There is so frigging much I do NOT know about guitars. There is constant learning going on. Constant. My range of not knowing is broad and deep. If my lack of knowledge were knowledge I would be a wise human sitting cross legged on some cloudy mountaintop greeting the hoard of acolytes waiting in line to experience the utter wisdomfullness of me. I could go on and on about what I don't know but for this brief series of sentences I thought I would concentrate on what I don't know about guitar strings. When I was a LAD (Lacking Any Depth) I would keep strings on forever and when I bought them I would carefully avoid any sort of thought of gauge or content and just but by price or coolness of the label. (I now ponder if that was how I picked female companions.) I have learned over the years that there are some serious guitarists who don't change strings that often at all. A few days ago I decided to take a walk to my local Sam Ash in the cool, cool, cool of a winter's evening. I need the exercise as I have been ILL for some months and spent that dedicated time not doing very much of anything but feeling like shit. The last statement taking on a whole new dimension because I have Crohn's Disease. The avowed purpose of the hike was to obtain some lightweight guitar strings. By that I mean electric guitar strings because it seems that acoustic strings bottom out at 10's on the first E. This line of experimentation was brought about by an old Ya Ma Ha I have. It is an F 75 made in Japan. This is a good thing. I enjoy playing it because it is so easy to p0ay and I had concluded that was due to the lightweight gauge strings that were on it when I acquired it. I have not changed them. The question was how light? Hell if I know. But I figured that one step down ( 9 on the first E) would be a place to start. I bought two packs. A Dunlop and a d'addario both of the same gauge. (I will mention here a fact obvious to many....not all string manufacturers are the same. Really? you say.) I walked home feeling quite dedicated to the healing process and went upstairs to the "guitar" room and proceeded to decide which guitar would be the center of the experiment. I inhaled and reached for my Guild DCE-1. A magnificent guitar seriously neglected by me because it sounded a little thumpy. I removed the old strings and took the opportunity of having a destringed guitar to oil and clean it. Then I began to install the new strings. I chose the Dunlop because the guy in the store liked them and as they were only $3.99. In the process the neglected Westerly masterpiece used the newly installed strings to puncture me a few times. As the finish is matte I am convinced it wanted to ingest my hemoglobin as I dripped small droplets on the top of the guitar. Don't neglect your guitars ladies and gents. They don't take it lightly. As you probably know tuning new strings is a round and round process. Start one of the bracket E's and work your way up or down and then start over because the string you started on is already out of tune. Once done with the first circuit a few more are called for as the strings stretch and slip.Finally the strings seemed content to rest where they are supposed to rest and I began to play. It sounded great. GREAT!!!!! I couldn't put the Guild down. It was delightful to hear. Of course that was for me. I asked Beth for her opinion and she said it sounded just fine. That is always one of the "problems". You are in front of the guitar and I am above it and behind the soundhole. So even though I may be just delighted you might not be. Encouraged by my success I moved on to a Peavey LANDOLA dread from Finland that I have. I have removed the Peavey name from the well designed headstock. The top is tight spruce and the back and sides are mahogany. The neck is maple. This is one sweet looking guitar. I had trouble with the strings before. A buzz somewhere and I was worried that a lighter gauge would start the whole insect thing again. I removed the old strings and, once again, took the opportunity to clean and oil. I then installed the d-addario lightweights and, of course, once again was attacked by another guitar that felt neglected. Afterwards the sound was not as bright as the Guild. Guitars, being complex creatures, can have all sorts of variable so it might be the strings and it might be the wood and it might be the depth and it might be........ I suspect the strings. But what do I know. I will get more Dunlops and see what happens. However, it sounded dandy this morning before I went to work so who knows. Next lightweights strings on an EKO 12 string prior to selling it. Let's see how that turns out.
