Lenzner Fisoma Strings

Bohemian · December 2014

I have been using LaBella SIlk and Steel 710s since I discovered them in the 60's. They are on my 1959 Guild M-20, 1929 Stromberg-Voisenet and my 1959 Harmony all mahogany. They were my favorite strings on my 1939 Martin 00-17 and my 1946 Gibson J-45 Banner ( both were stolen).

I'll give the Labellas a run on the 0000 Martin.. currently strung with bronze 12s and not bad but not the sound I want.

The LaBella Silk and Steels have a "bounce" to them that I have never found in another string. Difficult to describe. Not for everyone or for every guitar..
but when it's a match, they are excellent.

rgrice · December 2014

Before getting a GJ guitar I was hoping that I could shape the sound of one of my acoustics by using GJ strings. Like I said, I'm definitely no expert and was discouraged by the negative experiences that were seemingly everywhere I turned!
Therefore, I never bothered to even try them. It's good to hear of your experiences as I think I'll try some on my late 50s Kay archtop!

Bohemian · December 2014

My 1959 Harmony is ladder braced and the La Bella 710 Silk and Steel lights (11s) give it a very cool sound. Certainly not Gypsy Jazz but very 30 ish sounding.

Buco · December 2014

@Jazzaferri I put on Lenzer Fisoma silk and steel 11s. But not on D hole.
My baby came back today after being in Ivanovski shop and traveling the world back and forth.
I sent my guitar to Risto (I borrowed the D hole from my friend John), and he replaced the fretboard as the neck wasn't stable, kept moving too much. Just picked it up today and decided to try these on it first, I didn't order any LaBellas yet. Well as is right now, the action on this guitar is incredibly low, like 2mm at the high e. It's not buzzing anywhere though, I'm impressed. Only the faint buzz on Bb on low E string. It will fret out if I use a strong attack though so I have to apply a lighter touch. Which may be a good way to force me to learn to also use a lighter approach sometimes.
It's not a fair way to compare but these 11s feel super slinky on a long scale oval hole versus 12s that are very high tensioned on a short scale D hole.
I might move these over to D hole and see what happens.
Although I like the sound, the guitar has openness with both warmth and nice relatively bright highs all at once.
One thing I'm realizing again that Lenzer Fisoma silk and steel strings keep a lot of tonal properties of silver plated strings but with the slinky feel of silk and steel with some of the warmth that comes with it. At least that was evident on both of these guitars. So it's kinda the best of both worlds, the liveliness of silvered with smokiness underneath . And again, the wrappings on the tuners side are winning me over again. Such a neat feature, simple and effective.

And I'm ecstatic to have my guitar back though, I missed it so much. You know, only when something leaves you, you realize how much you like it. Oh yeah, also this time Risto used a rosewood fretboard. Originally I asked for ebony, this time I just let him do his thing, he was doing the work for free so I didn't wanna annoy him with any requests. We'll see, but it may be that ebony fretboard was responsible for some of that brashness, which was the only thing I didn't like on the guitar hence my search for warmer sound that I found eventually with a combination of pick, strings and a different bridge.

Jazzaferri · December 2014

@Buco thanks for the detailed report. I will order some with my next order from Michael

Buco · December 2014

I'm glad I kept these on the guitar because I was gonna switch them to that D hole. Only after a while they stretched properly and now after about a week are nicely tensioned, that initial slinky feel is gone. Now there's a snap to the sound and I really like them. everything I mentioned before still stands but I also notice just a hint of nasal sound in my guitar which I never really had on it. I don't know how much of it is strings and how much a new fretboard and set up, we'll see in the future with some other sets of strings. It's nice either way and I'm glad it's just a hint cause although I like that nasal sound on other guitars I think too much of it might get old in the long run for me.