Guitar Strings

boohbah said:

Wound up strings

There are several varieties of wound up strings.

Roundwound

The simplest strings are roundwound. They have either a round core or a hex (hexagonal) core inside, and round wire wound in a tight spiral around it. Such strings are usually simple to manufacture and, thus, are usually the least expensive. There are several drawbacks, however:

• Roundwound strings have a bumpy surface profile (the bumps of the winding) that can produce friction when in contact with the player's fingertips. This causes squeaking sounds when the player's fingers slide over the strings. Some artists use this sound creatively.
• A non-flat, high-friction surface profile may hasten fingerboard and fret wear.
• When the core is round, the winding is not secured to the core and can rotate freely around it, especially if the winding is damaged after use.
  

Flatwound

Flatwound strings also have either a round or a hex core. However, the winding wire has a rounded square cross-section that has a shallower profile (in cross-section) when tightly wound. This makes for more comfortable playing, and decreased wear for frets and fretboards (this makes them a popular choice for fretless instruments). Squeaking sounds due to fingers sliding along the strings are also decreased significantly. Flatwound strings also have a longer playable life because of fewer and smaller grooves for dirt and oil to build up in.
On the other hand, players frequently cite that flatwound strings produce a less bright sound when compared to roundwounds. Flatwounds also usually cost more than roundwounds; less demand means less production and higher overhead costs; manufacturing is also more difficult as precise alignment of the flat sides of the winding must be maintained (some rotation of the winding on roundwound strings is acceptable).[1][2]


Halfwound, ground wound, pressure wound

Halfwound strings, ground wound strings or pressure wound strings are a cross between roundwound and flatwound. Such strings are usually made by winding round wire around a round or hex core first, then polishing, grinding (thus the name, ground wound) or pressing the exterior part of the winding until it is practically flat. This results in the flat, comfortable playing feel of flatwounds, along with less squeaking, with a brightness generally between roundwounds and flatwounds. The polishing process removes almost half of the winding wire's mass, thus, to compensate for it, manufacturers use winding wire of a heavier gauge. Because of the extra manufacturing process involved they are normally more expensive than roundwounds, but less than flatwounds.

Hexcore

Hexcore strings are composed of regular hexagonal core and a tight (usually round) winding. It prevents the winding from slipping around the core - a problem usually associated with round core strings. The hexagonal cross-section of the core provide pressure points that help secure the winding around the core better, to prevent unwanted slipping and subsequent rotation.
Metal strings offer a unique problem, as they are susceptible to oxidation and corrosion. Wound strings that use metals such as brass or bronze in their winding eventually corrode as moisture and salts from the player's fingers build up oxides on the string. As a result, the string loses its brilliance over time.[5] To help solve this problem, some string manufacturers apply a metal plating or polymer coating to protect the string from corrosion, and some companies sell special lubricating oils which may slow down oxidation.


Steel forms the core for almost all metal strings. Certain keyboard instruments (e.g. harpsichord) and the Gaelic harp use brass. Other natural materials such as silk or gut, or synthetics such as nylon and kevlar are also used for string cores. (Steel used for strings, called music wire, is hardened and tempered.) Some violin E strings are gold-plated to improve tone quality.
Sheep and beef gut (called catgut, even though cats were never used for this purpose) were the original materials used as cores for strings for violin family instruments. Gut strings are subject to changes in humidity, which cause them go out of tune, and they also break more easily than other core materials. However, even after the introduction of metal and synthetic core materials, gut strings remain in widespread use because their warmer tone is preferable to some players. They are also desired in historically informed performances of music written before 1900. Modern gut strings are usually wrapped in metal. For players of plucked instruments, Nylgut strings are a recently developed alternative to gut strings - made from a plastic material, they offer almost exactly the same acoustic properties as gut strings, but with none of the problems of tuning caused by climatic variations. Many players of early music now use them in preference to genuine gut.
Silk was extensively used in China for traditional Chinese musical instruments until they were replaced by metal-nylon strings in the 1950s. Only the silk strings used for the guqin are still produced; the quality in ancient times was very high to the extent that there was a brand praised as 'ice strings' because of their smoothness and translucent appearance.[3]
At the present time, one of the most popular materials for the cores of violin, viola, cello, and double bass strings is stranded nylon, often sold under the trade name of Perlon.
Nylon guitar strings were first developed by Albert Augustine Strings in 1947.[4]
Today, most jazz and folk string players prefer steel-core strings for their faster response, low cost, and tuning stability, whereas most classical string players prefer synthetic-core strings (Perlon etc.) for their richer overtones and "warmer" tone. Most baroque string players still prefer gut-core strings.
hope this helps .

Thanks, I knew that you would eventually have something useful to say.

boohbah said:

seekermeister said:

I finally bought a tuner hoping to get the guitar ready to play, uses?

i believe the guitar you mention has a built in tuner

Not exactly, it does have a very limited amount of control...kind of like a mixer, to adjust certain levels, but not one that eliminates the need for manual tuning. Previously, I connected it to the computer, and used a software tuner, but since replacing my sound card, that no longer works. Thus I bought an inexpensive clip-on tuner. I haven't had enough time working with it to know if it is any good or not, because of the broken string.

Wishmaster,

Elixers are coated and make them last longer, but also feel more slick when sliding from fret to fret .. if that makes sense.
I would highly reccomend them as a good all round string, but they are more expensive than other brands. But they are worth it.

This answers a question in my mind, before I could ask it. I had wondered about them, primarily because they were more expensive than the other strings that I had eBayed. Is the slickness strictly due to the coating, or because the are not round wound? Do they produce any squeaking when sliding your fingers along them?

Sardonicus said:

I did some checking and the strings used are either the Ibanez Coated Classical Nylon Strings or the Ibanez Coated Acoustic Strings, depending upon the model.
Ibanez.com | Acoustic Guitars | AEG
AEG10 Nylon Replacement Strings - AE Series - Ibanez Forum

Hmm, I did buy this guitar used, but it had steel strings on it, not classical or acoustic. I have read that using the wrong type of strings may require having a professional to setup the guitar for them, so I don't know if I reverted to strings such as those, if I would have to do the same?