To answer your question, I don't know. I changed to Nickel Jagwires from GHS pure nickels, I like the sound better. I am on my fourth set now. They sound better, and the tension feels better. Very subjective.

i hope this has helped.

can't go wrong :
support our forum & get yer Jagwires right here : http://pedalsteelmusic.com/strings.html

[This message was edited by CrowBear Schmitt on 29 July 2005 at 04:26 AM.]

Terry

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Mullen D10 /8x5 / session 500rd/ American Strat Highway 1 model
steelin for my Lord

I have a set of Jagwires on my Carter right now and really don't know if they are better or worse than the GL's I had been using. They sound good.

The strings that I liked the most were the Lashley Extra Lively strings that Emmons used to have. Those strings seemed to play themselves. Sho~Bud strings weren't too shabby either.

It's easy to say the words, but the question remains unanswered.

I can't think of two guys whom I respect more than Danny Hullihen and Ricky Davis, BUT

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An example is George L and Emmons Lashley strings are actually GHS guitar strings; re-packaged. The GHS and Ernie Ball string are of great quality; but will never live up to the consistancy of the Jagwire String, that is designed for the steel guitar and how it pulls a string.

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Jagwire String has the most dedicated and greatest names in the steel guitar industry; to only play and endorse such a string

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Danny has all the specs and calculations that go into manufacturing the Jagwire string; from over a year of study from the greatest steel players in the business

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This is not meant to badmouth anyone -- I just don't accept facts on faith and I haven't seen anything that documents a clear superiority of Jagwire strings to other brands. I've used a few sets. I've broken some thirds, so I know they're not unbreakable like some folks have claimed. They sound good, but so do my SIT, GeorgeL, and GHS strings I've been using off and on for thirty years. I would love to have the information that would support a clear superiority of one brand over another. I just haven't ever seen it, either by my own experimentation with brands, or by any scientific data that supports a particular conclusion.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S/D-12 6x6, 1984 Sho-Bud S/D-12 7x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

At the time there were only a few companies, such as GHS and Squier, that actually make strings. GHS, for example, makes strings under their own brand name and OEM's strings for many other brands. However, not all brands that are OEM'd by GHS are the same grade string. George L's, for example, is a custom string and is not the same string that GHS sells for Steel Guitar under their own "Super Steels" brand.

Jagwire strings were previously owned by another company and I know those strings were manufactured for them. It' safe to say the present owner doesn't manufacture his own strings either. The original Sho-Bud strings were made by GHS and after George Lewis left Sho-Bud for GHS, they OEM'd their strings from Squier.

When I was in Nashville, in the early 70's, I knew of several that had endorsement contracts with Sho-Bud and Emmons and also got their strings at below "wholesale" or less. One that I personally know about was Gene O'Neil. Gene came into the store (Little Roy Wiggin's Music City store) and wanted to buy some Emmons string sets as he didn't have time to get them direct from Ron Lashley. We quoted him the same price we sold strings to all the "professionals" and Gene got mad and wanted us to sell him strings at the same price Ron Lashley sold them to him, which turned out was below the wholesale price that the store paid for them (Gene left without any strings).

I do know that I hear differences in the different brands and I assume this is due to quality of the manufacturing process and maybe the difference in the quality of the steel.

When I had my ZB guitars, I found that If I used Ernie Ball strings, I could hardly ever get the 3rd string to pitch without it breaking. I would buy Fender or Gibson singles and use them as my 3rd with great results. I also noticed they sounded better than the rest of the strings, which were Ernie Ball.

So, how much of this is in our mind??

I've been buying strings for 8 different instruments for almost 40 years now. It's the same way. I've seen incredible Fender, Ernie Ball, D'Adario, Martin, GHS, SIT, etc. strings that sounded fantastic and lasted forever, yet with all of these strings I've seen the QC decline until I had to switch. Lately I've noticed D'Adarios popping the end balls before they are even up to pitch with far too much frequency.

The wound Jawires seem to be much brighter sounding than most nickel strings that I have used in the past. They're not quite as bright as stainless steel, though.

I noticed that, even though the Jagwires are the exact same gauges as the other strings I use, I had to retune almost all of the pulls.

Lee, from South Texas

With that being absolute, I will try to answer at least some of the questions presented here.

Doyle. Regarding the string breakage problem you were having, although not typical, it indeed can happen, and we know this too. Many factors are involved in this sort of thing, but without seeing the guitar, there's no way for us to pin point what the problem might be. However, (and this applies to any Jagwire customer) if you ever have a problem with Jagwire Strings, we will gladly replace the strings at no cost to you, issue you a full refund, or send you a set of strings in whatever brand you prefer. Whatever the case may be, we will do all we possibly can to make things right, all you need to is email me, or call me.

Larry, in response to one of your statements in particular.
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"Somehow, when neither Buddy Emmons nor Paul Franklin (the two players I'd consider the greatest names in the industry today -- not to slight the others), I'd hesitate to make that statement." "End Quote"

Buddy Emmons has, and/or had a contract with another string company. The Franklin's have the "Franklin" strings brand, which is their own line of strings. Both are great friends of mine, and I respect them very highly, and yes, they indeed are two of the greatest names in the industry. In any event, I believe this might answer your question, or at least to some degree on why they don't also currently endorse Jagwire Strings.

In any event guys, I think we all have our own ideas of what we think great tone is, or what product is "better", and I think it's great that we are fortunate enough these days to have many products and brands to choose from in this industry, and I hope it keeps growing for all of our sakes.

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However, (and this applies to any Jagwire customer) if you ever have a problem with Jagwire Strings, we will gladly replace the strings at no cost to you, issue you a full refund, or send you a set of strings in whatever brand you prefer. Whatever the case may be, we will do all we possibly can to make things right, all you need to is email me, or call me.

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Nic du Toit
1970 Rosewood P/P Emmons D10 Fatback 8x4
Peavey Session 500 unmodfied

My CD "Nightmare on Emmons Steel"
Click here to E-mail us.

The Forum doesn't charge for shipping to South Africa. Everyone pays the same price for Jagwire strings from our catalog, no matter where you live.

I know they're not inexpensive. The price reflects the labor and overhead of putting together sets specifically designed for a very small market. It's not like anyone's getting rich selling steel guitar strings.