn’t to make me sound good, it’s to make William Murderface sound good. Let me explain.

If you’re hip to the show Metalocalypse (that’s the actual name of the show on Cartoon Network from which Dethklok was spawned), you’ll notice that ol’ Murderface plays a 5-string Thunderbird-style bass. So Mike Lull made me one of their T-Basses, and unlike the original that inspired it, it plays and sounds like a dream – which is key for pulling off those fast, low, chunky DethRiffs. Only problem is, there’s no 5-string model. So I’m playing a 4-string masquerading as a 5-string, and I’m accomplishing that by tuning the whole thing down a major third to C-F-Bb-Eb. (I actually look at it as a 5-string tuned up a half-step and missing the top string, believe it or not.) And for strings, I’m using 65-85-105-130 Pro Steels, with the 130 being a non-taper core in this case. I’m been practicing on it, and it’s, well, brutal. Check it out:

So that’s the instrument/strings end of the deal. But there’s also what’s going on with my pedalboard. I’ve been using the same trusty wood-and-velcro board for the past 10 years, and it’s served me well. However, there’s nothing like a major tour to expose the weaknesses in any gear you have, and this board of mine has been long in the tooth for the last two years at least. Time to upgrade.

I went out and got a Pedaltrain top-of-the-line board frame and started arranging pedals on it. For years I’ve seen techs do this while I instructed them how I wanted it, but once I got my hands on the Planet Waves cable kits (and the ability to make my own custom-length cables without having to solder anything), I began harboring secret fantasies of being able to do it myself. This was my chance. I sat down a few nights ago and got to work.

And just 48 hours later, behold:

Seriously, I can’t tell you how much fun it was to sit there, measure and cut the cables exactly the way I wanted them, test them out and hear them work, and then install them onto the board. (Pedaltrains are built so that you can run the cables under the boards, which keeps the cables clean and out of sight. Trust me, there’s a lot of cables under that board.) Call me a gear geek, but I really got off on it. In the end of the day, it was empowering to be able to do it all myself, exactly the way I wanted, and especially to be able to make the final few changes on my own once I saw it all together.

Dethklok will be touring this fall on a four-band all-metal bill, with High On Fire, Converge, and the mighty Mastodon (!). It’s an amazing show – we play the music live, while at the same time our drummer Gene Hoglan (Strapping Young Lad, Death, Dark Angel) is playing to a click that’s sync’d up to a huge video screen of the cartoon characters banging their heads in animation custom-made for the tour. You can check out the dates on my MySpace profile page at www.myspace.com/bryanbeller, and I’ll be posting on Twitter throughout the tour (@bryanbeller). The 4-string T-Bass and the new pedalboard will be along for the ride.

Also, I should mention that Steve Vai has a new DVD called Where The Wild Things Are coming out on September 29, compiled from his String Theories tour I was on back in 2007. The Pro Steels on my main axe got quite the workout on that tour (as did the Half-Rounds I used on my Mike Lull 5-string fretless, same gauges: 45-65-85-105-130) and I was very pleased to know that Steve dug the recorded sound of them, because he only spent two years mixing and editing that footage and the fewer hassles he had the better. J If you want to check out a 7-minute YouTube trailer of the DVD, just click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgObLPOUPVA .

That’s it for now. Thanks to everyone at D’Addario and Planet Waves for the killer products, and for letting me post here, and hope to see you out on the road this fall!

Yours ,
BB

The String Incident

So, you’ve never changed strings on a certain instrument. Let’s say it is bouzouki.
It is the same principle as a mandolin and you have changed the strings on many mandolins for world renowned players. The bouzouki has eight strings, four pairs tuned G/D/A/E, same loop end strings as a mandolin, just a longer scale. The bottom two strings tune to the same note, (G/D), the first one in a lower register, that’s the only difference. The top two (A/E) are tuned in unison, just like a mandolin. The bridge is exactly like a mandolin’s. No problem.

