Strings for dobro

[Len Amaral]

Is there a standard set of strings for dobro? I have a Gretsch dobro that I measured the string gauges and used 80/20 bronze strings within a a few .002 of several wound strings. So what strings sounds and feels best on dobro?

Lenny

[Jerry Overstreet]

For G tuning, D'Addario EJ42's are very popular and pretty consistent. 16 18 28w 36 46 56.

I think all the major brand bronze strings are quite good.

I'm thinking of trying the Black Diamond brand from the forum next set. http://www.steelguitarshopper.com/produ ... wound.html

[Kevin Lichtsinn]

G tuning, I use GHS 1600's, 16-18-28-36-46-56

[Allen Hutchison]

I like & have used Martin & Co Bluegrass resonator standards for many years. G tuning.
Nickel wound for brighter tone. 16/18/26/36/46/56
Bronze strings give warmer tones IMHO.
So it depends what you want to play.

[Greg Booth]

My favorite is the Dunlop DOP1656 set. Phosphor bronze, 16, 18, 28, 36, 46, 56. At Elderly, $4.50 a set or only $4 for 5 sets or more. Free shipping if your order is $50 or more. The set comes with an extra 18 if you want a heavy 1st, I have quite a pile of them now. Long lasting and great tone.

[Stephen Gambrell]

For G tuning, D'Addario EJ42's are very popular and pretty consistent. 16 18 28w 36 46 56.

I think all the major brand bronze strings are quite good.

I'm thinking of trying the Black Diamond brand from the forum next set. http://www.steelguitarshopper.com/produ ... wound.html

I used to use the old-style Black Diamonds on 6-string. They lasted forever, and that winding stuff actually sounded good, on a Dobro!

[Len Amaral]

Thanks guys, this is my first attempt at dobro experimenting with different bars but I will order several sets of string as suggested.

Lenny

[Dave Thier]

My favorite is the Dunlop DOP1656 set. Phosphor bronze, 16, 18, 28, 36, 46, 56. At Elderly, $4.50 a set or only $4 for 5 sets or more. Free shipping if your order is $50 or more. The set comes with an extra 18 if you want a heavy 1st, I have quite a pile of them now. Long lasting and great tone.

I've been using Dunlop also.

Dave

[Jim Pitman]

Len, I like Martin's nickel wound for G tuned dobro, GBDGBD.
I can't get the phosphours to last very long.
The Martins sound best on my 1971 Dobro Dobro.

[Dave Thier]

Thanks guys, this is my first attempt at dobro experimenting with different bars but I will order several sets of string as suggested.

Lenny

In my experience, the overwhelming majority of dobro players use phosphor bronze strings. You should, however, try a bunch and play what you like best.

Dave

[Mark Eaton]

I personally can't stand the sound of nickel strings on a dobro.

I probably use D'Addario EJ-42 more than anything else, but I like a bunch of other ones.

I have often used in recent years the Curt Mangan phosphor bronze Resophonic strings and they are very good. Convenient for me when I run low because a local shop stocks them:

http://www.curtmangan.com/16-56-resophonic-phosphor/


I recently ordered from Elderly a few sets of Black Diamond Ferrel Stowe strings because a number of people have been raving about them, but I haven't put any on my Clinesmith as of yet.

http://elderly.com//accessories/items/N780FS.htm

Some players like the first string to be a .016 - Jerry Douglas doesn't like anything heavier because he thinks it sounds "thuddy." Others think .016 sound a little thin and prefer .017 and in some cases even .018.

[Robert Allen]

I've noticed a big difference in tone between 80/20 bronze and phosphor bronze. The EJ42 D'Addario is phosphor bronze. Back when I was a teenager 100 years ago, I used Black Diamond which were 100% copper wound. The third string never lasted long but those strings sounded good. As far as I know Black Diamond went out of business and the name was eventually bought by Super Sensitive, the makers of Red Label violin strings. So, the Black Diamond strings of today aren't the same as the old ones.

[Peggy Green]

I'd be curious to know if forumite "Franklin" has opinions on phosphor-bronze for Pedabro? Stretching strings with pedals and knee levers I've used the nickel wound sets from Paul Sr.

[Jim Pitman]

I get less than 1 gig out of anything but nickel. The high G goes dead. I didn't realize I was in the minority here favoring nickel. I wonder if it's my guitar. I have an original Dobro Dobro manufactured in 1971. Bought it new in 73. Did replace the cone with a a Quarterman and I believe I was the first guy to try an ebony capped bridge that I made as my maple one kept wearing out. (maybe not?) It has the old school tone ring as opposed to the new generation sound posts. From my limited experience with the new, the volume of the tone ring guitars is less than that of the newer generation.
Perhaps this is like the "best pickup" argument. Ie, certain pickups sound better in this guitar but no so good in another guitar.

[Mark Eaton]

Jim, there's no question that in terms of volume an OMI Dobro doesn't put out as much with the same amount of picking effort as many of the modern design resonator guitars. Part of it could be the traditional soundwell design, but it's also my understanding that the main reason is the overall body size. There are other aspects of internal design and construction that a resonator luthier could explain much better than I - there are some modern guitars built with different types of soundwells which are pretty loud. The role of sound posts, bracing, etc. I think in terms of volume itself, you just have to "work" a Dobro harder to get the same volume out of it as you would with a quality modern guitar. My early 1930s Dobro has a sweet tone, but my 2004 Clinesmith is just easier to play and has more volume and ringing sustain, and much better bass response because of the bass baffle design.

