Chapter 4. Carbon, "Titanium," and the Quest for Power and Projection

Chapter 4.  Carbon, "Titanium," and the Quest for Power and Projection

This section delves into the characteristics and popularity of "carbon" and "Titanium" treble strings, examining their impact on the classical guitar world. It explains the properties of fluorocarbon and "Titanium" strings, comparing them to traditional nylon strings in terms of tone, projection, and feel. It also explores the trend towards powerful guitars, such as lattice-top and double-top models, and how string choices intersect with this quest for volume and projection.

 The Emergence of Carbon Strings

It’s worth dwelling just a little on the topic of “carbon” and “Titanium” strings and what their characteristics and popularity mean for the future of nylon strings in the world of classical guitar. Here, of course, we are referring only to treble strings.

The term “Carbon” is actually a simplified gloss for the synthetic compound known as Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVFD), or fluorocarbon. It was first developed by the Kureha chemical company in Japan in the 1970s and initially used to produce a new fishing line (branded as Seaguer).

It was later applied to musical instrument strings, and it was introduced on the market in 1990 by Savarez for guitars in their now-established “Alliance” range of treble strings. Other string companies quickly followed with carbon string sets, and over the following two decades, various refinements have been made, notably in the texture of the strings.

Savarez claims in its publicity that its Alliance strings, and by implication carbon trebles in general, “changed the world of classical guitar.” 

 Advantages of Carbon Strings

So, what’s the big deal about the carbon treble strings? Fluorocarbon is a stronger and denser/heavier material than nylon, and because of this, it is produced in a thinner gauge. Because of this, it has more harmonic overtones than nylon. Some advocates argue that they more adequately match the tone of the wound strings on a classical guitar.

In sound quality, they are commonly described as “bright” and “clear.” Due to their tension and density, their response after striking is more immediate than nylon strings. Because of their high vibration rate, carbon strings commonly produce greater volume and projection on any given guitar, but this projection ultimately depends on the quality of the guitar - i.e., its top, back and sides materials, bracing, its lacquer coating, etc.

 Disadvantages of Carbon Strings

Against the apparent advantages represented by carbon strings, there are also several widely acknowledged downsides. Carbon strings are stiffer under the fingers. They feel thin and sound thin, even tinny.

They can sound scratchy and harsh and require a careful right-hand attack to attain smoothness. Most of the carbon strings produced to date have what I can only describe as a “zingy” overtone. Some string companies have tried to overcome these tactile defects by producing carbon strings with a smoother texture.

Some of my students who have purchased guitars fitted with carbon strings have become quite disillusioned by the scratchiness of the sound and have been happier when they made a change to nylon strings and achieved a smoother sound.

 Market Trends and Ease of Playing

Despite these tactile/tonal disadvantages, over the past few years, carbon strings have been widely adopted by numerous guitar manufacturers in Spain and elsewhere as their standard fitted strings.

I am not convinced that these decisions are driven by tonal criteria so much as a response to market trends which prioritize ease of playing. Because of their faster sonic response, carbon strings require less force from the right hand to produce a given amount of volume.

They are therefore, superficially at least, easier to play (i.e., require less striking force than nylon strings) and produce more volume and projection. I say “superficial” because their high vibration rate acts as a substitute for the more profound air resonance generated by the back and sides of the instrument. On over-lacquered and/or laminated guitars, they can sound louder but lack depth.

 Performance vs. Recording

There is a body of opinion that sees carbon strings as performing best with guitars in a live performance environment but undesirable for studio recording purposes (where the smoother tone of nylon is preferred).

I have no idea why the live concert context should be a justification for using carbon strings because most concert classical guitarists use microphones to amplify their guitars anyway - so why would one want to amplify a scratchy, harsh sound?

Carbon strings produced by Knobloch and D’Addario are promoted in YouTube concert performance series featuring well-known virtuoso guitarists such as Marcin Dillon. However, the tonal characteristics of the performances are completely controlled by sound mixing technology – ironically, these carbon-strung guitars come out in these manipulated recordings sounding rich and nuanced – they often sound to me like they are played on high-quality nylon strings! Because of the nature of this recorded media, I just can’t trust these demonstrations in the same way that I could if I was in the same room as the player.

 Practical Uses of Carbon Strings

Despite all this, carbon strings have their uses, even for players such as myself who don’t like them very much. Nylon G strings have always been problematic for players of classical guitar because of their thickness and their unstable intonation.

Many players, me included, now replace their nylon G strings with a carbon string, which results in better tuning stability and a more satisfactory thickness under the left-hand fingers. Responding to this widespread preference, companies such as D’Addario and even smaller brands such as Ramirez now produce nylon sets with carbon G strings.

As well, carbon strings have a use in reviving old or tired guitars and boosting the resonance (albeit superficially) of cheaper laminated guitars which lack the nuanced responses of all-solid wood guitars.

