Guitar strings for all kinds of guitars
Good quality guitar strings ensure your guitar sounds just as it should. This page gives you an overview of our wide range of guitar strings. Whether you have a Spanish guitar, western guitar, bass guitar or electric guitar, we have more strings than you can play.
Different strings fit different guitars, which is something to be aware of before you buy. It's really frustrating to get strings delivered to your home that don't match your guitar. A blunder that resonates with most guitarists.
Strings for acoustic guitars
Since there are no pickups or amplifiers that contribute to the sound of acoustic guitars, strings have a relatively large impact on their overall sound. Therefore, the composition of material in the guitar strings and the thickness of the strings can add a lot of variation to the sound of your acoustic guitar. Also, you should be aware that although a Spanish guitar and a western guitar are both acoustic, they use very different strings.
The Spanish guitar only uses strings made of nylon, while a western guitar is designed to use strings made of steel. For this reason, in the English-speaking world, the western guitar is often referred to as a steel string guitar and the Spanish guitar is also referred to as a nylon string guitar. Spanish guitars are smaller, very lightweight and built from wood to emphasize resonance. These guitars cannot handle the pressure that steel strings would exert on them and there would be a high risk of breaking both the neck and the chair of the guitar. Unfortunately, a western guitar, even if it can be played with nylon strings, will not sound as good as if it was played with steel strings - the sound will be weak. So before you choose guitar strings, make sure you know what type of guitar you have.
Nylon guitar strings
Nylon strings are generally used for playing classical music, flamenco, bossa nova and folk music. That said, their softer, gentle tone and excellent touch response have been used to great acclaim by all kinds of guitarists, including jazz and country musicians. Willie Nelson is a great example.
Some new musicians choose to play with nylon strings in the belief that they take the strain off their fingers. Due to the softer material and lower tension levels of nylon strings, this is largely true. However, all new guitarists will experience some soreness in their fingers no matter which guitar they choose, and if you practice daily, you'll soon enough develop calluses on your fingertips so that soreness is no longer an issue. Basically, a nylon-string guitar should be chosen based on your musical interests, not because of its gentleness on your hands.
Because nylon strings tend to stretch more than steel strings, they need to be tuned more frequently, especially when new. They are also more sensitive to changes in climate, such as humidity and temperature.
Steel guitar strings
There are two main types of steel strings for western guitars: brass-plated and bronze-plated. There isn't much difference in feel between these two types of strings, but there is a huge difference in resonance. As a general rule, brass strings will always be brighter than bronze strings. If you see "80/20" bronze on a pack of guitar strings, they're actually brass strings, even if it seems counterintuitive. Brass, or 80/20 bronze, is made from 80% copper and 20% zinc. This gives the strings a bright and vibrant sound, and they work best on guitars with a large body.
Phosphor bronze strings have a warmer sound with a smooth (if somewhat subtle) high end response. This makes them great guitar strings for music genres that use a softer tone, like a lot of folk music or finger-style playing. These strings pair well with guitars with smaller bodies, although many musicians who play more relaxed genres prefer these strings on larger as well as smaller ones.
So basically, if you want a brighter tone, go with brass (80/20 bronze) guitar strings. If you want a richer and softer tone, go with phosphor bronze.