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Guitar String Construction – How They’re Made

String construction

Depending on the construction of the instrument on which they are used,
strings will usually have either a ball or loop at one end to attach the string
to the instrument. Strings for some instruments may be wrapped with silk at
their ends to protect the string. The color and pattern of the silk can be used
to identify the string.

Winding There are several varieties of wound strings.

Roundwound

The simplest ones are the roundwound strings. They have a
round core inside and round-winding wire, wound in a tight spiral around it.
Such strings are usually simple to manufacture and thus are usually the least
expensive. There are several drawbacks, however:

Roundwound strings have a surface profile (the “bumps” of the winding)
that causes “squeaking” sounds when the player’s fingers slide over the
strings. Whereas some artists use this sound creatively on purpose, this sound
is, in general, unwanted.

Non-flat surface profile also hastens fingerboard and fret wire wear.

The winding is not secured to the core and can rotate freely around it,
especially if the winding is damaged after use. It makes it harder to push
down and hold the strings with the fingers, and thus impairs the general
playing experience.

Flatwound

Flatwound strings also have a round core, but the winding
wire has a rounded square cross-section. When tightly wound, such strings have a
much shallower profile (in cross-section), thus making them more comfortable to
play, less damaging for frets / fretboard and producing quieter squeak sounds
from fingers sliding along the string. However, players frequently cite that the
sound of flatwound strings differs considerably from the sound of roundwound,
with less brightness.

Halfwound, ground wound, pressure wound

Halfwound strings, ground wound strings or
pressure wound strings are a cross between roundwound and
flatwound, providing both the tonal characteristics of roundwound and the lack
of squeaking and the playing feel of flatwound. Such strings are usually made by
winding round wire around a round core first, then polishing, grinding (thus the
name, ground wound) or pressing the exterior part of the winding until
it is practically flat.

Note that polishing process removes almost half of winding wire mass, thus,
to compensate for it, manufacturers have to use heavier gauge winding wire. In
its turn, thicker winding wire lowers frequency of slide squeaking. Depending on
sound processing, it can be a good thing (as squeaking becomes less accented and
it will be masked out by performed music) or a bad thing (high-pitched squeaks
are much easier to detect and filter out when recording).

Hexwound

Hexwound strings are composed of regular hexagonal core and
a tight (usually round) winding that closely fits a hexagonal shape. It solves
the second problem: it secures the winding around the core, so it cannot rotate
and slip under the fingers. Sometimes it is cited that hexagonal core improves
tones due to closer bond between the core and the winding[3] The drawback is that relatively sharp hexagonal corners
are less comfortable for fingers and wear down the fingerboard and fret wire
even faster than roundwound strings. Hexwound strings are more commonly used on
bass instruments (such as bass guitars).

Gauge

The tone of a string depends on its weight, and, therefore, on its diameter
or so-called gauge. Traditionally, diameter is measured in
thousandths of an inch. The larger the diameter, the heavier the string is.
Heavier strings require more tension for the same pitch and are, as a
consequence, harder to press down to the fingerboard. Heavier strings will also
produce a louder and thicker tone. (If a fretted instrument is restrung with
different string gauges, it may be necessary to adjust the height of the string
above the frets, called the “action,” in order to make the instrument easier to
play or to avoid the strings buzzing against the frets. The action height of
fretless instruments may also be adjusted to suit the string gauge or material,
as well as the intended playing style.)

Steel strings for 6-string guitar usually come in the sets of matched
strings. Sets are usually referenced either by the gauge of the first string
(e.g., 9), or by pair of first and last (e.g., 9-42). Some manufacturers may
have slightly different gauge sequences; the sample data below comes from
D’Addario string charts for regular, round-wound, nickel-plated strings.

(Note: strings in gray boxes are wound. All others are plain.)

Name

1
(e)

2
(B)

3
(G)

4
(D)

5
(A)

6
(E)

Extra super light (8-38)

.008

.010

.015

.021

.030

.038

Extra super light plus (8.5-39)

.0085

.0105

.015

.022

.032

.039

Super light (9-42)

.009

.011

.016

.024

.032

.042

Super light plus (9.5-44)

.0095

.0115

.016

.024

.034

.044

Regular light (10-46)

.010

.013

.017

.026

.036

.046

Extra light w/heavy bass (9-46)

.009

.013

.021

.029

.036

.046

Medium (11-49)

.011

.014

.018

.028

.038

.049

Medium w/wound G string (11-52)

.011

.013

.020

.030

.042

.052

Heavy (12-54)

.012

.016

.020

.032

.042

.054

Extra heavy (13-56)

.013

.017

.026

.036

.046

.056

Credit: Wkipedia

To see how guitar string are made visit You Tube for a video clip from the TV show “How
It’s Made”.

Here is an in depth page about the origins of the
guitar string on the Early Music Index site.

These are the frequencies that guitar strings vibrate: E-82 Hz, A-110 Hz,
D-147 Hz, G-196 Hz, B-247 Hz, E 330 Hz.

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