Guitar string
A guitar string is a string intended for the instrument guitar .
General
A distinction is made depending on the materials
- Gut strings (made of natural gut )
- Silk strings (made of silk )
- Nylon strings (made of polyamide )
- Carbon strings (made of PVDF )
- Steel strings
- Rope strings ( steel strings wound with nylon )
Most guitars have 6 or 12 strings. The pitch of a string depends on its mass and tension. With the same length, the smaller the oscillating mass and the greater the tension, the higher the tone (except for flageolet tones ). This is why greater string gauges are used for the low notes than for the high notes.
The thicker strings have a flexible core (soul) that is wrapped with refined wires. This achieves the desired thickness and flexibility. Normally the bass strings (E, A, D) of the guitar are wrapped, with western guitars sometimes also the g-string. There is such a wrapping both with nylon and carbon strings as well as with steel strings. The thinner treble strings - with the occasional exception of the g-string - are not wound.
The lifespan of guitar strings is limited by humidity, sweat and grease on the skin, as well as the force applied when playing. Depending on use, they lose their initial sound properties after a few days, weeks or months. Some string manufacturers try to extend the service life with coatings against oxidation and special materials.
Acoustic guitar
In the classical guitar and the flamenco -Guitar find colon, nylon and carbon strings, very rarely silk and rope strings use.
Gut strings consist of cleaned, dried and twisted animal intestines and have now largely been replaced by strings made of artificial material.
Wound strings are first mentioned at the beginning of the 17th century (1619 by Michael Praetorius ).
Around 1938, the US chemical company DuPont developed the first polyamide strings ( nylon strings ) to replace the gut strings that had been exclusively available for concert guitars. The breakthrough for the art material did not come until 1946 when guitarist Andrés Segovia visited New York: Due to the supply bottlenecks as a result of the World War, Segovia urgently looked for replacement strings and prompted the guitar maker Albert Augustine (1900–1967), of Danish origin, to supply nylon strings.
Today, so-called carbon strings made from a composite material using polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) are also increasingly being used. Carbon strings are usually thinner than nylon strings of the same tension. The degree of tension, often specified by the manufacturers as tension , is divided into normal, high ( hard or extra hard ) and low ( soft or extra soft ) tension. The higher the tension, the clearer and louder the sound, but the more difficult it is to play the strings. Some playing techniques of the left hand are more difficult or only possible to a limited extent on the thinner carbon strings with high tension: This includes vibrato , but also the trigger binding. Carbon strings respond worse to vibrato (especially on the e and h strings) and the trigger bindings lack volume in terms of sound compared to the thicker nylon strings.
Steel strings are used in western guitars . The sound of the steel string is lighter and louder compared to nylon strings. The electromagnetic pickups mounted under the strings in the body of some guitars only work with steel strings.
Electric guitar
Electric guitars always require strings with electromagnetic properties because of the electromagnetic pickups. Usually these are metal strings made of steel wire (1st to 3rd or, if available, 4th string) or of a steel wire core that is wrapped with metal wires (4th to 6th, or 3rd string for higher strength strings) ). There are also synthetic strings, mostly made of nylon , which are given electromagnetic properties by a metal core or by being wrapped with metal wire.
The core was originally round. In the eighties and nineties, the core was made more hexagonal, i.e. hexagonal. This construction method results in a higher stability of the string, as the wound wire is slightly notched at the edges of the core, thus securing the winding against slipping. Another advantage is that these "hexacore" strings can be machined more easily and quickly, and thus more cheaply. Since the wrapping on a hexagonal core is closer than it is the case with a round core, the amount of air in the string is reduced. This results in a slightly different sound, which many guitarists see as a disadvantage. For this reason, strings with a round core are increasingly being offered again today. Many manufacturers have similar or otherwise identical strings in their range, with which the customer can choose between round core and hexacore.
For rock and blues guitars, thin strings ("light strings") are usually preferred because they do not have to be stretched as much. So pitch bends can be done with less force. Jazz guitars with a hollow body and a vaulted top, on the other hand, are strung with thicker strings, since only their higher tension causes the top to vibrate. As a counterexample, the blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan can be named, who preferred thick strings.
The most common string sets are roundwounds, the bass strings of which are wrapped with round wire. This usually consists of nickel-plated steel wire. Some guitarists prefer "pure nickel wound strings", in which the winding is made of an alloy whose main component is nickel . Such strings were standard until the early seventies and have a softer response due to the slightly lower magnetic output. "Stainless steel strings", which are wrapped with pure steel wire, are relatively new on the market (unlike the electric bass , where they have been popular for a long time) and sound harsh and aggressive.
Flatwounds , strings wrapped with flat wire or polished round wire strings are common on jazz guitars . The smooth surface prevents background noises ("squeaking") when changing positions , the sound of these strings is full, round and somewhat muffled. With other instruments, apart from the electric bass , flatwounds are used less often nowadays, because they are stiffer and have less brilliance than roundwounds at the same strength. Advantages are the durability and the insensitivity to soiling.
So-called groundwounds or "sharpened" strings (often also wrapped with rolled wire) are supposed to make a compromise between the two types.
In addition to the construction of the guitar, the strings have a significant influence on the sound of the instrument. Different materials and processing result in different characteristics of the strings (e.g. sustain , frequency spectrum ).
Well-known string manufacturers
D'Addario , Aquila, Augustine , Ernie Ball , CollectorGuitar, Martin Blust , La Bella, Elixir, Fender , Gallistrings, Gibson , GHS, Hannabach, Josima, Bernd Kürschner, Lenzner Saitenmanufaktur (Fisoma) , Dean Markley, Martin , Optima , Pyramid (Karl Junge), Rotosound, Savarez, Thomastik-Infeld , Yamaha Corporation
See also
Web links
- Difference in sound with aging of the strings
- esaite.de - E-Guitar, E-Bass - Know-how, Tips and Tricks
Individual evidence
- ^ Walter Kraushaar: Properties of strings.
- ^ Franz Jahnel: The guitar and its construction. The comprehensive practical manual for all designs. 8th edition. Frankfurt am Main 2008.
- ↑ Frederick Cock: The Vihuela: large or small scale length? In: Guitar & Lute. Volume 2, Heft 3, 1980, pp. 14-18, here: p. 17.
- ^ Hannes Fricke: Myth guitar: history, interpreters, great hours. Reclam, Stuttgart 2013, ISBN 978-3-15-020279-1 , pp. 193, 227 and 231.
- ^ John Huber: The Development of the Modern Guitar. London 1994, p. 32f.
- ↑ https://www.gitarrebass.de/stories/stevie-ray-vaughan-ueber-gitarren-musik-und-jimi-hendrix/