At the core of things...

I wrote about guitar strings and different sizes in July's 2021 blog called "Size is everything, or is it?" But that was just scratching the surface about strings. With string size comes tension on the neck, sound, tambour, etc. There are exceptions to the standards, for example Santa Cruz Parabolic tension string, which throws out the sizes of strings and use string tone and pure tension and construction as their guiding principles. They only have two versions of Acoustic strings, Low tension and Medium tension - both of which sound amazing on any guitar, are quite long lasting and somehow are EQ'd such that you don't have a dead string area on the frets. But no, we're not going there - we're going to talk about string cores.

This is the part of the program where you roll your eyes and jet off to Youtube to watch the latest viral video of skateboarders doing dangerous jumps and getting whacked in the nads.

But no seriously, cores are important and many may not even realize it. Most mass marketed strings today use hexagonal cores, meaning the core wire is usually steel, hexagonal and the corners contact the wrapped wire only on the corners. 95% of all strings are hexagonal cored so that's what you probably use and have and you know what, we're pretty happy with those strings. They work, they sound good and they're fairly cheap. The other type of string is generally an older type of string design, where a round core is used, and the wire wrapped around it is in contact with the entire surface of the core of the string. While this may be a contested and hotly argued point in musical stream geekdom, the theory is, because the wrapped string has more contact with the core, the string tends to have a fuller sound and rings (think sustain) longer and truer.

(Stringjoy write up on round core and hexagon core strings).

My first encounter with a round core string was a set of Newtone strings, made in England. I like being adventurous with strings and when I find something I like I usually stick to it. So on one of these adventures, I picked up a Newtone Heritage set of 10's - and they just felt so very comfortable. When I read up on them I found they were round cores, and the core string construction had less tension than standard sets of 10's by something like 10-17 lbs across string. Now this is important for older guitars, like early Martin's and Gibson guitars which may not even have truss rods. These guitars sometimes have "Silk and Steel" type strings which have nylon cores and wire wrapped around them which have much less tension so the older guitar necks don't bow. I have a newer acoustic guitar (1997) which requires only extra light strings (10's) due to the thin neck and that the top is very thin but resonant. This makes sense since heavier strings want to pull up the bridge and if too much pressure is put on that bridge, the guitar can "belly" meaning a hump is created under the bridge messing up the action and causing structural problems with the guitar. This happens most times on 12 string guitars as more strings = more upward pressure.

But the round wound strings just felt better. I gave a few sets to Scott and he really liked the string as well - more so than his standard Martin sets. I didn't even tell him they were round core. It's a "feel" thing. Newtone strings are made in a little shop in Northern England , and will no longer be distributed in the U.S. I could still order them direct from Newtone, but my everyday string website like juststrings.com will not be carrying them. Other companies still do round core strings, but they tend to be more expensive. Curt Mangan Round Core, DR Sunbeam are a few for acoustic guitars, Stringjoy have amazing strings for electric using round cores and you can customize your string sizes to fit your play style.

I'm going to be trying the Curt Mangan's and DR Sunbeams at some point in the future.