Black Diamond Strings

[banjoboy]

Sorry if this is a rehash of another thread, but....I played a festival last weekend where Cedar Hill was also playing. I sat in on a workshop with Frank Ray. He's quite a hoot. He said that he uses Black Diamond strings and that he likes them better than other strings he's tried. He agreed that at one point they had a bad reputation, but they have since started making really great strings. Anybody else a fan of Black Diamond? I'm now curious try them.

[Ivan Kelsall]

A Cafe member who,at the time owned a Weber "Fern" like my own, posted thet he'd tried Black Diamond strings (same gauges as EJ74's) on it & they sounded very good. I bought a set,tried them on my Weber & they were a total disaster tonally. 'Hard & bright' are the 2 terms that spring to mind. I took them of & returned to my EJ74's ( J74's at that time).

It only proves what most of us know & understand - not all strings in all gauges of any brand suit all mandolins - you have to try them !.

What make is your mandolin ? - knowing that might help others to recommend a string set for it,but if they take your fancy to try them,go for a set of BD's,that's the ONLY way you'll find out if they suit your mandolin.

GHS A270's suit my Ellis "A" style superbly well,but they sounded like hell on my Weber - or rather the .016" gauge "A" strings did,
Ivan

[Ray(T)]

My favourite line in the song "Church Street Blues" - I can only assume that it fitted the rhyme/meter!

I tried their guitar strings back in the 70's and took them off again a day or two later. I suppose the question should be, who makes them nowadays?

[Jacob]

I suppose the question should be, who makes them nowadays?

WE MAKE 2 STYLES OF MANDOLIN STRINGS

[Denny Gies]

Still one of the best Larry Cordle songs.

[mandobassman]

WE MAKE 2 STYLES OF MANDOLIN STRINGS

Not sure that means they actually manufacture them.

[Mandobart]

Guy Clark liked 'em. I guess Emmylou does too

[Jacob]

Not sure that means they actually manufacture them.

"Black Diamond is a small custom shop located in Sarasota, Florida. We are musicians making strings for musicians. The strings we make are of the highest quality and are unlike any other brand on the market.
In our small custom shop in Sarasota, Florida, we produce high-end boutique strings for every fretted instrument."

[bigskygirl]

A friend of mine gave me a set of Black Diamonds that I put on my Northfield and they were great. I really liked the feel and sound and they lasted for quite awhile. I've had some brands I've put on and taken off almost immediately, you just have to try different sets and see for yourself.

[mandroid]

Adequate, and available easily is my criteria.

[Ray(T)]

"Black Diamond is a small custom shop located in Sarasota, Florida. We are musicians making strings for musicians. The strings we make are of the highest quality and are unlike any other brand on the market.
In our small custom shop in Sarasota, Florida, we produce high-end boutique strings for every fretted instrument."

OK - who was making them in the 70's? They've quite a reputation to live down to!

[Doug Goodhill]

From a Mudcat Thread on the history of The National Musical String Company of New Brunswick NJ:
1970 – The NMSCo is purchased by the Kaman Music Corporation.
1979 – The NMSCo is renamed the Kaman Musical String Company and moved to Connecticut.
1982 – The old New Brunswick NMSCo building is declared a national historic landmark and still stands today.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Well - bigskygirl's post proved my point !. They will suit some instruments superbly well,but not all, as is the case with GHS A270's on my Weber,but they sound terrific on my Ellis.
Back when i started playing banjo,Black Diamond strings were all you could get over here. Then along came Rotosound strings. It was only when the whole Beatles era crept in on us,that US imports started to arrive in the UK,& we were up to the eyeballs with 'new stuff',
Ivan

[dan in va]

BD makes a good upright bass string. Fretwell's (Staunton VA) anjusted the sound post on a Czech/German 3/4 laminated bass and tried a number of strings. The BD medium Doghouse the best string for it. This one lasts well, too.

[MikeEdgerton]

When I was learning to play my first stringed instrument about 55 years ago the only strings available in my town were Black Diamond strings. They were made in New Jersey if I recall. The new Black Diamond strings has no known connection to the old company.

