• arkady
  • arkady
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  • From: England
  • Registered: 2006-11-23
  • Posts: 2,147

Topic: What's wrong with these strings?

Hi
What's wrong with these strings?
Bought from ebay cheap called "West Coast"
I put them on my old Jumbo acoustic stretched and tuned them in fine.
Well I play a number of chords open and barred sounds odd not right. So retune (electronic tuner) try again it still sounds odd.
Anyway it seems I can change the pitch of the note depending on how hard I press the string down over the fret.
As pressure varies depending on how a song has to be played ie speed of chord changes etc it seems an impossibility to get the strings correctly tuned.
Never come across this before maybe the strings are cheap and you get what you pay for.
Anybody else experience this?
Thanks

Regards
Ark

  • Altex
  • Altex
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  • From: Goonellabah, NSW, Australia
  • Registered: 2006-12-13
  • Posts: 211

Re: What's wrong with these strings?

This happens fairly often I think. I have a cheap copy of an SG but use Fender Bullets or D'addarios for strings and yet whats happening to you happens to me, but mostly high up the neck above the 12th fret.

Im not sure about my acoustic though I'll check. Yeah it happens with mine but only if you press really hard.

[url=http://www.myspace.com/rdxfunk]www.myspace.com/rdxfunk[/url]

Altex's Website

  • pbrud8
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  • Registered: 2006-03-04
  • Posts: 3

Re: What's wrong with these strings?

What weight are they compared to what you had on before? Sometimes really light strings, especially that nasty B, will bend enough just from pressing down to give you intonation problems, particularly if your action is a bit high.

  • Registered: 2007-01-12
  • Posts: 6

Re: What's wrong with these strings?

exact same thing happen to me with d"addario tune it retuned it but still sounds odd

  • Kahuna
  • Kahuna
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  • Registered: 2006-07-12
  • Posts: 290

Re: What's wrong with these strings?

You may also want to consider a few more things when changing strings:
1. How much slack are you leaving on the tuning pegs?  Too much or too little slack can cause the guitar to be out of tune. 

2. When changing strings, did you thoroughly inspect the tuning pegs for loose nuts or excessive play?  This is fairly common on less expensive guitars. 

3.  When winding the strings to the pegs, did you make sure that the first loop is wound "under" the string hole?  There is a technique used when winding the strings, which "locks" the loop.  So, they don't slack up during play. 

Just my two cents!

  • arkady
  • arkady
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  • Registered: 2006-11-23
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Re: What's wrong with these strings?

Hi
As this post has been given new life. I can now answer my own question the problem was down to the cheap strings. I got my usual 13 Martins and I had no problems such as I first posted.
Thanks for all the imput.
Ark

  • From: A black hole in deep space
  • Registered: 2007-10-28
  • Posts: 7,862

Re: What's wrong with these strings?

ark have you tried the "silk n steel" from martin? i have been using them for the last 12 yrs no problems and they play and sound great

arkady wrote:

Hi
What's wrong with these strings?
Bought from ebay cheap called "West Coast"
I put them on my old Jumbo acoustic stretched and tuned them in fine.
Well I play a number of chords open and barred sounds odd not right. So retune (electronic tuner) try again it still sounds odd.
Anyway it seems I can change the pitch of the note depending on how hard I press the string down over the fret.
As pressure varies depending on how a song has to be played ie speed of chord changes etc it seems an impossibility to get the strings correctly tuned.
Never come across this before maybe the strings are cheap and you get what you pay for.
Anybody else experience this?
Thanks

Regards
Ark

"Growing old is not for sissies"

Russell_Harding's Website

  • arkady
  • arkady
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  • From: England
  • Registered: 2006-11-23
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Re: What's wrong with these strings?

Hi Russ
No I haven't tried them I like Martins I will check them out.
Hows the new song coming on any nearer to completion yet?
Ark

  • From: A black hole in deep space
  • Registered: 2007-10-28
  • Posts: 7,862

Re: What's wrong with these strings?

the song is compleat im waiting on a guest keyboard player to play synth on a track but hes been so busy i might have to do it myself i would prefer it  otherwise

arkady wrote:

Hi Russ
No I haven't tried them I like Martins I will check them out.
Hows the new song coming on any nearer to completion yet?
Ark

"Growing old is not for sissies"

Russell_Harding's Website