It was time. In fact, it was way past time! Time for some new strings on the Yamaha acoustic; after being played frequently over the summer months, its tone had become dull-sounding because of the old strings. Time for a change. There is a season..

I had some sets of .013s, but not one set of .012s. And I wanted to go with .012s because the 013s would’ve probably been a little too heavy for that guitar. (I seemed to recall reading somewhere that it’s better to use no higher gauge than .012s on that guitar.)

Anyway, I went up to Black Cat Music in hopes of trading a set of 13s for a set of 12s. As it was, they were happy to have a set of 13s (they were completely out of them) and gladly traded me a set of 12s for them. I decided to try the phospher bronze type instead of the 80/20 nickel type I usually use. I found out that the bronze strings have a more bassy / mid-range tonal quality to them than the brighter sounding strings I’d been using on it.

The verdict: I really like the fullness of sound the bronze strings give that guitar!

So, not only do new strings make a difference when it comes to tone, but the type of strings you use also matters when it comes to how your guitar sounds…