Nick Drake - what string gauge? 'history of strings'-type question
Lee W
between 69 and 74, would 12s have existed in those pre-wuss times? Or
were medium strings different to what we have now? I imagine that he
wouldn't have put 14s on such a little, fairly cheap guitar, the Guild
M20. Would anyone know if bluegrass gauge strings were around then,
because the top end of his guitar sounds thinner than 13s. The nearest
I've got, I think, is John Pearse phospor bronze bluegrass, (12-56, in
other words) but I use cheapskate guitars so far.
I read also that Neil Young uses 12s - would that always have been
the case? When did 12s and lighter strings start being made? Do any
professionals really use 10s or 9s on an acoustic?
Thanks for any replies, welcome also as e'mails.
David Kilpatrick
Lee W wrote:
> Would anyone know what gauge of string Nick Drake used? Recording
> between 69 and 74, would 12s have existed in those pre-wuss times? Or
> were medium strings different to what we have now? I imagine that he
> wouldn't have put 14s on such a little, fairly cheap guitar, the Guild
> M20. Would anyone know if bluegrass gauge strings were around then,
> because the top end of his guitar sounds thinner than 13s. The nearest
> I've got, I think, is John Pearse phospor bronze bluegrass, (12-56, in
> other words) but I use cheapskate guitars so far.
Strings sold then tended to be 13-56 sets all the time. The modern trend
to having whole ranges of gauges wasn't properly started in 1969-74. I
used to buy 'Gibson steel' which were steel wrapped, and a lot of folk
players did the same - they believed they were better than bronze
(actually they weren't!) and the Gibson name sold them. Either that or
makes like Picato, Rotosound, etc in the UK. Can't remember if Martin
strings were around then. Black Diamond certainly were.
Since Nick downtuned the guitar to such a wide range of tunings, and
kept the strings on for a long time, and since the guitar itself had
such a distinctive sound... hard to judge for any individual track. The
closest I've come to getting a similar sound was an old 50s Antoria folk
guitar with medium PBs.
DK
JOHNPEARSE
some of the time.
These were an 80/20 .013 through .056 set that were made for me in England and
sold under the Cathedral brand at that time.
Although the gauges were as printed on the wrapper - players then, as now,
tended to buy strings in gauges with which they were familiar - I DID markedly
change the actual string construction, using a skinnier core wire married with
a slightly heavier wrap to produce a string set that was very easy on the
fingers while giving a very rich and full sound.
I ceased dealings with Cathedral in the very early seventies, when I discovered
that their quality was becoming wildly inconsistent. I bought my own string
machines and thereafter John Pearse strings were made by myself.
In 1978 I emigrated to the States and all production of John Pearse strings
ceased until 1980, when dulcimist and business maven Mary Faith Rhoads
suggested that we set up a distribution company - Breezy Ridge Instruments - to
market my strings in America...so my antiquated machines were shipped over and
set up in Mary's mother's unheated milking parlor on the farm.
God! I'm glad those days are long gone!!!
Back to Nick, before he used JPs I believe that he was using Gibson mona-steel.
When I ceased production a lot of players who had used JPs switched to Guild
strings, which were just then beginning to enter Britain (via Ivor Mairants
Musicenter, as I remember.) Maybe he switched too, I have no idea.
Hope this helps.
John Pearse.
David Kilpatrick
JOHNPEARSE wrote:
> I know that Nick used my John Pearse "Folk Guitar Flat-Picking" set at least
> some of the time.
> These were an 80/20 .013 through .056 set that were made for me in England and
> sold under the Cathedral brand at that time.
>
> Although the gauges were as printed on the wrapper - players then, as now,
> tended to buy strings in gauges with which they were familiar - I DID markedly
> change the actual string construction, using a skinnier core wire married with
> a slightly heavier wrap to produce a string set that was very easy on the
> fingers while giving a very rich and full sound.
That's interesting because the same technique for making a 'better
sounding' and more playable string is used by Malcolm Newton for his
Newtones - and having tried JP Phosphor Bronze in a similar weight set,
I can confirm that John's strings are not unlike Newtones to play (while
many standard makes, especially D'Addario, are like stair-rods for
stiffness in comparison).
I have a recording where I would have liked to have got a guitar sound
'like' Nick Drake, for the sake of it, and maybe got somewhere close -
it's in a fairly normal tuning though. Song called 'Hear Today' which
was written *about* Nick. Lowden O-10 with Newtone 12-52 PB Masterclass
string set.
http://artists.mp3s.com/artist_song/1467/1467280.html
David
Roope
guitarism is more like Nick.
Nice one.
R
"David Kilpatrick" <icon...@btconnect.com> kirjoitti
viestissä:3E32F84A...@btconnect.com...
Lee W
emphatically say that I'm a pathologically fussy person and that my JP
12-56, of which I've only had one set so far, are the best strings
I've had. I've had them off of two guitars about three times and
boiled them once, being extremely financially badly-off, and they
still sound good, the bottom two strings especially. I've tried all
the coated strings; I bought about ten different brand sets and tested
them back to back late last year. JP's are not well promoted in the
UK, though - I hadn't heard of them till I used a discount website
over here (without which I might not have been tempted to buy them -
they were £6.95. Should you read this I'd be pleased to know whether
the 13-56 are the same quality of string or whether the bluegrass type
is special.
....
beks1...@gmail.com
try contacting the martin company or asking on a nick drake forum for more information, there is also a facebook page dedicated to nick drake gathering held every year in tanworth in arden, they may have the answer to your question