I'm trying to work out a balanced set of strings for a Lyon & Healy Style B, which is my "homework" before taking it back to the seller for work on the nut to get rid of some first-fret noise.
Starting with a set of J74s for a reference point, it's got beautiful sound on the DAE strings but a surprising (to me) over-response on the G string. An open G note just bellows, and I also find that if I play a second-fret A note and release it, there is a really intrusive "ghost G" note with an annoying length of sustain as well. Plus, though the mids and trebles are wonderful, the lower end is also rather brassy.
Thinking "smaller" and "stainless" I tried some of the medium gauge Tomastiks, only to find the volume and sustain aspects actually worsened. Hmmm. Thinking the TI windings may have had something to do with it, I tried the JS74 stainless, which were somewhat better (not to mention cheaper!) but as it turns out same-gauge stainless G-D strings don't pull as hard as the phosphor bronze, so I began getting more fret noise even on the A-E as the neck relaxed.
So now I've got myself cornered in a spot where I'm not sure anymore just what I'm hearing because of all the variables plus acute listening-fatigue.
Before I go back to the seller, using words like "sad defeat": has anyone else been through this? I'm beginning to suspect the ultimate answer may involve having a different bridge built that may selectively damp the low-end. The seller (whose reputation BTW is above any suspicion) may know just what to do, but I thought I'd bounce this one around the board a little first. Thanks for your thoughts and experience. -- PDW
He joyously felt himself idling, an unreflective mood in which water was water, sky was sky, breeze was breeze. He knew it couldn't last. -- Thomas McGuane, "Nothing but Blue Skies"
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