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View Full Version : "Folk" ball-end nylons on a normal acoustic?



redgibson
December 14th, 2009, 08:26 PM
Well. I know it would cost me a whole 5 dollar experimental investment to get a pack of these strings and put them on my Takamine, (steel strings normally) but has anyone done this before? I play predominantly electric, but i was strumming around my friends nylon stringed guitar when I was crashing there up in NYC and i really enjoyed how easily it played and just the different tone it generated. I asked someone at a store and they said it wouldn't work and proceeded to disappear into the back immediately, didn't really make me put a heavy weight on that evaluation....

:help

FrankenFretter
December 14th, 2009, 10:52 PM
I bought some for my fiancee's daughter's acoustic, which has the bridge meant for ball ends. I tied a knot in each of the strings, and pushed the bridge pins in. It's working for all but the 1st string. Still having issues with that one coming out. I guess I should've thought this through a little more. I wanted her to have stings that would be easier on her little fingers, so naturally I turned to nylon.

I hope your experiment is more successful than mine. ;-)

-Sean

redgibson
December 15th, 2009, 08:04 AM
Frankenfretter, these are the strings i was going to check out, they already have the ball-end on them, maybe they would work better? I'll probably pick up a pack of these if i am out and about this weekend (need a self reward for braving the idiot holiday shoppers traffic and general mayhem)

http://www.samash.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_2802%20Ball%20End%20High%20Tension%20Nylon %20Guitar%20Strings_-1_10052_10002_-49973277?cm_mmc=Froogle-_-Nylon%20Guitar%20Strings-_-2802%20Ball%20End%20High%20Tension%20Nylon%20Guita r%20Strings-_-D2802

FrankenFretter
December 15th, 2009, 08:18 AM
Frankenfretter, these are the strings i was going to check out, they already have the ball-end on them, maybe they would work better? I'll probably pick up a pack of these if i am out and about this weekend (need a self reward for braving the idiot holiday shoppers traffic and general mayhem)

http://www.samash.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_2802%20Ball%20End%20High%20Tension%20Nylon %20Guitar%20Strings_-1_10052_10002_-49973277?cm_mmc=Froogle-_-Nylon%20Guitar%20Strings-_-2802%20Ball%20End%20High%20Tension%20Nylon%20Guita r%20Strings-_-D2802

Those seem like a lot less trouble. Nice. Maybe I'll order some, too...

markb
December 15th, 2009, 02:21 PM
It was a popular modification during the "folk scare" of the 60s, I believe. The neck may take on a back bow if the tension is much lower but should be easy enough to adjust.