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Strange sounds from new strings. What gives?

ChiefbigeasyChiefbigeasy New Orleans, LA✭✭✭ Dupont MDC 50; The Loar LH6, AJL Silent Guitar
Just put on a new set of La bella silk and steels on my new guitar. I am in the experimenting phase again and I heard some good things about them. Unfortunately, the G string broke immediately. The A string plucked open sounds strange: there are weird harmonics coming from it almost as if it were a dead string or buzzing someplace. A few days later, the open E string has a similar sound: strange harmonics. The sound is most prevalent on the open plucked A and now low E strings. I checked to make sure of the strings were sitting saddled correctly. Anybody ever have problems like this with strings, in particular, La bella silk and steels? I used a G from a new pack of Lenzner Fisoma strings. I'm about to remove the D A and low E strings and replace them as well. The high E and B strings sound fine.

Had a set of Bossets on there after changing from some Argentines. The Bossets sounded very nice for a long time, a little shimmering but pleasantly so, then they settled down after a while. The problem is, they seemed a little soft for all metal strings. By soft I refer to the toughness of the outer wraps of the string. The strings seems to show fret wear or indentations at almost every fret on the string. I was afraid that after a while the wraps would deteriorate and the string would fall apart.

The rationale behind this change to silk and steel is an attempt to add a little bit more warmth and bottom to my petite bouche guitar. Thought this might be a good approach based on reading other reviews of silk and steels.

Thoughts?

Comments

  • edited February 2015 Posts: 4,730
    Hmmm, that's definitely not my experience with LaBella, except the G breakage problem which I solved by ordering a 10 pack through Michael. It would last me at least a week though.

    But other than that on my guitar and the reason I liked them so much is there was no overtones at all, just straight fundamental notes and a very solid bass.
    I started using Lenzer Fisoma lately and I'm enjoying some pleasant overtones I get with these.
    Funny how different guitars react to different strings, John ( @pickitjohn ) tried LaBella and wasn't crazy about them either.

    I guess it could be that different strings change the set up just enough where things start to get out of wack?

    More warmth and bottom was exactly my reason to use LaBella and it worked great.
    Now after my guitar had a change of fretboard from ebony to rosewood I'm finding that regular silvered strings work great to, at least these Lenzer Fisoma.
    Every note wants to go somewhere-Kurt Rosenwinkel
  • DragonPLDragonPL Maryland✭✭ Dupont MD 50-XL (Favino), Michael Dunn Stardust, Castelluccia Tears, Yunzhi gypsy jazz guitar, Gitane DG-320, DG-250M and DG-250
    Posts: 170
    Are they ball or loop end? This happened to me on the Castallucia with the D'Addarios, the ball ends were vibrating against the tailpiece string holders and creating extra phonics. I either use loops ends or only Argentine strings which with the ball end don't vibrate like the D'Addarios.....
  • ChiefbigeasyChiefbigeasy New Orleans, LA✭✭✭ Dupont MDC 50; The Loar LH6, AJL Silent Guitar
    Posts: 335
    The Labellas are loop end.
  • pickitjohnpickitjohn South Texas Corpus, San Antonio, AustinVirtuoso Patenotte 260
    edited February 2015 Posts: 936
    @Chiefbigeasy
    Just trying to get the full picture.
    Did you change strings one at a time?
    Did you do any adjustment to the Bridge?
    If you mute between bridge and tailpiece is it better?
    I would try also putting some pressure on the tailpiece while striking the problem strings.
    Easy enough to try another A string.
    Good Luck, i have placed a leather strip under my Tailpiece to quiet down over-rings and Harmonics. It Helped.
  • ChiefbigeasyChiefbigeasy New Orleans, LA✭✭✭ Dupont MDC 50; The Loar LH6, AJL Silent Guitar
    Posts: 335

    I switched out the LaBella's for the Lenzner Fisoma silk and steel wound strings, and the problem that I described went away. (I left the LaBella plain strings on; they sound fine.) The Lenzner Fisomas sounds fantastic.

    Before I did, I did check the bridge and the way the strings were settled on the bridge; everything seemed fine. I checked behind the bridge as well and at the head. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

    Can't say I know what was going on, but the switch did the trick.
  • sadowsadow ✭✭ Altamira M30 Antique
    Posts: 57
    Sometimes you just get a bum string.
  • Send the strings to LaBella with your observations and see what happens.
    The Magic really starts to happen when you can play it with your eyes closed
  • You just didn't care for the Argentines, Adolph? I haven't tried many brands but keep coming back to them.
  • ChiefbigeasyChiefbigeasy New Orleans, LA✭✭✭ Dupont MDC 50; The Loar LH6, AJL Silent Guitar
    Posts: 335
    Can't say that I've been a big fan of the Argentine strings. Every time I've had it set on, I've always move on to something else.

    In the case of this guitar, as I mentioned, the guitar is new to me and I'm in the experimenting with string and pics phase to get the sound that I want. For now, the lens Lenzner Fisoma silk and steels were an immediate improvement toward slightly warmer and fuller sound. I'm also using the Wegen Big City pick 2.2 mm with Monster Grip little silicone bumpy grip stickums attached to either side of the pick. This seems to be the winning formula for the moment.

    Thanks for the suggestion of pursuing the problem with LaBella, and for all the other ideas and observations.
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