Chapter 2. How Important are Strings?

Chapter 2. How Important are Strings?

This section explores the significance of strings in shaping a guitar's sound, acknowledging differing viewpoints on their impact. It argues that while a bad guitar will always sound bad, even with excellent strings, high-quality strings can enhance a good guitar's tone and projection. It emphasizes the importance of "touch" in guitar playing and how appropriate strings can facilitate this connection between player and instrument.

 The Relationship Between Strings and Tone Production

Thinking about strings, and testing and experimenting with them, is intimately related to our motivation to play the classical guitar: namely, sound and tone production.

For what is it that attracts us to study and persevere with playing this kind of instrument other than its wonderful tonal textures?

Some players stick staunchly to one brand and tension of guitar strings because they are convinced that these strings are best for their guitar and playing style. Others are constantly experimenting with the numerous options available in terms of tension and string material.

And there are others who really can’t be bothered worrying about string brands. I know several fine classical guitar players who use what I consider mediocre brand guitar strings, but their left- and right-hand technique is so good that the string quality doesn’t seem to matter.

At least that’s the only way I can explain their indifference to strings.

 Anecdote: Elliot Fisk and Andre Segovia

But the following anecdote is a telling one. In an interview, Elliot Fisk, a devoted student of Andre Segovia, recalled visiting the maestro in his New York apartment in the late 1970s during one of his concert tours of the USA.

He found the maestro’s table strewn with various nylon guitar strings and his guitar leaning on a wall with a B treble string stretched to capacity to reach E pitch. Segovia was always fussy about tone and constantly sought ways to overcome tonal weaknesses in the guitars he played, even though they were the best available (Hauser, Fleta, and Ramirez).

He preferred a luscious, thick sound on the treble strings, which presumably explains why in single-note passages he often preferred using the B string over the E treble string.

 The Importance of Strings

So, how important are strings? Obviously, they are! But rarely do we consider the question of different kinds/brands of strings when we drool over and listen admiringly to YouTube demos of luthier-made instruments by Guitar Salon International, Siccas guitars, etc., or scroll through website catalogs of gorgeous-looking instruments.

I suppose it’s like visiting a Ferrari showroom and forgetting to consider the importance of the brand of tires to the elite car’s performance.

But dig a little below the surface and read some discussion threads in the classical guitar blog Delcamp.com or Acoustic Guitar Forum, and you’ll find a turbulent underworld of agony, uncertainty, and dispute among guitar players about their string choices and experimentation to find ways to help their guitars sing better.

(Note: Players of classical guitars are not the only musicians who can be obsessed with strings. Have a read of violinists’ blogs, and you’ll find that they are even more manic!)

 The Journey of a Beginner

Of course, when we first begin learning to play, the whole matter of string types is the least of our worries. It’s tough enough to stay in tune!

But eventually, for a serious student of classical guitar playing any repertoire or genre, questions about string suitability will surface sooner or later. It is simply part of the craft knowledge that we need to accumulate, both in the process of improving our sound and understanding the physical and sonic peculiarities of the instrument itself.

 Viewpoints on String Importance

Here are a few viewpoints about the importance of strings. In an interview a few years ago about choosing classical guitar strings, the former owner of Stringsbymail stated that strings made just 10 percent difference to the fundamental tonal quality of any guitar.

I don’t know how he could convert what is fundamentally a qualitative judgment of timbre/volume/sustain, etc., to a percentage calculation.

But anyway, his main point was that sound quality is essentially determined by the guitar’s construction, not the strings. That being said, a 10 percent improvement in tone and projection may be critical to a musician’s performance standards.

Don’t obsessive cyclists wear leotards to extract a few extra micro-seconds of speed?

 The Impact of Bad Strings

But let’s view the guitar-string relationship from another angle: what can bad strings do to a good guitar’s sound? Brandon Acker, an excellent guitarist and a thoughtful commentator, gave his firm opinion as a performer that bad strings can absolutely ruin the sound of an excellent guitar.

And finally, a hilarious but strangely profound comment by a customer of Stringsbymail about a brand of strings he had purchased and liked: “They make me want to buy a better guitar.” There really are strings that deserve better guitars!

The Player and the Guitar

 The Role of the Player

Before launching into specific details about strings, I should elaborate on the key point I made at the beginning; it’s an obvious point, but it gets lost in talk about strings and guitars: the player makes the difference, regardless of the quality of the instrument and strings.

Many things contribute to the quality of a guitar’s musical quality: materials, thickness of the woods for top and sides, type and quality of bracing, neck angle and relief, neck joint, saddle/nut design and material, string action, fret sizes and crowning, scale length, type of lacquer/varnish, etc.

Some guitars are made for specific music—e.g., double-top or lattice-top concert classical guitars—so there are already tonal differences and priorities for players depending on the type of musical genre their guitar is designed for. So, strings are just one factor in an ensemble of sound production.

A bad or mediocre guitar will always be like that—you can’t flog a dead horse!

Sure, better strings can lift a poor guitar’s sound a bit, but they won’t transform it.

Never expect a laminated box costing $100 to sound like a French-polished thoroughbred costing $30,000, even with the best-quality and most expensive strings on the market. The sexy advertisements and slogans of string companies will try to persuade us that their products are revolutionary and transformative for our guitar and our playing, but that’s what the selling business is all about.

 The Final Sound Quality

Ultimately, the final sound quality depends on the player. A good player will make even a mediocre instrument sound a lot better than an average or poor player, no matter what brand/quality strings are fitted.

The big lesson here is: think first before you blame the strings for inadequate tone/volume, etc.! Look at your playing techniques first, and then the quality of your guitar as the key determinants of sound quality.

 The Wisdom of Pepe Romero Sr.

The virtuoso concert guitarist Pepe Romero Sr. made the most profound point of all regarding guitar playing, especially classical guitar: IT’S ALL ABOUT TOUCH.

That is: the music is made by the player making physical contact with the strings, both left and right hands. You need, he continued, to “become one with your instrument”—in tactile terms.

We can call this key factor “embouchure.” In brass or woodwind instruments, this French term describes how a player shapes their mouth/lips to their instrument, which in turn affects the production of the sound. On the classical guitar, this embouchure/touch develops and matures over time. In the final analysis, it’s the quality of that touch that makes the music.

 Enhancing Touch with Quality Strings

If touch is the critical factor, a good quality and appropriate string/set of strings enhances that touch in guitar playing, not only the tactile experience of pressure but the sound production (volume/resonance/sustain, etc.) that results from this.