So what if you’re working on one of the most popular television shows and the band is performing live. And the artist is extremely well known and even started her career on that same very popular television show. You can do this. You are a professional.

You talk to the techs on the set; they let you use their work station. They’ve even got some strings for you to use, although they’re not D’Addarios. You take one set of each string off at a time because it has a floating bridge. You even save the old strings in case something happens, play it safe. Everything goes smooth. Tuning each set of strings as you put them on. You stretch the strings when done. Play a few chords, sounds about right. Feeling good, you set the instrument on the riser and tune the rest of the instruments, electric guitars and bass.

Two hours go by. The call time has been pushed back. The eleven forty five rehearsal and blocking now turns into a one thirty call. You check the tuning on all instruments. You notice that the intervals on the bottom strings of the bouzouki are drastically different. The G strings sounds good, but the lower D string is two octaves below the high string. That can not be right, the two strings need to be matching. You got time, so you decide to tune the D string up’ like a mandolin. It feels tight, but a mandolin is very taut, so you keep turning. The freaking non D’Addario string breaks! Mind racing you remember you saved the old strings. You just threw them in the garbage when you knew you had it down. You head back to the tuning station as your tuner crashes to the ground because you forgot to unplug it.

After digging out the matching string, which by the way, is a nickel wound .022 gauge, you realize that the last person to change strings used the single wrap method and there is barely enough string to wrap around the tuner peg. Being very careful you try to put it back on, only to have the string break right at the tuner. Just then the production manager comes up to tell you that the producers of the very popular television show have decided to record the rehearsal and use the play back for broadcast. I did tell you that is a live television show, not taped. The show order is very tight and there won’t be time to set up the band to play live. The singer will sing over the taped rehearsal. So, instead having five hours to find a string you have…….

Remember this is a .022 nickel wound loop end string. Of course the techs do not have one. You ask the player if he happens to have another set. Of course not. You find the production office and send a runner out to find the string. Did I mention this was in Los Angeles? Every one is very helpful, they make phone calls, find the nearest music store. Should be back in an hour, depending on traffic.

In the mean time you search through the strings at the tech station and find three .025 gauge nickel wound strings. You try to twist the ball end so you can loop the string through the clasps on the bridge. When you twist the string to get the ball out the string comes apart. You try twice just to make sure. You leave the instrument on the tuning station waiting for the runner to return. He calls on your cell to inform you that Sam Ash says bouzouki strings are special order only. They could have it in three days. You think ‘There has to be a Greek music store somewhere in the Los Angeles area?’ It’s called grasping for straws.

The producers call for the band. The player comes to check on the progress. He tells you need to put something on there because they are getting ready to RECORD! Oh, you know! After you place the risers and plug in the rest of the band you run back to the tuning station, looking around in desperation you spy a set of D’Addario strings, turning over the package you see there is a .022 phosphor bronze ball end string in the set. Quickly tear open the package, mind going a million miles an hour, trying to figure out how you are going to put the string on. Light bulb goes on; you put the end of the string through the ball thereby creating a loop. It holds; you start to tune, the player comes and grabs the instrument, you follow him back to the stage where they are now getting drum sounds. He is tuning, you notice that he is lowering the G string; a lot. You ask how he is tuning? Not looking at you he says, “It’s the same as a mandolin.” He is not smiling.

You answer, “I know, trust me, I know.” Then it hits you! You had the lower G string an octave too high, the D string was right. All you had to do was lower the G string. The string holds. They keep the third take for broadcast. The player relaxes, hands you the bouzouki, and actually smiles. Not sure how many times you have apologized, you say you are sorry again just to make sure he hears. In fact you would like to yell out to the hundred people there that you are sorry, but they wouldn’t know what the hell you are talking about, so you put the instrument back on the riser. The show goes on. First thing you do when all the gear is packed away is call your buddy at D’Addario and order a box of J97 bouzouki strings.
Let me count the ways in which I could have avoided the string incident;

• First, since I had never changed strings on a bouzouki I could have asked the musician to help me. Or, at least, asked for advice.

