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I have used Martin SP's in the past and they seemed good, Assumed they were made in US because they were the high end. Does anyone know how long they have been made in Mex? Any difference?

Anyway GC here has a "wholesale" type price on 12 pack.

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Pat

Over 20 years practicing law I have come across quite a lot of manufacturing in Mexico. What I've learned is that most factories have all the same quality control procedures and all the most modern manufacturing process that a US factory has. The problems are cultural.
There is a huge gap between upper management and the factory worker/floor supervisor. There doesn't seem to be much of a culture of being in it together or working towards a common goal. When a floor supervisor or QC employee notices that something went wrong with a production run they are scared to death to tell management. Too often upper management takes an "off with their heads" attitude.
That is a long winded way of saying that I am sure that the strings are high quality, your just more likely to find a bad batch.


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I read that twice and still can't tell if you are talking about working in Mexico or the U.S.A.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Martin strings were made down there for about 10 yrs it is nothing new. Very few string manufacturers are actually in the USA anymore.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Some of the highest quality strings that I have ever used, Thomastik-Infeld are imports as well so I don't think that any single country has an exclusive on producing high-quality strings (or POS strings..).

Lots of folks here will likely be like our customers and fans of Elixir strings and we see QC issues with these string frequently and these issues are the sort that impact players with defects including uneven winds and a tendency to break for no apparent reason when the string is brand new.... And at these prices.... that sucks....

The worst strings that we see in terms of being of a uniform, predictable quality has been DR....

I've never noticed QC issues with any Martin string offering or D-Addario.

DR strings just found out that the company that made the paper envelopes was using standard tablet paper . This is heading into a law suit. DR strings are pretty good but the paper corroded them.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/busines ... -1.1361363

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I use to carry a lot of different brands of strings 20 plus years ago and was told , that there are very few companies that actually make the string winding machinery used in making the strings. Does it wind up that it is the composition of the strings themselves that determine how good they are ?, or are we just being sold a bill of goods that x is better than y for marketing purposes??? Just wonderin ??

Here's a good link although a little dated being from 2008 regarding who is actually making their own strings. This guy, Prof. String... seems to have his stuff together and it was a good read for me.

http://professorstring.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=28&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Just an aside, I was talking to Kent Armstrong last week about some pickup,issues on an archtop and he asked what kind of strings were on it. I told him Thomastiks.

He said they were some of the worst for unevenness of response with a magnetic pickup. Anyone else seen that?

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Yes. I have to raise the poles on the wound strings to compensate. But they play beautifully.


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Thanks everybody! So, I got some and put a set on and they seem to have a metallic sound. Maybe I just never noticed before. But can't complain because GC had them for 30 dollars a dozen! Although, I had to wait in line, listen to some sort of loud "band", listen to loud Elvis inside and get hit up for lessons multiple times. Lol

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Pat

That could be, never tried them with a magnetic pup and most of the time folks who use these have high-end acoustic flat tops and use either USTs, a mic, or both but rarely have I seen magnetic pups used with these strings.

Kent knows his stuff though, an understatement so I would trust his sage advice.

rirhett: Tomastiks do sound wonderful, lush, lots of over tones, great balance but the feel is what I like the most because they seem to feel more flexible, softer, etc.

They are a bit of a pain on two fronts though. First the price sucks and as one who never bought into the coated string BS... Tomastiks are around twice the price of coated strings...

Second the fiber wraps near the balls may require additional sloting of the bridge, top and plate if one is using unslotted pins. That's what I had to do on one of my L-OOs that I tend to play the very most. No biggie but for folks who are not Luthiers, don't have the tools handy or the knowledge there is some risk that someone will try to force a pin down and crack the bridge between the pin holes. I just had to fix a nice Taylor this morning that this happened to where the strings, not Tomastiks, were heavy enough that the pins no longer fit and the owner forced them down and cracked his bridge.

I agree Thomastik-Infelds flat wraps cost $38.00 last week. I've got them on an Ibanez Artcore. Seem to work great. Also I just put a set on an old Harmony Hollywood but haven't wired the electronics yet. But they sure are slick to play. For an Alverez Classical I use Dogal Diamanté. They are an import from Italy. Also twice as much as the American brands. Actually use them on a 35 yr old Yamaha as well.


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