Save your money and skip Argies. P90s commonly favor something with nickel. What kind of guitar is it? Then pick the correct gauge based on the type of the guitar. Then get the Django flavor through what you play, phrasing and such.
I wouldnt recommend using Argies on an archtop. I'd recommend Thomastik Bebop round wounds on your 5th Avenue, if you're playing gypsy jazz on it. They're kind of pricey, but they sound good and hold their intonation for several months, even if you gig a few times a week with them.
In my view, your archtop is a totally different animal from a selmac guitar. I play some GJ gigs on my archtop & some on my gj guitars. But in my mind, they're very separate experiences. While you can have a great time playing GJ on both, I wouldn't try to get one to sound or feel like the other. My approach is to accept each instrument for what it is, and then dig in to find the inspiration to produce the best music I can on each instrument. I use .13's (Thomastiks) on my archtop and.11's (Argies from Michael here at Djangobooks) on my Altamiras. But I would experiment until you find what sounds & feels the best to you.
StringswingerSanta Cruz and San Francisco, CA✭✭✭✭1993 Dupont MD-20, Shelley Park Encore
Posts: 465
Over the last 53 years, I have owned over 100 guitars and tried every type of string. Here are my conclusions (and as always, YMMV):
Selmacs sound best with Argies
Flattops sound best with bronze roundwounds or silk and steel roundwounds or monel roundwounds
Acoustic archtops sound best with bronze roundwounds or monel roundwounds
Solidbodies sound best with nickel roundwounds
Electric archtops sound best with nickel flatwounds or stainless steel flatwounds or nickel roundwounds
Classical guitars sound best with nylon strings (duh!)
Argies are an acoustic string and while you can dial in a balanced sound with an adjustable pole pickup, they are not well suited to an electric archtop. I would not waste a set on that Godin.
"When the chord changes, you should change" Joe Pass
Concur with nickel for electric archtops—like the flatwounds myself—and Monels for acoustic ones, tho they don’t sound bad electrified. Not as good as nickel tho.
Comments
Save your money and skip Argies. P90s commonly favor something with nickel. What kind of guitar is it? Then pick the correct gauge based on the type of the guitar. Then get the Django flavor through what you play, phrasing and such.
Shelley Park has done a few. You should reach out to her on pickups:
https://www.parkguitars.com/guitars-gallery.html
It's a Godin 5th Avenue with a p90
I wouldnt recommend using Argies on an archtop. I'd recommend Thomastik Bebop round wounds on your 5th Avenue, if you're playing gypsy jazz on it. They're kind of pricey, but they sound good and hold their intonation for several months, even if you gig a few times a week with them.
What gauge would be best to simulate the feel of argentines 10s on a long scale petite hole selmac?
Probably similar gauges to the argentine .011s (you can look them up and approximate them); that would be my guess.
In my view, your archtop is a totally different animal from a selmac guitar. I play some GJ gigs on my archtop & some on my gj guitars. But in my mind, they're very separate experiences. While you can have a great time playing GJ on both, I wouldn't try to get one to sound or feel like the other. My approach is to accept each instrument for what it is, and then dig in to find the inspiration to produce the best music I can on each instrument. I use .13's (Thomastiks) on my archtop and.11's (Argies from Michael here at Djangobooks) on my Altamiras. But I would experiment until you find what sounds & feels the best to you.
Over the last 53 years, I have owned over 100 guitars and tried every type of string. Here are my conclusions (and as always, YMMV):
Selmacs sound best with Argies
Flattops sound best with bronze roundwounds or silk and steel roundwounds or monel roundwounds
Acoustic archtops sound best with bronze roundwounds or monel roundwounds
Solidbodies sound best with nickel roundwounds
Electric archtops sound best with nickel flatwounds or stainless steel flatwounds or nickel roundwounds
Classical guitars sound best with nylon strings (duh!)
Argies are an acoustic string and while you can dial in a balanced sound with an adjustable pole pickup, they are not well suited to an electric archtop. I would not waste a set on that Godin.
GHS "white bronze" strings strike a fair balance between approaching the sound of Argentines and being more "magnetically active". Worth a try imo.
Concur with nickel for electric archtops—like the flatwounds myself—and Monels for acoustic ones, tho they don’t sound bad electrified. Not as good as nickel tho.
Tomastik-12 or 13 flats
Martin Monel-12