Finding the right strings involves many factors, tone, response, playability, durability, and economics. Once you find a brand and model or combination of brands and models you like, then you must select a tension that pleases you. An expensive fine sounding and playing set that goes dull quickly is a bad buy IMO unless one is doing concerts and replaces strings every concert to insure maximum tone, etc. What happens to the student is they continue to play on these dull strings because of economics. I think it best to find a lesser priced string that has a good sound and holds it longer. I find it difficult to recommend strings, but rather say what I use and why. Different players have different goals and ideas and by many expressing their opinions, then the beginners can find who they identify with more and use that as a starting point for their journey seeking the best string.

I once used different strings and combinations of strings on my different guitars, but recently have decided to stick with LaBella 820B trebles and D'Addario pro arte basses on all my guitars. I order the LaBella 820B's as a set and the D'addario as a bass set only. After the LaBella basses wear I put on the pro arte basses and play until they go dull, then go through another 5 sets of basses before I replace the whole set with LaBella 820B's again. I use medium tension in both brands.

Here are my experiences with other brands and models:

LaBella 2001FM ... more expensive and trebles are not as bright and sweet as the 820B.

Savarez 520 red card ... my all time favorite in the 70's for flamenco. After La Bella came out with the black trebles, I preferred them over the Savarez, but still liked the basses. Only reason I got away from the Savarez basses is price and they wear quickly. Economics!

Hannabach 827 M & H ... Loved the sound, looks, and feel., but they lost tone rapidly. By the time they were stabilized for stretching the tone deteriorated and the basses wore faster than the La Bella basses. The price makes these spendy to change when needed. Economics!

Augustine ... Blue label great for classical, but never found any that met flamenco criteria.

Aranjuez 400 ... ok but lost tone and wore to quick.

Conde Hermanos 730... high priced name dropping. If priced the same, I would still pick LaBellas over these.

Luthier Supreme 20M ... ok but nothing special.

Ramirez MT... same comment as for Conde Hermanos.

Royal Classics FL60 ... Great strings! I would use these for concerts if I was a pro. Their black trebles are much like the LaBella 820B maybe a bit sweeter on my guitars. Priced out of my budget. Basses wore about average. One thing about these is for concerts, they are prestretched and one can get them to hold quickly.

These are my experiences and opinions and should not discourage one from trying different brands. Looking forward to hearing your experiences with various strings. More companies are making flamenco guitar strings than ever before.

Hola Sam
Yes, I tend to agree with you.
I know that sometimes guitarists want to avoid this discussion because they have heard that it is what amateurs do but in fact I think that getting the right strings for the right guitar and that suit each guitarist can make an important contribution to both the pleasure of playing and the result for the listener.
I tend to use D’Adario J45 normal pro arte silver for my Gerundino guitars and Luthier blue card, high tension for my Requena.
Sometimes it is nice to try others for a change but I find that these two are neutral.
I mean to say that you hear the guitar without an added characteristic of the string. In the case of some strings I sometimes think they have their own flavour and usually I do not want that. I want to hear the guitar itself.
It would be interesting to hear what other guitarists find.
Saludos

Tomás

Hola!

As for myself I spent a long time trying different strings on my Juan Hernandez and the best I could find are the D'Addario EXP45. A bit expensive but they have a clear full and rich sound. When I have enough experience in flamenco I'll try a mix of different brands.
As a beginner in flamenco guitar, my fresh experience told me that patience is the key word : listening to one's guitar is crucial but it needs training. A lot of training for me. Now I can make the difference between two different brands with my flamenca but it took me time. And above all, I think that any advice is not worth my own feeling when I play : I won't put this or that string brand on because a fancy professionnal does. I'd rather try to find the strings that produce the sound I'm looking for...

Before that :
Hannabach Flamenco (black nylon strings) : exceptionnal basses but very poor trebles, thus picados would not come out clear. Whatsmore, the strings needed change after only two weeks...
Pro Arte Medium Tension (Red) : good balance but yet a little weak to me.
Luthier Concert (Hard tension) : very good strings but something of the flamenco sharpness was missing, I think.

