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Post by jromano23 on Mar 21, 2022 12:53:07 GMT
I was reading on the forum recently about National strings in the late 20s and that the Hawaiian set was somewhat similar in size to what most of us use today on round necks and the Spanish set was very light. Just out of curiosity, does anyone know what the gauges were on the Spanish set? I think Michael mentioned 11 and that the balance felt off when researching for the MM line. While light round core strings make sense at that time with all the ladder braced parlors and such, it seems to go against the idea that the only thing available back then was heavy. It makes me wonder what players like Johnny St Cyr used on 6 string banjos and if the light Spanish set was more aimed to jazz players that might have had a banjo background.
Thanks
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Post by jromano23 on Mar 22, 2022 17:45:23 GMT
A follow up question is if anyone knows if the original sets had a wound or plain 3rd string. In looking at some old photos, it seems some early players were using plain 3rd (but its hard to tell).
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Post by Stevie on Mar 23, 2022 14:55:49 GMT
I would guess that wound thirds were de rigueur way back when but this is outwith my competence Joseph, however I'm fairly sure that someone will break their silence?
でつ e&oe ...
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Post by Pickers Ditch on Mar 23, 2022 17:15:48 GMT
Sorry.
I can't help.
I'm old, but not that old.
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Post by jromano23 on Mar 28, 2022 15:38:00 GMT
The theory I'm chasing down with regard to this question is if the sound National was selling in the late 20s (specific to roundneck tricones and early single cones) was different than the sound we think of today. For example, with a set of 11-49 nickel strings, a tricone is still on the loud end of the spectrum with regard to an 000 and archtops like L4s and L5s, but it doesn't have have the volume or overtones that heavier strings provide and the sound we think of today. That said, it's still a really nice sound which is and would have been appealing at the time, especially for standard tuning across a range of genres. Assuming the square neck strings supplied at the time were more in the 13-56 range, do you all think that enough people stuck those on roundnecks for whatever reason and found they preferred the unique sound which led us to heavier strings being the preference today? It seems like strings got heavier in general in the 30s as instruments got bigger and louder.
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