String stiffness - Elixer

Paul H. Erlich wrote:

> Technically, it's stiffness, rather than tension, which causes
> inharmonicity. [snip]
>
> Ever hear a Martin with heavy-guage strings where the low notes sound like a
> piano? That's the inharmonicity.

Yeah, watch out for those fancy new popular Elixer brand strings, those of you who play JI
guitars. I've noticed that they tend to lean toward a piano sound throughout the range. I'm
guessing that they get the "longer life" by adding stiffness to the strings somehow. I'm
guessing that's why they sound a little bit brittle and less warm than other guitar strings -
inharmonicity due to increased stiffness. They don't feel stiffer, really, but maybe they've
compensated by allowing slightly less tension or something. I haven't done any tests, just
going by what I've heard in recording sessions. Just be warned that a JI guitar will probably
exhibit more beating between partials with Elixer strings.

--
David J. Finnamore
Nashville, TN, USA
http://members.xoom.com/dfinn.1
--

>Yeah, watch out for those fancy new popular Elixer brand strings, those
>of you who play JI guitars. I've noticed that they tend to lean toward
>a piano sound throughout the range. I'm guessing that they get the
>"longer life" by adding stiffness to the strings somehow.

Gee, I thought they got the longer life by coating them with teflon.
But I'm not a guitarist. Perhaps John Starrett knows.

-Carl

Carl Lumma wrote:
>
> >Yeah, watch out for those fancy new popular Elixer brand strings, those
> >of you who play JI guitars. I've noticed that they tend to lean toward
> >a piano sound throughout the range. I'm guessing that they get the
> >"longer life" by adding stiffness to the strings somehow.

On 62 tone Just I use DR.

> Gee, I thought they got the longer life by coating them with teflon.
> But I'm not a guitarist. Perhaps John Starrett knows.

More like a thin wrap of what they call Poly Web coating.

From the web site:

> POLYWEB Coating is a proprietary hybrid
> polymer that is precisely applied by Gore to
> wound guitar strings. The coating wears
> slowly during play, but sound quality is not
> affected as the coating wears. Several
> patents are pending for the POLYWEB
> Coating process.

Elixer is exactly what I an using on my Dobro clone.

.013
.017
.026
.035
.045
.056

It's been a while since I played this guitar.
I think I'll check it out tonight. The strings
still sound great, I put them on last winter,
but the low ones just don't ring out. My A = 426.7

Did you know the Gore folks who make these strings
are a sister company to Glide dental floss? We learn
new things every day on the tuning list...

db

--
* D a v i d B e a r d s l e y
* 49/32 R a d i o "all microtonal, all the time"
* http://www.virtulink.com/immp/lookhere.htm

>>Gee, I thought they got the longer life by coating them with teflon.
>>But I'm not a guitarist. Perhaps John Starrett knows.
>
>More like a thin wrap of what they call Poly Web coating.

Gore is the most evil, vile company ever. They litterally run a mob
for their Gore-Tex product in outerwear market, going to amazing lengths
to hide the fact that it is simply expensive tef-tape. Incidentally,
Gore-Tex ranges from detrimental to useless for most outerwear
applications.

>From the web site:
>
>> POLYWEB Coating is a proprietary hybrid
>> polymer that is precisely applied by Gore to
>> wound guitar strings. The coating wears
>> slowly during play, but sound quality is not
>> affected as the coating wears. Several
>> patents are pending for the POLYWEB
>> Coating process.

Hmm. Sounds like hype to me. Any guitarists out there care to comment
on elixer strings? I once considered putting them on my slide guitar,
with the idea that they would reduce slide noise.

-Carl

Carl writes:
>Gore is the most evil, vile company ever. They litterally run a mob
>for their Gore-Tex product in outerwear market, going to amazing lengths
>to hide the fact that it is simply expensive tef-tape. Incidentally,
>Gore-Tex ranges from detrimental to useless for most outerwear
>applications.

Gee, I haven't had problems with any Gore-tex products I have used, I
wonder if you have been seeing counterfeit stuff,(there is a lot of that out
there)

>>> POLYWEB Coating is a proprietary hybrid
>>> polymer that is precisely applied by Gore to
>>> wound guitar strings.

>Hmm. Sounds like hype to me. Any guitarists out there care to comment
>on elixer strings?

Yes, I have used them on mine (1946 D-18). They retain their high-end
longer than the Marquis strings, however, there isn't as much of it when
compared to a brand new set of Marquis. Session players that change strings
a lot don't care for them, but those of us that have to keep a set on for a
while do. At least some of us.
Regards,
Ed Foote
Nashville, Tn.

--- In tuning@egroups.com, Carl Lumma <CLUMMA@N...> wrote:
> Hmm. Sounds like hype to me. Any guitarists out there care to
comment
> on elixer strings? I once considered putting them on my slide
guitar,
> with the idea that they would reduce slide noise.
>
> -Carl

My fretless guitar was shipped from the factory with Elixir strings.
My understanding is that Fretlessguitar.com chose them because the
coating reduces the wear of the roundwound strings (usually the E-G,
sometimes the D, strings) on the rosewood fingerboard.

Until my guitar gets outfitted with their glass fingerboard option -
said to be available next year - I will continue to use them.

Paolo

> From: phv40@hotmail.com

> My fretless guitar was shipped from the factory with Elixir strings.
> [snip] Until my guitar gets outfitted with their glass fingerboard option -
> said to be available next year - I will continue to use them.

Paolo,

I didn't mean to suggest that there is anything wrong with Elixir strings. Only if you're using guitar for Just Intonation, the (possibly) slightly greater inharmonicity would create more beating between partials than you would get with uncoated strings - generally considered
undesirable for JI. Otherwise, it probably doesn't matter. I've gotten beautiful sounding recordings with Elixir strung guitars. They do sound a bit piano-like compared to the same guitars with uncoated strings but if that's OK, then no problemo.

Sorry I'm posting from so far behind the times here, guys. I'm working 12+ hour days right now and it's just not possible to keep up!

--
David J. Finnamore
Nashville, TN, USA
http://members.xoom.com/dfinn.1
--

--- In tuning@egroups.com, "David J. Finnamore" <daeron@b...> wrote:
> > From: phv40@h...
>
> > My fretless guitar was shipped from the factory with Elixir
strings.
> > [snip] Until my guitar gets outfitted with their glass
fingerboard option -
> > said to be available next year - I will continue to use them.
>
> Paolo,
>
> I didn't mean to suggest that there is anything wrong with Elixir
strings. Only if you're using guitar for Just Intonation, the
(possibly) slightly greater inharmonicity would create more beating
between partials than you would get with uncoated strings - generally
considered
> undesirable for JI. Otherwise, it probably doesn't matter. I've
gotten beautiful sounding recordings with Elixir strung guitars.
They do sound a bit piano-like compared to the same guitars with
uncoated strings but if that's OK, then no problemo.

Hi David,

I didn't think you were suggesting such a thing either. The only
reason I've been sticking with Elixirs is "normal" guitar strings
would quickly wear grooves into the fingerboard of my guitar. To use
other brands would require a much harder surface such as glass,
metal, or an epoxy coating on the fingerboard.

Paolo