I had replaced the original light gauge strings which came on the Deering Calico banjo. I put the GHS PF160 strings on there instead. My brain has been stuck on using GHS PF160 strings for a couple years now. I have concluded this week that I made a bad choice. It wasn't until I replaced the original GHS light gauge strings on the Calico, with my GHS PF160 strings, that I realized it killed my banjo's tone considerably.
So, the first thing I thought of was replacing the PF160 phosphorus bronze strings on my Elite 85 Recording King; and sure enough, the PF135 set of stainless steel strings brought it alive. For the time being, I'm going to use a lighter gauge of strings on my banjos.
I also ordered some medium gauge GHS PF175 (Sonny Osbourne) stainless steel sets of strings today (11, 22, 13, 12, 11). I still have the PF160 strings on my Deering Goodtime Special, but I'll put the PF175 set on I think, to try them. I'm leaning toward the J.D. Crowe PF135 set for the best tone, so far. I should have ordered the Almost-Medium GHS PF185 set of strings (.0105, 20, 13, .0115, .0105). I think mediums will be too heavy. I had no idea that using a heavier gauge string could deaden the resonance. It could also be the phosphorous bronze versus stainless steel that deadens the tone. I am not sure. The fourth string is the most important string, as it leads off nearly every song.
There's also a J.D. Crowe PF140 "studio" set of strings, which uses .0095" strings on strings 1 and 5, instead of .010" on the PF135 "stage" set for strings 1 and 5. GHS has all kinds of strings. I also noticed the PF130 set, which is nickel plated steel. I am quite amazed how different a tone is produced by merely changing the string sets. I didn't think it really matters, but it sure does! So far, I recommend going with the GHS PF135 J.D. Crowe set.
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