New String Day...

 

Working on that "World's Largest Ball of Twine" project, Jim?

No, but thanks for asking.  

When Joan vacated the kitchen island today while working on her latest quilt project, she said, "You've been talking about changing some guitar strings - now would be a good time."  She knew this because I picked up a set of strings last week when I got the drum set.

The guitar forum where I spend too much time had been discussing strings on carbon fiber guitars.  Well, that's nothing new, they're always discussing strings and guitar stuff... it's why these forums exist.  The discussion had turned to D'Addario Nickel Bronze strings, and several people said they were really liking the sound from these strings.  I tend to stay with what I know and like, which for guitar strings is Elixir Phosphor Bronze with Nanoweb Coating... yes, this post is descending into guitar nerd territory.

I have two Emeralds that are due for new strings, so I thought I'd try a set of the D'Addarios... after all, Emerald ships their guitars with D'Addario strings.  So, why not?

Oh, my goodness, I'll tell you why not: those strings sound "tinny" to my ear, and on my best acoustic sounding Emerald X20.  (Sigh)  Maybe they will mellow after they get some playing time?  If not, they will go away sooner rather than later.  Yeah, I know: not a big deal.  On the bright side: I did put a set of my favorite Elixirs on my X7.  Ahhh, those make my ears happy.  ;-)

Changing strings gives me a chance to thoroughly clean the fretboard... yeah, that gunk that builds up by the frets is a bit of the string coating mixed with dead skin.  And I wipe down my guitars after each playing session.  I can also polish up the top, especially in that area under the strings.  Jim at work...

The kitchen island is just a great height to work at.  It gives me the chance to check the neck alignment and action (yeah, these are carbon fiber - they don't move).  And then some couch time while I tune up each guitar and give it some playing to make sure it all sounds good.  (As in: no fret buzz, good articulation.)  These really are nice guitars... I like to do something nice for them once in a while, like new strings and a good polish.  :-)