I have tried lots of different strings in the past, but have used D'Addario Pro Arte EJ45C's on all my guitars this past year. I agree with Sam's comments about price, especially where someone is playing a lot and not playing professionally. In addition to cost, the nuisance of having to change strings often is a big factor for me. I doubt that anyone enjoys changing strings or waiting for new ones to stretch enough to not require constant retuning.

I order D'Addario full-sets in ten-lots from Strings by Mail, because they are a little less expensive that way and so I always have new sets available when I need them.

-Bob

My new Tsiorba blanca arrived with LaBella 2001 Classical medium tension clear 202 nylon trebles and Luthier Concert Gold Set 40 medium-high tension bass strings; which are dark, silver-plated copper wound over nylon. I used different LaBella full sets on my Ramirez classical years ago, but had never used Luthiers of any type on any of my guitars. Peter said he put the Luthier Concert Gold Set 40 basses on my blanca, because a flamenco player in Portland thinks they are terrific and he decided to give them a try.

I don't know how much different the guitar will sound with the D'Addario Pro Arte EJ45C's that I have been using on other guitars. However, I have had the Tsiorba more than a month and the way the Luthier basses are wearing it may be a long time before I find out. I have been using D'Addario Pro Arte EJ45C's primarily because they last so much longer than other strings that I have tried. However, I can't believe how the Luthier Concert Gold's are wearing. I have played the guitar a lot and there little sign of physical wear and little change in tonal qualities that I can hear. Most strings would be dead by now, but those Luthiers still sound great.

One negative aspect is that they make my fingers black. Of course, skin secretions are acidic and tend to dissolve metal to form minuscule metal salts that deposit on the skin, so some amount of skin discoloration occurs when playing most metal strings, with the amount depending primarily on the type or types of metal that strings are made of. Considering the amount of discoloration from the Luthiers, my fingers probably are picking-up copper from under the silver plating, although the effect was greatest at first and it seems that it should have become greater as the silver plating has worn away. Whatever the cause, the discoloration washes off and is not a big problem.

I have been buying ten-lot sets of D'Addario Pro Arte EJ45C's. I only have two or three sets left from the last batch, so it is about time to re-order, but now I am not sure whether to order D'Addarios or Luthiers. I didn't know thatt strings could last so long.

I was thinking about what I wrote above while going to sleep last night and remembered writing "Luthier Concert Gold Set 40 medium-high tension bass strings; which are dark, silver-plated copper wound over nylon" and then further below speculating about what may have made my fingers black. Silver oxide is black, so if the strings are made dark by oxidizing the silver windings, it probably is silver oxide that makes my fingers black.

-Bob

Yes, you are right about the oxidized silver plating causing the dark stains on your fingers. I wonder if they were made oxidized or this occurred due to long storage. About 2 years ago I bought a dozen new sets La Bella 820's, 2 of the sets were oxidized and made my finger tips dark, the others were fine. Last years shipment all were fine. One might try wiping the strings with a dry cloth and remove the oxidation. I cannot see where oxidation would be any benefit and might actually dull the string. I would like to try the LaBella's with solid silver windings, but $36 a set is a little stiff for my budget.

Manos Lentas wrote:Yes, you are right about the oxidized silver plating causing the dark stains on your fingers. I wonder if they were made oxidized or this occurred due to long storage.

They are advertized as being "dark silver-plated," so the manufacturer probably oxidizes them.

See: Set of 3 bass strings (E, A, D) dark silver-plated copper wound over nylon

Alvarez

Do any of you know whether silver plating guitar strings makes them sound different or it done only to make them look better?

Fernandez

Out of curiosity does anyone still use gut strings ?
I found these on the net http://www.stringsbymail.com/store/inde ... th=1_52_73 and la bella do them aswel .