CF Martin SP Fingerstyle Guitar Strings - Different?

How do Martin's SP Fingerstyle StringsDiffer from their Regular SP Strings?

by Craig 'Lumpy' Lemke BSEd, MA
"songthief"


C.F. Martin's new SP Fingerstyle is a regular SP stringwith it's characteristic bronze plated plain andcore wires. But the core wires in the wound stringsare smaller diameter than in regular SP's. Thethickness of the wire used to wrap the stringsis larger so that the end result is the samediameter string, with (in some cases) a littleless tension.
Once the winding wires are made with larger gauge wire,the "sawtooth" effect of the string begees more pronounced.There will likely be more finger squeak noise as you movearound on the fret board.
There will also be less harmonic overtones produced by thesmaller diameter core wire. Whatever guitar you play maytend to sound a bit more like a Martin and less like aLowden or some other typically harmonic rich guitar.More fundamental, less overtones.
The core wire on ALL strings, regardless of brand,is plain Swedish steel. It all gees from the same placeon big spools. Only difference at all is the diameter. SPcore wires are then plated with bronze (copper/zinc or copper/tinalloy)and then the winding is added. The WINDING wire is made of92/8 copper/tin (for phos bronze strings) or 80/20copper/zinc (for 80/20 strings). 92/8 is more correctlycalled bronze. 80/20 is more correctly called brass.
Thomastik-Infeld does the same thing for some of theirincredibly expensive strings. They plate the plain steelwith bronze.
Bronze or brass is softer than steel. Think brass plumbingfittings vs steel bolts. Anytime we have a larger area ofbronze or brass between the fret and the steel core wire,that bronze/brass will absorb more of the physical traumathat we give to the string when we fret or capo it.
Consider, for example, the plain strings vs the wound.
If you remove a plain string after abusing it for toolong, and look at it with a magnifier, you'll see tarnishand maybe a little tiny bit of indentation. But the majorityof the "abuse" is borne by the fret, which is made ofnickel/copper alloy, and softer than the steel string.The steel string dents the fret, not the other way around.Look at a guitar that's been played for a few yearsand you'll typically see lots of fret wear aroundthe first few frets in the area of the 1st and 2nd strings.
Now remove a wound string from the same guitar.You'll see flattened, even broken windings. In thiscase, the winding wire is softer than the fret. So thewinding is taking the brunt of the abuse, not the fret.
All of this suggests a couple of things:
1) We probably WANT the strings to wear out fasterthan the frets. Strings are easier and less expensiveto replace than frets.
2) The first two strings, the plain wires, won't makeany difference at all to the sound or life of the strings.
SO
The fingerstyle set should theoretically sound a littleless harmonic rich. They should wear a little faster andthey will haveless than 2 lbstotal tension difference.The tension difference will all be within the 3 through 6thstrings (the wound strings).
Here's the geparisons in gauges and tension in lbs.
SetGauge 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tension lbs
SP Phos Bronze Strings 6 StringMSP-4100 Light .012 .016 .025 .032 .042 .054 164.8MSP-4200 Medium .013 .017 .026 .035 .045 .056 186.2
SP Fingerstyle Phos Bronze 6 StringMSP41FS Light .012 .016 .025 .032 .042 .054 163.2MSP42FS Medium .013 .017 .026 .035 .045 .056 184.8
Difference here, in tension, is -Lt Gauge 164.8 (regular SP)vs 163.2 lbs (fingerstyle SP)MedGauge 186.2 (regular SP)vs 184.8 lbs (fingerstyle SP)

SP 80/20 6 StringMSP-3100 Light .012 .016 .025 .032 .042 .054 160.5MSP-3200 Medium .013 .017 .026 .035 .045 .056 181.1
SP Fingerstyle 80/20MSP31FS Light .012 .016 .025 .032 .042 .054 161.4MSP32FS Medium .013 .017 .026 .035 .045 .056 182.8
Difference here is -Lt Gauge 160.5 (regular SP)vs 161.4 lbs (fingerstyle SP)MedGauge 181.1 (regular SP)vs 182.8 lbs (fingerstyle SP)
Note that in 80/20 strings, the SP Fingerstyle strings are HIGHER in tension.
I change strings frequently. My Lowden mini jumboand my Martin OM get new strings once a week. Theyget very heavy use in heavy Kottke-like fingerstyleplayed with thick acrylic nails and a lot ofpercussive, loud effects.
For ME personally, I want a string with as much tension asI can stand so that my right hand has some resistance towork against and so that I can get a bigger range ofdynamics. I can get away with really heavy strings whenplaying fingerstyle. ButI also play a lot of chord melodyjazz style with lots of barre chords, my left hand doesn'tsuffer and I sometimes do it for several hours daily. I believethat good body mechanics allows anyone to achieve that.
My Lowden typicallywears SP4250's and is usually tuned to standardor DADGAD or DGDGBD or DGCGCD but down a half step fromconcert pitch. The downtuning is primarily for the growlof the low end and notto reduce tension. If I took it down furtherthe tension would begin to be so low that tone would suffer.
My Martin OM wears SP4200's in standard concert tuning.
So what does this all mean?
The new strings will have less than two pounds tensiondifference. They will sound darker. They will wearquicker. They will have more finger squeak.
If you have thoughts, theories or guesses about howyou feel regarding strings on your guitar(s), I'dbe honored to hear them. The strings I sell areonly the strings that I use professionally. Idon't sell styles or types that I don't usemyself. So all of my thoughts and gementsgee from personal experience and my ownsubjective opinions.

Craig 'Lumpy' Lemke - okay songthief