John Pearse 'Nuages' Gypsy Strings

happyjazzer · June 9

Anybody tried a set of 'John Pearse Nuages Jazz Manouche #2800' light guitar strings? How do they compare to Argentine / Galli gypsy strings?

Phil · June 9

Argies are the best...recommend not wasting time trying others...been there and done that.

crookedpinky · June 9

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/121865#Comment_121865

I Agree with Phil. I've tried John Pearse, Gallis, Dogal Manouche, D'addario, Phillipe Bosset and many others but always come back to Argentines.

rudolfochrist · June 10

I had a pack of Thomastik-Infeld Gypsy Jazz strings for testing and they were amazing. They sounded awesome right out of the box, like broken in Argies. They were .011 as well but had a little more tension, what I found excellent. The big drawback: after one week I had the feeling I need the change them. Especially the G string was super dead after that time. If they could extend the lifetime I think they would be a real competitor.

MikeK · June 10

I second the motion that Argies are king. Brother Buco once sent me a set of Optima Gypsyfire strings from Germany and they were the only gj strings I've ever played that were almost as good as Argies. But I'm sticking with the Argies & I like being loyal to Michael, so he'll continue to get my $ for them.

voutoreenie · June 10

Yeah, I'll pile on for the Argentines - I've tried D'Adarrio, La Bella, Galli and the only set I kinda liked was the La Bella's but not for the price (La Bella does make my favorite strings for archtops tho, especially if you're going for the Freddie Green sound). I don't what it is but Argentines just have something about them that can't be replaced.

happyjazzer · June 10

Thanks eveybody for your string knowledge. Looks like Argentines win the day!

voutoreenie---What were the strings (item type / number) that you liked made by La Bella for archtops to get that Freddie Green sound?

voutoreenie · June 10

>What were the strings (item type / number) that you liked made by La Bella for archtops to get that Freddie Green sound?

Silver plated for acoustic, 13s in particular:

https://www.labella.com/product/700m-silver-plated-medium/

When played through a rig like my fully acoustic 1951 Epiphone Triumph Regent with a vintage DeArmond 1100 floating pickup and into my 1964 Blackface Princeton Reverb, that's the sound.

As for the string choice, you don't wanna go with phosphor bronze - they're a bit too "twangy" on the attack and dark sounding through the decay. Also, you really don't wanna go flat wound because to get that real Freddie Green/Oscar Moore/Bucky Pizarelli/etc. 4-to-the-bar comping tone, the string reverberations need to absolutely pop off the soundboard so there's that "choppin' wood" tone that's essential to the style - flat wounds just don't jive for the style, especially when playing fully acoustic. And 13s because you don't want a light gauge for this.

Also, keep in mind for 2 and 3 note Freddie Greem chords, you need to comp near the neck to really get that tone - the sweet spot is usually about 1-2 inches behind it and you'll know exactly where to play soon as you hear it.