There's the long story and the short story. This will be the short story, believe it or not. The real tale last for days, and had it roots a week earlier when I sold my son's and mine, electrified 1971 - 73 SJ Deluxe on Manitoulin Island, then came home to bland Acoustic/Electric tone.
But, I had 2 sets of new D'Addario Phosphor Bronze lights, and tried to offer one to the Gibson buyer, but he refused, taking a set of medium bronze instead. Normally I buy D'Addario Plain Bronze, and didn't expect the Phosphors to be much different (in feel, and later in other areas of sound), except brighter.
I put them on my Garrison and couldn't drag a pick across them. They were so rough, like coarse grit sandpaper. I nearly freaked - what had I done? I went through a new 50 cent pick in 2 - 3 days, persistently trying to wear some of the rough coating off the strings. Ahhh.... finally, and after the pick turned to dust, or plastic powder all over my guitar, the strings worked! They got smoother. The roughness also made the pick fly out of my finger-grip a few times; hasn't happened in years!!! But as I said, they're smooth, feeling normal now, but the tone is too bright, it's just not right!
Has this ever happened to you? That roughness? Picks flying in the air or shredding themselves? Sharpened to a razor's edge? And unbalanced tone? There's still room for comments if you have any. :lol:
My Garrison, which is mahogany/cedar sounds half-decent unplugged, but just loses it NOW when amplified. The Phosphors are intolerable. All I can hear are the most-upper mids and trebles. Bass and lower mids went away? I've never lost that before, either.
I have adjusted the onboard ASE-4 electronics with 3 band equalizer, presence & pre-amp every which way, and adjusted the Roland Cube 20X all ways, and can't get no satisfaction. :shock: The best I can do is put the FX to some slapback or delay, and get a little attack/edge & repeat on the bass and low mids. But it makes the trebles shimmer too much. Shimmer isn't the right word, it is more like howl, scream, high pitch growl or jingle, but not like bells. :roll: They take over... tyrannical or tyrannosaurus trebles! What a mess, it's sickening. :cry:
Okay, please try to make me feel better now. I don't want to change these relatively expensive strings so soon, especially after struggling to break them in. I have even gone out and tried other guitars, many with their stock strings, and heard better, of course felt better, now accidentally falling in love with a Taylor 310-CE. What do y'all think of that one? Seriously. :| http://elderly.com/new_instruments/items/310CE.htm
Or this 1. :?: http://elderly.com/new_instruments/items/DC16OGTE.htm
Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
elderly.com ? lol
So how did you solve the problem anyhow ?
I wanna be that guy that you wish you were ! ( i wish I were that guy)
You gotta set your sights high to get high!
Everyone is a teacher when you are looking to learn.
( wise stuff man! )
Its Kirby....
Problem solved by continually playing, or striking the strings, and beating the coating of roughness off the hard way with the pick. The phosphor-bronze turned to a metallic powder, and brushed away. I could have used steel wool, but that would be cheating, and kind of gross. :(
So yeah, playing the guitar tonight, and examining it closely, one can see where the pick has swept away the phospor-bronze, and left a different, underlying color.
I never had this problem with the more costly John Pearse strings, and one more thing: I usually get strings that don't squeak with the fingering hand, and these D'Addario's squeak a bit, but thankfully, not too much. They are still the roughest things I've had though in all my years, like grit, that's why I thought it was strange or remarkable.
The amplification problem or imbalance in sound still exists, with too much treble. I'll live with it though it is not wanted while strumming, and turns out to be a bonus while doing lead work - I've been experimenting with it for hours, practising for the upcoming, hard-working jam. People expect a certain standard even though we don't get paid. :|
Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
Lol its love for the art! People expect a certain quality and you should strive for that certain quality, after all the people are doing you a favor for listening to you play, thats how I always think of it :D.
Weird strings, I bought some D'addario Pro Arte classical strings, they were like 12 bucks, but they are really nice! I love the way the bass strings sound!
I wanna be that guy that you wish you were ! ( i wish I were that guy)
You gotta set your sights high to get high!
Everyone is a teacher when you are looking to learn.
( wise stuff man! )
Its Kirby....
Lol its love for the art! People expect a certain quality and you should strive for that certain quality, after all the people are doing you a favor for listening to you play, thats how I always think of it :D.
Weird strings, I bought some D'addario Pro Arte classical strings, they were like 12 bucks, but they are really nice! I love the way the bass strings sound!
Glad you like the strings, nice choice!
FWIW, and who cares besides a little appreciative audience... I did the gig with a crippled Garrison guitar, and those stupid strings.
I worked so hard to strike off the coating that I still refused to change 'em. I think I need medium strings, to put some oomph into the bass.
The action was so low, and the truss rod goes the 'other way' to try to straighten a neck which is already straight as an arrow, without any bow.
So after checking that the rod was loose enough to permit pull, it needs a set of mediums (I have them) to bring up the neck, and the action. But...
In a hurry, I made a quick shim for under the saddle with a tin camping mirror - I cut a strip out of it, placed it over the piezo, and it improved the sound.
Again, the problem, after the initial issue of incredibly rough or coarse strings, was the extra presence of trebles, far too pronounced. They were just too bright.
I have never played in public with a wounded, or patched-up, less than normal guitar in all my days till now, but it worked, and was accepted with compliments. :roll:
Final word: I lost my voice or got laryngitis practising, but faced it. There were 6 other guitars, so I noodled-in a ton of boogie and bend-em-all-to-hell leads and it was a gas! :lol:
Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