• Second, I should have listened more carefully to the intervals between strings before I took off each pair. Important detail. Even though it was principally the same as a mandolin, it was NOT a mandolin.

• Third, once I got the strings on and tuned it I should have taken it to the musician to make sure it was correct. How obvious is that!

• Fourth, because I had been sitting around being bored, waiting for the call time, I should have left it alone instead of trying to change something that I had done two hours earlier. Remember, I did not fool with it until after the first call time had passed.

If I had followed any one of the above, I would not be sitting here typing this story.

Was there anything I did right? I did not panic! Lesson(s) learned: Listen! Don’t take your eyes off the ball! Keep your head, and above all, ask for help when you are not 100 % sure. Also, for me, it finally settled the single wrap vs. a three wrap string method. I always like to wrap the strings three times around the peg to get nice stretching. I believe the string will hold a better tune. Lastly; always carry spare D’Addario strings no matter what the instrument is! Cheers!

Richard Gilewitz - New Zealand Clinic Tour

Richard Gilewitz here from the other side of the planet to talk about the great Planet Wave products and D'Addario Strings as I travel through the entire country of New Zealand for my 5th tour in 8 years.

Currently as of this writing I am midway through the tour and just about to finish up on the South Island. Not exactly looking forward to the 3 hour ferry ride to the North Island this weekend (although it is a beautiful trip) since I was apparently born without proper sea legs. Nothing a bag of chicken flavored potato chips and ginger beer won't cure!

Had a fantastic time during the first half of the trip, apparently no issues with jet lag (this time) and have had many opportunities to demo a multitude of great products.

Trevor Daley at MusicWorks in Invercargill (the furthest city south in the world - Antarctica is next spot down) did a bang up job promoting the concert/seminar event drawing a crowd of well over 110 folks and the hottest giveaway 'swag' items for the evening were the Planet Waves Humidifier, 3 phase guitar polishes, SOS tuners, and EXP D'Áddario Strings.

Several musicians in the audience also approached me after the event and appeared to be utterly fascinated with the circuit breaker cable as well as my stated 'string life' mentioned during my performance.

Trevor was also kind enough to change my strings on my Breedlove Signature 6 string model and was grateful for the use of my Planet Wave Peg Winder complete with the string cutting feature.

During my MusicWorks mini-GillaCamp 'hands on' workshop the following night in Gore, Trevor's friend, Peter Cairns was kind enough to host the event drawing 18 attendees for the evening. Until I pulled out my Planet Wave Multi Function Tuner/Metronome the group sounded like a bag of cats when playing together. Once I aligned their timing with the help of the metronome the room sounded like a symphony. Well, almost.

Looking forward to sharing the great products DÁddario was so kind to send for the trip as I travel north ... and really looking forward to those Chicken Chips.

Gillacamp website:http://www.richardgilewitz.com/gillacamp.html

Pro Guitar Tech Tom Spaulding - Scale Length and String Tone

Tom Spaulding is a Nashville based guitarist, producer/engineer, D’Addario AR rep, pro touring guitar tech. Has worked with artists ranging from Keith Urban & Tom Hamilton of Aerosmith, to LeAnn Rimes & Lee Roy Parnell.

One of the interesting things about being a guitar tech is accommodating the different preferences of the various guitar players I work for. As a player myself, I have my own ideas about what sounds good, feels good, etc. Every guitar player I have tech'd for has different needs and methods to achieve their tone.

My string gauge choices are matched to my actual playing technique...I have a rather heavy right hand and tend to favor heavier gauges than some folks. As a kid, I grew up reading the Guitar Player magazine interviews and it seemed like everybody was playing .009 of .010 gauge electric strings. Country chicken-picker Albert Lee was playing .008's. Then along came Stevie Ray Vaughan and his legendary .013 E string...tuned down a half-step, of course. I think that revelation got players into trying heavier gauges and realizing that a properly tensioned set of .011s on a Gibson or .010's on a Fender felt just fine and the tonal increase was substantial.

