Dobro Strings

Sam White R.I.P. · Post by **Sam White R.I.P.** » 11 May 2009 4:22 am

Where can I get Dobro strings and I do not want
D'Addario Strings they keep breaking. I put a brand new set on my Johnson Resonator and when I went to tune them BAM they broke.I put on some of my Jag Wire String for my steel Guitar and they don't break.Does Jag Wire make strings for Resonators???I will also need some for my 6 string Lap steel.
Sam White

Chris Drew · Post by **Chris Drew** » 11 May 2009 4:29 am

How about clicking "strings" at the top of this very page & scrolling down a bit!

Carroll Hale · Post by **Carroll Hale** » 11 May 2009 9:05 am

I bought 3 sets of these from bob at SGF...they have great....on the second set....still one to go..
highly recommend theses..
ch
Gary Morse - Artist Series
Resophonic Guitar
Gary Morse designed and endorses this set of nickel wound resonator strings from Jagwire. You can hear Gary, who plays with Dwight Yokam, ripping it up with these strings on his "Resophonic Rodeo" CD.
G Major
-------
D .018
B .020
G .028w
D .036
B .046
G .056

Twayn Williams · Post by **Twayn Williams** » 11 May 2009 9:16 am

Samuel E. White wrote:Where can I get Dobro strings and I do not want
D'Addario Strings they keep breaking. I put a brand new set on my Johnson Resonator and when I went to tune them BAM they broke.

There's nothing wrong with D'Addario strings (I've used 'em on all my guitars for the last 25 years!) so either you're tuning them up far too high or there's a problem with your guitar. It's possible there's a burr somewhere that causing it.

This is not to say that you shouldn't try out the Jagwires! I'm all for finding the strings you like, I just really doubt the breakage you're experiencing is the fault of the strings.

Eric Stumpf · Post by **Eric Stumpf** » 11 May 2009 12:43 pm

I've used D'Addario strings for my reso for years and never had any problems until recently. The last two sets I bought did have strings that broke under normal tension....the ball anchors on the string ends pop out. What's up with that?

Twayn Williams · Post by **Twayn Williams** » 11 May 2009 12:53 pm

Eric Stumpf wrote:I've used D'Addario strings for my reso for years and never had any problems until recently. The last two sets I bought did have strings that broke under normal tension....the ball anchors on the string ends pop out. What's up with that?

Look very closely at the broken end. Where did it break? Then look at the bridge with a magnifying glass where that section of the string rests. You'll probably see a rough spot where the string is rubbing that causes it to break.

Lynn Oliver · Post by **Lynn Oliver** » 11 May 2009 1:45 pm

Eric Stumpf wrote:I've used D'Addario strings for my reso for years and never had any problems until recently. The last two sets I bought did have strings that broke under normal tension....the ball anchors on the string ends pop out. What's up with that?

Did the string break, or did the ball end just pop out of the loop?

Sam White R.I.P. · Post by **Sam White R.I.P.** » 11 May 2009 5:30 pm

No the Wond pulled apart and the string inside broke up at the key head. I did check to make sure there were no burrs. ILike I said I put on some of my Jag Wire strrins I use for my Steel and they work fine. I do not have the right gauge that belongs on it .I use all the Heavest from a E-9Th set of Herby Wallace Signtures.
Sam White

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 11 May 2009 6:05 pm

I too, have never had a problem with D'Addario Resonator strings breaking, so it is either a case of extraordinarily bad luck, or something has to be wrong on the guitar somewhere.

After already being known as one of the top pedal steel players anywhere, Gary Morse has developed into an outstanding dobro player as well, but as fine a picker as he is, I don't care for the .018 first string in his Jagwire set, nor am I big on nickel for dobro, which is what these strings are.

I personally prefer phosphor bronze strings myself as opposed to nickel, and I also tend toward the Jerry Douglas school of thinking when it comes to the 1st string: Jerry doesn't like anything heavier than .016, he believes it can sound "thuddy." I sometimes will go to a .017, but never .018

One type of reso string set I have been using a lot lately that I like, and they are fairly inexpensive even in over-the-counter music shops is from Curt Mangan, who worked for years at Ernie Ball. They are his "Fusion Matched" Resophonic Guitar 80/20 Bronze, 16-18-28w-36-46-56. They carry them at a music store several miles down the highway from me, and I pay $6.95 a set.

www.curtmangan.com

On line purveyors like for one example, First Quality Music, has a choice of 17 different dobro sets right now:

http://tinyurl.com/o6sgg6

Erik Waynesmith posts a lot over at: www.reso-nation.com

He has some great prices on resonator strings right now, shoot him an e-mail and I'm sure he'll give you all the information:

Sales@AdvancedMusicTechnology.com

I'm all for supporting b0b as well on string purchases, but it seems to me the only set he is carrying for resonators that would work with G tuning is the Jagwire Gary Morse variety, and as I wrote above, that particular set is not my cuppa tea. But then again, others may love 'em - Gary obviously does!

Clyde Mattocks · Post by **Clyde Mattocks** » 11 May 2009 8:39 pm

I have used D'Addario for years and like them. I
don't like their J42 packaged set. I buy the singles and make up my own. .018, .020, .030W,.038W,
.048W, .056W. The wounds are stainless round wound.
They were formerly the XSG series but now they are called ProSteels (same string, new packaging). The
thing that may bother some acoustic players is that it says "Electric" on the package, but it is the same
string as the old ones. These strings on a good dobro are loud and powerful and can compete with a banjo in a bluegrass jam session.