With the Dopyera family back in the business in 1971 as OMI in southern California when your guitar was built, I believe that for the most part, they were still following the blueprint of their pre-war guitars.

I'm thinking you're a pretty hard picker if you can't even get one gig out of phosphor bronze. Regardless of the material, the high G is always the first to go. Most of the phosphor bronze sets now include either a .028 or .029 as the high G or 3rd string. EJ-42s used to come with a .026 but after too many complaints they eventually changed the 3rd to the .028 gauge. I've tried nickel strings and for lack of a better term they strike me as being "harsh" sounding.

The gentleman who commands more money than anyone for a resonator guitar is Tim Scheerhorn, and as he edges toward retirement with a reduced output in number of instrument built per year, his minimum price is $10,200 for a guitar.

The reason he got into the business to begin with back in the 1980s is that as a weekend Dobro player on an actual Dobro (after starting out on banjo) he was frustrated at jams in being drowned out by banjos. He was an engineer at Steelcase in Michigan, and his engineer's mind drove him to try and "build a better mousetrap" with new, louder designs for the instrument and it evolved into a full-time business and he left Steelcase.

Below is a link to a recent article on Tim, who moved back to Michigan a couple years ago after setting up shop in Nashville for a number of years to be "where the action is." I'll never forget seeing and hearing my first Scheerhorn. It was at a bluegrass festival here in Northern California in the early 90s, and it was the first time I met Jerry Douglas. I think it was his first Scheerhorn and he was showing it to a few of us. I had to wipe the drool off my chin, I had a serious case of guitar lust . He gave me Tim's information, I got a hold of him, and Tim mailed me a couple snapshots of guitars along with pricing information. Back then his instruments went for around $2000, but it wasn't in the cards for me with a wife and three little kids at home and as a partner in my own business trying to make ends meet.

http://www.mlive.com/onthetown/index.ss ... _sets.html

I brought all this up because I think that a lot of the modern resonator guitar designs will give one longer string life since you're not picking with as much force to get the same volume. But I know a lot of pickers that change their strings every couple of gigs because they pick really hard regardless of the instrument. I'm more from the Mike Auldridge school of picking a little softer, or my ears might be shot from having attended too many Grateful Dead shows back in the day and maybe I can't hear when the third string is going down for the count as well others!

[Greg Booth]

I'm with Mark, I tried nickel once and couldn't get it off my guitar fast enough. It was like the difference between am and fm radio. The nickel set was bright but lacked the sparkle of the bronze when new. Most of the punchy bass was gone. It made an expensive guitar sound cheap. When I was starting out I used to shred my strings trying to be heard in a jam. Part of that was the guitar I was playing, but as my technique and noise control has improved I find I can be heard and have better tone without picking as hard. Plus it helps that I have one of those new louder large body dobros.

[Mark Eaton]

I've seen up close and personal quite a few Scheerhorns and have been able to test drive a number of them, and Greg's is one my very favorites. One sweet guitar!

It's not made from anything exotic like Brazilian rosewood, it's some good old nicely-flamed maple.

[Michael Brebes]

Besides the D'Addario EJ42's, i've also had good luck with the EXP42's. Last longer and make less noise on wound string slides. Sound about the same.

[Jim Pitman]

Mark, thanks for the run down - as I suspected. Have to admit I'm a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to Dobro. Seems PSG has dominated my time for the last 30 years. Nonetheless, I'm very pleased with the tone I get recording with my OMI Dobro guitar. Indeed gotta pick hard in parking lot session and this has carried over for me live.
No kidding - my guitar has too much overtone to my ear with anything but nickel.

Jim

[Webb Kline]

I like the tone of EJ 42's but I can't get much life out of them. I just bought some DR's from Heff and I'm really digging the tone of them. Heff claims they last a really long time. If that's true, they're going to be my go-to string. Just did my first gig with them tonight and they still sound like I just put them on.

[Don Barnhardt]

Paul Beard's phosphor bronze strings are hard to beat. He offers them with spare third strings which essentially doubles the life of the set. And they're economical.

[Greg Booth]

Don, I don't see a set with an extra third on Paul's website....how much are they?

[Michael Wolfe]

I'm going to give these guys a try on my next go-around:

http://www.webstrings.com/resophonic.html

I have had good luck with their spanish sets.

[Mark Eaton]

Michael, the price is certainly right on those strings - but they come with the dreaded .026w third string. Dobro players have been telling the string suppliers for years to lose the lighter .026w and go to a .028w or .029w and most have listened.

My father was a first sergeant in the Marines during WWII and he used to tell my brothers and I that no matter the order or directive, 10% of the guys didn't get the message. I've always remembered that one and I still see it happen on a fairly regular basis.

Greg, I didn't find any Beard sets either on the site with a doubled 3rd string. You can get an individual 3rd for $1.50. In visiting the website I was reminded that Paul also sells unwound .026 plain strings, which it seems would last longer than .026 wound or maybe even a .028w . This is what Josh Graves used (along with a .018 first string). I've never tried a plain .026, I should give that a shot just for fun.

[Greg Booth]

After I saw Michael Wolfe's link I wrote Webstrings and suggested they switch to the .028W like most reso sets supply. If they do I'm going to try them but not if they don't. I hope they will because I'm curious to try them. Mark, I predict you will hate the unwound G string, it's really thuddy.