What Strings For ‘76 D-25Ch Archback?

JazzyDaddy

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What Strings For ‘76 D-25Ch Archback?

Just curious what you D-25 owners are using for strings. It’s such a loud, boomy dread especially when amplified. I currently have John Pearce PB 12s on mine, but have tried many others. Opinions?
 

bobdcat

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My 1980 D25 cherry is new to me. I have started with D'Addario EJ16 Phosphor Bronze and they sound right good. Might try Martin Retros next time for comparison.
 

dreadnut

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Hi JD, I also have a '76 that I bought brand new, it is a D-25M, almost identical guitars but yours is probably a bit redder; I played a D-25CH too, real pretty.

After all these years I've settled on D'Addario Phosphor Bronze Bluegrass EJ-19's. I played mediums forever but this set has a little bit lighter top 2 strings, all the wound strings are the same as the mediums. Slightly easier to play those leads.

This guitar has seen thousands and thousands of playing hours and just keeps on giving.
 

JazzyDaddy

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I had Martin Monels 11s on it recently and liked them; I may go back to those but use 12s instead. The JP PB strings are ok, nothing special.
 

geoguy

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I'm fond of D'Addario EXP16 (coated phosphor bronze light gauge) on a D25M. To my ears it is the right mix of warmth & jangle, & they last a long time.
 

adorshki

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Just curious what you D-25 owners are using for strings. It’s such a loud, boomy dread especially when amplified. I currently have John Pearce PB 12s on mine, but have tried many others. Opinions?

I used to advocate EJ-16's under the philosophy that "If it's good enough for Guild it's good enough for me"; and the Guild L350 strings were in fact D'Addario EJ-16 (with the gauge exception I noted below) from at least some time after '74*, but now think the real question is: "What're you trying to accomplish?"
I recently decided to see how much I could change the voice of my F65ce (maple archback shallow Grand Auditorium body, quite jangle-y) by not only changing strings from pb .010's to silk and steel .011's, but dropping tuning a whole step as well.
It was like having a whole new guitar to play with.
Currently I run Ej-16's on both my dreads but I buy an extra PB025 single "G" and sub it in to exactly duplicate the Guild L350's they were originally shipped with.
I do keep the D25 tuned a whole step down but the D40's in standard "E".
The D25's gonna get something different next time around though, just for the sake of seeing what happens to its voice.
Maybe some GHS Silk'n'Bronze 370ML (12-54) and back up to "E" since their tension'll still be lower than pb's.
Lately I'm observing what happens to sustain when top tension's lower.
Seems to be louder but a bit shorter duration, strictly from subjective observation.
**D'Addario went to market with pb in '74 and Guild was first to offer pb as standard strings on their guitars.
It's possible they even offered 'em before D'A went to market with 'em on their own, as D'A was a Guild supplier even before '74, but the only I've seen evidence doesn't call it "Phosphor Bronze", it's a '72 price list showing L350's as "Special Bronze Alloy-high copper content":
http://www.westerlyguildguitars.com/files/pricelists/72-7.pdf
Note the wide variety of strings they offered in '72, also be aware that I've seen owner's manuals pictured here from late '70's even to early '80's that indicated at least 2 different dreads were shipped with M450 mediums.
That was supposed to be a "built like tank" era for Guild so suspect the top on a '76 could probably handle the tension if your fingers can, on the other hand, I suspect the neck-set angle'll stay good a lot longer with lower tension strings.
:friendly_wink:
 
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GardMan

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I had Martin Monels 11s on it recently and liked them; I may go back to those but use 12s instead. The JP PB strings are ok, nothing special.

Try the JP 80/20s... I had a '74 D-25. All my other Guild dreads sound best (to me) with JP PBs (I play either lights, bluegrass gauge, or new mediums, depending on the guitar). But for some reason, my D-25 sounded a bit "muddy" with the PBs when strummed, and just rang out with 80/20s. the 80/20s imparted a crisper, more "open"sound. I used lights on the D-25... it didn't need any extra bass that bluegrass of new mediums might provide.
 

JazzyDaddy

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Yes good mention of the silks; I may try those too. My John Pearse PBs are feeling pretty good today though, I must admit. The other concern, off topic, is I probably need a refret. Always something... 🤣
 
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