Lynn Oliver · Post by **Lynn Oliver** » 11 May 2009 10:36 pm

Samuel E. White wrote:No the Wond pulled apart and the string inside broke up at the key head. I did check to make sure there were no burrs. ILike I said I put on some of my Jag Wire strrins I use for my Steel and they work fine. I do not have the right gauge that belongs on it .I use all the Heavest from a E-9Th set of Herby Wallace Signtures.
Sam White

I'd get in touch with D'Addario and see what they say. I've used a lot of D'Addario string without any issues.

Eric Stumpf · Post by **Eric Stumpf** » 12 May 2009 1:54 am

The ball end pops out of the loop. There's no abrasion point in the tailpiece where the string anchors. As I said, I've always liked the tone of the D'Addario phosphor bronze strings and so I've used them for years but now I'm regularly having this problem with them.

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 12 May 2009 7:53 am

I recently discovered the Paul Beard dobro strings and I like 'em a lot.

Dom Franco · Post by **Dom Franco** » 12 May 2009 9:33 am

I started using D'Addario Chromes (flatwound) strings on my resonators, and I know it's unconventional but NO MORE STRING NOISE! since the volume of string noise is amplified by the resonator as well as the notes you want to hear.

I can't go back now the sound is so clean and smooth. If you record your playing, stop and listen to all the string sweeps and glisses with standard strings. (It all gets recorded and to my ears is distracting)

Any Flatwound strings will be less bright than round wounds but the clean tones are worth it.

Dom

Larry Robbins · Post by **Larry Robbins** » 12 May 2009 11:06 am

I like the John Pearse nickel wound.
After using D'Addiro for years I tried a set and never looked back..016,.018,.028W,
.038W,.049W,.059W...stay in tune and I dont get that "change" in tone after a few days when the "new" wears off the Bronze.
Do yourself a favor and check Em'out.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 12 May 2009 12:38 pm

Here's a bummer - an obscure one - but a bummer nevertheless: I would like to use a set like the Pearse that has a 59 for the 6th string, for the purpose of occasionally tuning down from G to open D, but I have Sperzel locking tuners on my Clinesmith, which I love - but the wound part of an .059 will not fit through the tuning post.

Clyde Mattocks · Post by **Clyde Mattocks** » 12 May 2009 5:00 pm

Mark, drill it out (deburr the edges).

Tony Dingus · Post by **Tony Dingus** » 12 May 2009 6:50 pm

I've been using Elixirs for a few years now and love them.

Tony

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 12 May 2009 11:05 pm

Clyde Mattocks wrote:Mark, drill it out (deburr the edges).

Yeah, thanks Clyde, that should be simple enough, I should do that during my next string change.

You would think that the Sperzel might have thought of making the holes just a tiny bit larger, to accommodate strings up to .060, but one can never assume anything.

Clyde Mattocks · Post by **Clyde Mattocks** » 13 May 2009 7:52 am

Yeah Mark, I ran into that problem when I wanted to use a .058. It should drill easy with a slightly
bigger bit. It think most of those posts are nickel
plated brass. Then I found the larger string wouln't fit into some tailpieces and I had to open them up with a small rat tail file.

Michael Maddex · Post by **Michael Maddex** » 16 May 2009 2:14 pm

Samuel, back to your original question: Elderly has a good selection of reso strings:

http://www.elderly.com/accessories/cats/STGR.html

FWIW, I just put a set of D'Addario EJ42 on my reso yesterday with no problems. Maybe you just hit a bad batch.

HTH.

Stephen Abruzzo · Post by **Stephen Abruzzo** » 17 May 2009 3:58 am

I'm kind of partial to nickel strings myself.

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 17 May 2009 8:15 am

Sounds like a bad batch of strings. I'd check with the store you purchased them from or directly with D'Addario as previously suggested.

Geo. L's also sells the bronze or stainless sets for dobro.

Another alternative for less noise and plugged in applications are the D'Addario Flat Tops. Sort of flat wound bronze strings. Perhaps a tad less volume, but lots less string noise.

www.fqms.com has a nice selection of strings, expecially for acoustic instruments, and are great folks to do business with.

Steve Ahola · Post by **Steve Ahola** » 5 Feb 2010 5:06 am

Twayn Williams wrote:
Eric Stumpf wrote:I've used D'Addario strings for my reso for years and never had any problems until recently. The last two sets I bought did have strings that broke under normal tension....the ball anchors on the string ends pop out. What's up with that?
Look very closely at the broken end. Where did it break? Then look at the bridge with a magnifying glass where that section of the string rests. You'll probably see a rough spot where the string is rubbing that causes it to break.

Eric: If you end up with a bad batch of strings like that you might try adding a small touch of solder at the ball end (if you have a soldering iron and know how to use it). I heard that whammy bar freaks would do that to keep the strings from breaking on their electric guitar.

Twayn: That is a great idea. Whenever I'd get a new electric guitar if I found any string breaking prematurely at the bridge I would take a small piece of very fine emery paper folded over and run it over the slot in the saddle a few times very lightly. If you felt any drag (like a little burr) I would do it a bit more. After going through that procedure a few times I never had any more problems with strings breaking at the bridge (knock on wood).

Steve Ahola

Beard Guitars · Post by **Beard Guitars** » 5 Feb 2010 6:14 am

D'Addario tried going to a zinc based ball end and started having issues with the ball splitting under tension.

They've reverted back to brass..problems solved. They'll replace any set with issues.

h

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