The scale length of a guitar has a lot to do with the tone of your instrument. Gibson guitars typically have a 24 5/8ths" scale length, while most Fenders have a 25 1/2" scale (D’Addario calculates all string tensions at this scale) . The shorter scale of the Gibson helps define the sound of a typical Les Paul, round, warm lows and mids, a smooth top end. The Fender Strat or Tele has a twangy low end, punchier mids and a sparkly top end. While accentuated by body and neck material, the fundamentals, harmonics and partials created (and suppressed) with these scale lengths give us the foundation of the tone of the guitar. With these basic facts in mind, you can use different gauges of strings and different alloys to craft a tone from your instrument, played with your hands through your amp.

I have recently been stringing some guitars for Chris Rodriguez (Keith Urban) tour with D'Addario EPN115 Pure Nickel strings, .011 gauge. I use them on a Gibson Les Paul Junior (with stop bar tailpiece) and a Les Paul Deluxe. The softer feel and warmer tone of pure nickel offset the brightness of the P-90 in the Junior and the mini-humbuckers in the Deluxe. The solid mahogany SG gets EXL115 nickel wound stings...a bit brighter and a good match for the darker tone of mahogany. The Fender Tele (with B-Bender) gets a set of EXL115s as well, even though it is tuned up a half-step. The extra tension and heavier gauge help keep the mechanical bender in tune, in our experience. He has two Strats, one with a humbucker in the bridge that gets played with an E-bow a times, and an Eric Johnson signature model tuned to drop D. The humbucker Strat gets EXL115s, since using the E-bow entails the neck pickup with the tone rolled off. A thicker string with a brighter tone balances out the muffling effect of that, and gives the note more of a bowed sound...like a bit of rosin on a viola or cello. The EJ Strat gets EPN115 Pure Nickel strings, .011 gauge, because that's what it was built for. The maple neck and lightweight body, combined with vintage-style pickups has plenty of sparkle, the nickel keeps that from getting too harsh and biting.

Everybody's ears and hands are different and what works for me or my client's needs may not be the answer for you. Some players like to compensate different scale length guitars with different gauges of strings in order to even out the playing tension between them. For example… if you use 10s on a Fender scale guitar, you might try 10.5s or 11s on a Gibson scale. While this does not always perfectly balance the feel between the two guitars, it gets you in the ball park.

After a bit of experimentation, you can dial in a sound and feel that's right for your style, through your rig. Additionally, trying different alloys (Pure Nickel vs. Nickel Plated Steel vs. Stainless Steel, etc.) and matching bright strings to dark guitars and vice versa in combination with heavier/lighter gauges can open up your ears and get you closer to your perfect tone.

For further study, luthier Ralph Novak has an interesting article here: http://www.novaxguitars.com/Pages/Techarticle_frame.html

Click here to check out some D'Addario and Planet Waves videos with Tom Spaulding!

Here are some more D'Addario links on Scale length and String Tension:

String Tension 101

String Tension Guide

String Tension 101: Open tunings, scale length variety and more...

Hey everyone, for this week's blog I've chosen a subject that is one of the most requested and least understood... String Tension. Okay, okay... not the most exciting stuff, but is pretty cool if you're into drop/alternate tunings or want to explore trying different string gauges with different scale instruments, for example.

D'Addario has always openly shared string pitch/tension/alloy information with the public. In 1999 we published the first known String Tension Guide, which has grown to be the most popular download from the web site. We often get questions related to the tension guide and how it works. In some ways, it's very simple, but can get as complicated as you need with detailed scientific formulas to determining very specific results. To assist with sorting through the potentially intimidating information, I've written a String Tension 101 article, which helps describe the logic and explains how to effectively use the content contained in the guide. The link is attached above.

Also, while we are on the topic of strings, check out our most popular videos on proper stringing techniques hosted by master luthier and published author, John LeVan.

I hope this information is helpful and easy to understand, but if you have any questions, post away. We have acoustical engineers and string design experts on hand to answer your toughest questions. Enjoy! Brian