[Ray(T)]

Don't know about the US, Mike, but back in those days, strings were a bit of a problem and we only changed them when they broke. I think "Cathedral" were the only generally available make in the UK and I remember unsuccessfully trying to find a set of "brown" strings to replace those on my red label Yamaha. I bought a Martin guitar in 1973 and d'Addario appeared in 1974 - problem solved.

Nostalgia just isn't what it uesd to be!

[MikeEdgerton]

Where I grew up the local drug store had a bin of Black Diamond strings and you just bought the string you needed. Things have changed.

[DHopkins]

Black Diamond were the only strings my daddy used. When he passed away, I took possession of his Slingerland guitar. When I got it, he had Black Diamond strings on it. In the case, however, was a package of Gibson strings. They were corroded and I have no idea when they were put there They're still in the case.

I put a set of black Black Diamond strings on my Breedlove natural finish Quartz. First, they look cool. The black strings against the lighter-colored mandolin body is very pretty. Second, they actually sound pretty good and are easy to play. It's my back-up mandolin so it doesn't get as much play time as the Breedlove Legacy but I have no problem playing the Quartz with the Black Diamond strings on a gig.

[allenhopkins]

Good tune, anyway:

[Bill Kammerzell]

I recall Black Diamond being the only strings I used early on in the mid 1970's. When I started playing again 2 years ago, I was really surprised to see how many makes of mandolin strings there were. Out of curiosity I'd like to try a set. I guess that Strings and More, or one of those places would have them.

[Ivan Kelsall]

''Cathedral'' strings !!. I'd forgotten all about those. I do remember buying Cathedral banjo strings back in the 1960's. RayT might remember,but the only place that i could be certain of them having one or the other brand in stock,was the well established Manchester music store,Forsyth Bros.,a store that i still visit on occasion.

As soon as i heard about them,i began using Bill Keith ''medium heavies'' on my Antoria banjo,& it sounded pretty good,so good in fact,that i put them on my Stelling banjo as soon as i got it - & destroyed the tone completely !,
Ivan

[MediumMando5722]

As soon as i heard about them,i began using Bill Keith ''medium heavies'' on my Antoria banjo,& it sounded pretty good,so good in fact,that i put them on my Stelling banjo as soon as i got it - & destroyed the tone completely !,
Ivan

Banjos are the exception to my "the heavier the better" rule with strings. I'm trying different brands still, but mine sounds best 10,11,13,20,10. I was using 11-22, and it really seems more lively with the lighter set.

[Ray(T)]

''Cathedral'' strings !!. I'd forgotten all about those. I do remember buying Cathedral banjo strings back in the 1960's. RayT might remember,but the only place that i could be certain of them having one or the other brand in stock,was the well established Manchester music store,Forsyth Bros.,a store that i still visit on occasion.
Ivan

Did Forsyth Bros. sell such common things as fretted instrument strings in those days? It always looked like a dusty old piano shop which could only be entered by classical musicians and I thought the stuff they sell today was a relatively recent innovation. The other music shops in Manchester were Mameloks (also on Deansgate) and Renos and Dawsons on Oxford Road. (i could mention"another place" on Oxford Road but, when a friend of mine had his mandolin stolen, the police told him to go there and look for it!)

Back in the 60s, my local shop was Neild & Hardy in Stockport; which burned down shortly after I bought my first decent mandolin (an Ibanez) from them in 1976.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hi Ray - They most certainly did,although not too many, & they usually had banjo strings in stock. All the music shops down the old Oxford Road were pretty hit or miss when it came down to banjo strings. When the Folk boom kicked off,''Barratts'' began to stock them,but even they they were into guitars & not much else,although that's where i bought my Antoria 'Mastertone' banjo copy (sort of !) from.

A good friend of mine,Terry Morton,used to work at ''Higham's Harmony House'' on Shuedhill. They stocked banjo strings,so i began buying from them. Knowing that i renovated banjos,they roped me in to re-skin banjo's for customers. I quit when they asked me to fit old drum heads - no way !.

The good old days - Manchester was buzzin' !,
Ivan

[Ray(T)]

Ah - it was "Barratts" not "Dawsons". And if you were really desperate, you could go to "Mazels" - A semi-derelict building on London Road next door to UMIST; where they invented "Graphene" and other novelties!