Core guage of wound strings

Michael Dene · Post by **Michael Dene** » 11 Sep 2003 6:09 pm

Can anyone tell me if there is any/much variation in the guage of the core on wound strings of a given overall guage from one brand to another?

I recently replaced a .030w 8th string on E9 with the same size but of a different brand. It threw the raise and lower out by so much that I immediately took it off and swapped to one of the original brand. This meant breaking up a new set which of course was what I was trying to avoid. At this point everything was fine and all adjustments were back to normal.

So....are there variations in core size or did I just have a crummy string?

Michael
LeGrande II
Session 500

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 11 Sep 2003 8:48 pm

Yes, there are significant differences in core diameter. Also some windings are steel while some are nickel. Nickel windings require more changer (pedal) movement.

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 12 Sep 2003 8:16 am

I did not know that, Ernest. I always thought the amount of travel was determined by the properties of the core, not of the windings.

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<img align=right src="http://b0b.com/Hotb0b.gif" width="96 height="96">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9),
Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6),
Roland Handsonic, Line 6 Variax

Dennis Detweiler · Post by **Dennis Detweiler** » 12 Sep 2003 10:46 am

Does anyone know the core guages of the wound strings for each brand?
I've run into this a few times when I couldn't get the GHS singles that I need and bought a few different brands. Not the way to go if you need to change one in the middle of a set.
Dennis

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 12 Sep 2003 11:21 am

I always thought the amount of travel was determined by the properties of the core, not of the windings.

Could be. Maybe there are cases where a steel would string requires more changer movement than a nickel would one. But I haven't noticed that yet.
A few months ago I put nickel wound Jagwire strings on the Franklin instead of Georgle L steel wound, and the pulls were about 10 percent short until I tightened the tuning nuts.
With other brands I had noticed a much bigger diffence steel-vs-nickel.

Michael Johnstone · Post by **Michael Johnstone** » 12 Sep 2003 1:08 pm

I wanted to do that same survey a few years ago when I was playing my 25" Sierra and had a couple 1&1/2 step pulls on my 9th and 10th strings(.038 & .046).The strings I used to get from Sierra that made the pull easily,and without breaking constantly,were distributed by Kaman(the parent corporation of Ovation guitars etc). When I tried other strings the pull was much longer and was up against the limits of the Sierra mechanics and the tensile strength of the strings themselves. Then I examined the various strings' cross sections under high magnification and realised the Kaman strings had a larger diamter core than the other brands I had tried(S.I.T.,GHS and Ernie Ball)I didn't measure them,however.I told Don Christiansen at Sierra what I had discovered and he just basically said "I'll be damned - I never knew that" and asked me to keep him abreast of my survey.He also said that Sierra no longer used the Kaman strings anyway so I was on my own.At the NAMM show that year(1999 or so)I went from one string manufacturer to the next including Kaman asking for the core/winding specs and not one of them knew what I was talking about.Of course they were salesmen - not engineers.I suppose that somewhere within the bowels of these companies,someone knows the answers to these questions and if you were really on a mission,you could put together a comparitive analysis. Anyhow,shortly after that,I started using Jagwires and they didn't break,and made the pulls within the Sierra's capabilities easily which meant they had larger cores as well. Now that I had high quality,readily available strings which would make all my pulls,I quit obsessing on the issue at that point. I'm here to tell you though - there are significant differences between strings. -MJ-

Michael Dene · Post by **Michael Dene** » 12 Sep 2003 4:59 pm

Do any of the manufacturers actually put out the relevant stats for their strings or does one have to get out the micrometer and check them one by one?

It may stretch the patience of the nice man in our local music shop for me to work my way through the entire range on his shelves.

So has anyone put together any info on core guages? It sure would be useful.

Michael[This message was edited by Michael Dene on 12 September 2003 at 06:00 PM.]

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 13 Sep 2003 7:17 am

Just get a micrometer and a new set of strings. For the wound ones, just measure the unwound bit at the end.

EB and b0b, when I visited the GHS plant, many years ago, I was told what b0b asserted -- that the pull or physical distance to move a given musical interval is inversely proportional to the core diameter for wound strings. The bigger the core, the shorter the travel required to achieve 1/2 or full tone change.

I have also seen variation between nickel and stainless that Earnest mentions. I would be curious to know if anyone has any info on how the winding material affects the distance to interval relationship.

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 13 Sep 2003 9:59 am

I think that the core diameter of wound strings is considered to be a "trade secret" by the various string vendors.

Here's what I think is happening. There are very few actual manufacturers of musical instrument strings (3 or 4, I think). The difference between brands of strings are basically the difference in specifications supplied to the manufacturer. Those specifications include things like the core gauge and the alloys used for core and winding.

If I'm worng, someone can correct me (please!).

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<img align=right src="http://b0b.com/Hotb0b.gif" width="96 height="96">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9),
Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6),
Roland Handsonic, Line 6 Variax