Your Favorite Strings For Mahogany/Cedar

[resonator48]

I bought a Taylor 12 fret GC Hog/Cedar for my daughter and I liked it so much, I bought one for myself. This guitar screams finger style. The Elixir 80/20 Nano Lights. As good as the guitar sounds with the stock Elixir's, I always try different string sets to make sure I'm optimizing tone and playability.

What are your favorite strings for mahogany/cedar finger style guitars?

[terrypl]

I think your Elixir Nano 80/20 lights are an excellent choice. I lean toward uncoated 80/20 lights on my mahogany/cedar, as they seem to add a little sparkle to the guitar's inherently warm tone. I often use Martin SP 80/20 lights, but sometimes others.

[sachi]

Depends on if you really like the chime from the stock Elixirs. I did not and I prefer D'Addario EXP 16 (light) phosphor bronze strings. Those warm the tone up a hair and sound REALLY nice on my GC-5.

Congrats on buying a lovely guitar by the way!! I think Taylor's 5 series is exceptional.

[ewalling]

My favorite strings right now are Martin SP Custom Lights, 11-52s, in phosphor bronze. These give both my sitka/mahogany and my cedar/koa guitars a gorgeous sound and feel for fingerpicking.

[Steve]

So much more goes into the performance of a string than just the wood used to build the guitar. Wood thickness, bracing specs, scale lengths, saddle/nut material; they'll all play a role. One string may perform very well on a Mahogany/Cedar Taylor or Gibson, but sound absolutely horrible on a Mahognay/Cedar Martin or Breedlove.

I tend to stick with the strings that were on a guitar when I bought it. After all, a large part of what I'm buying is the sound of the guitar.

I just don't have any desire to alter that...

[roadbiker]

My new favorite strings for any acoustic guitar are D'Addario EXPs. I recently tried the EXP19s and am now trying EXP16s, both on my Taylor 814ce. I am putting a set of EXP26's on my Guild D50 for my next string change. Before using the EXPs I have always preferred the D'Addario EJ16's over anything else I've tried. I use them on my Epiphone Masterbilt.

I also prefer Phosphor Bronze strings over 80/20s.

My 2 cents...

Jim

[Brian]

I've recently gone from Elixirs to D'Addario EJ-16's and EJ-17's.  I've really liked the change, both in sound and feel.  I agree though too with what Steve says about the strings that the guitar comes with, and I do like the sound of Elixirs on Taylors (at least the ones I've played).  They seem to complement each other well and they definitely last a long time (referring in the latter to the strings but yes certainly the guitars too).  I think I'm just finding that I like un-coated strings a little more.  There was another thread on guitar stores recently.  I don't know much about how guitar stores operate or what their profit margins are other than I like 'em and want to see them stick around.  I recently bought a 10-pack of EJ-17's on Amazon for a great price but I don't know... I think I'm going to start buying them from local stores again after these run out even if they cost a little more, whenever I can swing it financially.  I do buy guitars and other guitar-related things from local stores but I also get to sample a lot of different guitars, whenever I can and want to, on their dime -- regardless of whether I buy anything there.  That's a pretty cool deal.  I'm not saying that my string or other accessory purchases make or break a store obviously, but it can help a little.  OK rambling and off-topic I know, just came to mind as I thought about strings and my recent Amazon purchase.

-Brian

[Bill R]

I use Elixir PB's on my mahogany redwood (similar to cedar) R Taylor 2 (these are the strings it came with) and am pleased with the tone.  In general I find that PB strings are less bright sounding than 80/20 strings and add depth and richness to the midrange in particular.  Others may hear something different. 

Bill

[michaelw]

when i used light gauge ( .012 - .054 ), i liked  GHS infinity bronze -
i use EXP19s ... like frank's red hot

on a GC 12 fret, i would probably stay pretty close to the string gauge
(.012 - .053) & overall tension that came on the guitar from the factory

[flaggerphil]

I use Elixir PB's on all my guitars.

[Igniten]

I think elixir 80/20 did bring a fantastic sound on my previous 914 rosewood&cedar. Only problem was it was so low i could bearly hear the guitar when i played unplugged. Flatpicked or strummed it sounded great. But fingerpicked it did not work for me. And i play with fingernails and light touches. Could be the bracing that made it so low, i dont now. But the 714 i have tried have never sounded so muted.

Tried almost every string brand out there. Daddario did produce some more volume, but then it sounded really muddy. Ended up trading it, but thats another story

[resonator48]

I think elixir 80/20 did bring a fantastic sound on my previous 914 spruce&cedar. Only problem was it was so low i could bearly hear the guitar when i played unplugged. Flatpicked or strummed it sounded great. But fingerpicked it did not work for me. And i play with fingernails and light touches. Could be the bracing that made it so low, i dont now. But the 714 i have tried have never sounded so muted.

Tried almost every string brand out there. Daddario did produce some more volume, but then it sounded really muddy. Ended up trading it, but thats another story

I've experienced exactly what you described with a 12 fret GC all mahogany I had tried. Since I haven't had a lot of experience with all mahogany, I'm not sure if the quiet muted tone is a characteristic of all mahogany or not. What I do know is the 12 fret GC Mahogany/Cedar has plenty of volume and is not at all muted in it's tone. I play finger style with a light touch and the notes just jump off the strings with no effort at all. It's the most balanced guitar I've owned or remember playing. It sounds so much bigger than the GC's I've tried in the past.

[jmg257]

Martin FX PBs - a great string on many a guitar, and especially a finger style cedar/hog 514ce.