 Introduction of "Titanium" Strings

Aside from fluorocarbon, another alternative to conventional nylon treble strings made its appearance a decade or so after the carbon innovation. Composed of a more rigid synthetic polyamide than nylon, “Titanium” strings have an evocative space-age marketing name that suggests that they are made from a magic substance discovered on the planet Krypton!

But these strings (i.e., those made for classical guitar, violins, and ukuleles) have nothing to do with the metallic element Titanium. The strings were so-named by some marketing genius because of their distinctive grey-purple colour which vaguely resembles the colour of the alloy.

They would hardly have been saleable using the bland name “Grey-purplish Strings”! Titanium treble strings seem to have made their appearance as an alternative to carbon strings with their well-known disadvantages of stiffness, thinness, and scratchiness – though they are denser than nylon, they are softer and somewhat warmer than carbon strings but aim to retain the clarity and brightness of carbon.

Most leading string manufacturers now include sets with Titanium treble strings in their product range. As with carbon strings, they have their advocates as well as detractors among players. They respond differently to different guitars, as do all strings.

 Quest for Power and Projection

The emergence of carbon and Titanium strings for classical guitars is directly related to the theme of volume, power, and projection for guitars in general. The quest for power and projection has been the dominant aim of modern guitar-building since the 1990s. Though the experiments of guitar luthiers were independent of string innovations, these trends coincide on the broad theme of power, which has been an obsession among luthiers and guitarists alike.

Greg Smallman’s “lattice-top” guitar, with domed back and sides, is, of course, the most obvious landmark innovation, though it would not have taken off so rapidly if it hadn’t been embraced and popularized by the world-famous virtuoso concert guitarist John Williams. Other parallel developments were taking place in Europe with the advent of double-top guitars pioneered by Matthias Dammann.

Virtuoso concert guitarists like Manuel Barrueco and David Russell were attracted to Dammann’s guitars, and the popularity of double-tops soared. Lattice-top and double-top guitars, formerly the preserve of high-priced artisan luthiers, are now being produced in quantity for the student market. And why? Superficially, perhaps, it’s because of the attraction of greater volume and sustain, though connoisseurs will argue for the greater benefits of overtones and harmonics of these guitars.

John Williams argued that the loudness of the Smallman guitars was a by-product of the musical qualities of the guitar, rather than a deliberate objective. His main concern was to be able to play notes at higher volumes without getting a percussive sound, as he experienced with his Spanish Fleta guitar. Greg Smallman’s guitar apparently solved this problem for Williams.

That being said, it’s pretty clear that for many guitarists, the popularity of these guitars is due to the attractions of volume and power. Generalizations abound about how lattice and double-top guitars are a response to the need for concert guitars to project well in large venues. That’s not an adequate explanation for the obsession with power and volume: after all, concert guitarists have been using microphones for years in large venues, and anyway, only a tiny proportion of classical guitarists are concert performing virtuosos.

The fundamental reason for their popularity is fashion. Lattice and double-top guitars are now labelled by commentators as “Modern” guitars, with fan-braced guitars relegated to the category “Traditional.”  In a way, this is a simplistic term because since the guitars of Torres from the nineteenth century, guitar luthiers have been tweaking the basic fan-braced pattern as well as back and sides, etc. to enhance tone and projection, together with other innovations (notably Bouchet, Friederich, Contreras Sr., Jose Ramirez III).

Nonetheless, the lattice guitars and many double tops are a different animal from the fan-braced precursors (note that many “double tops” are fan-braced).

 Characteristics of Modern Guitars

Certainly, these “Guitars on Steroids,” as I call them, have a different sound, and they require a different right-hand attack because of their quick response. Their tops are thinner and more rigid; therefore, their response is more immediate in both treble and bass registers.

Interestingly though, and despite the “Modern guitar” label, many luthiers in their description of the sound characteristics of their lattice guitars tend to not only emphasize “power” but also the sophistication of the “creamy etc.” treble tone – hearkening back to the essential qualities of the great “traditional guitars” of the past – Fleta, Hauser, Bouchet, etc.

 Back to Strings

Well-made lattice-braced and double-top guitars are powerful – they vary in tonal capacity/timbre depending on their soundboard bracing materials or filling between top layers (e.g., Carbon fibre, Spruce/Cedar/Balsa/Nomex). Some can produce very metallic tones, while others are capable of mellower textures.

In many cases, nylon strings are needed on these that help to soften down the metallic tone. It is not surprising, therefore, that John Williams uses nylon strings on his Smallman guitars. A combination of Lattice-top/double-top guitar with carbon strings is likely to be just too harsh and over-powering.

Among my guitars, I have a George Ziata concert model spruce lattice-top with domed back and sides – it is an absolute cannon of a guitar with a great woody tone - but I spend most of my time focusing on reducing its power because I don’t like the metallic overtones of the trebles generated by the tightly-braced top. To mellow the “pingy” treble response down, I use my preferred trouble-shooting nylon strings, Luthier mid-high tension (except for the G, which is carbon).