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Round Core Guitar Strings.

The design basics of round core strings evolved from the violin family of instruments, including piano and harp strings. The instruments mentioned above always use round core wires instead of hex shaped cores. There is a sonic difference that is ‘very likley’ noticeable to most listeners. ‘Very likely’ is suggested since other factors can overpower the small differences in sound that hex vs round cores demonstrate. Realistically speaking, not all of us have perfect hearing anymore.

Typically, electric guitar strings, and most steel string acoustic guitar strings use core wires (for the wound strings) that are Hexagon in cross section. Simply put, the wire is not Round but it is hex shaped with six (hence hex) corners. The idea behind the hex shape core wire is that the corners of the hex shaped wire grabs the winding wire which is then wrapped around the core. That mild grab helps to lock the winding to the core.

There are some strings, both electric and acoustic, that use Round Core Wires Rather Than hex shape cores. DR Strings
are the ones I’m most familiar with that use round cores. Some of the artists that use DR Strings are Bootsy Collins and many more familiar guitar players. I use them on my Clapton Stratocaster.

Round Core Guitar Strings Construction consists of using a Round Wire Core, instead of a hex core, which is then wound with a round outer wire under ‘compression’, or tension.

For instance, I use ‘light weight’ strings guaged at .09″ thru .042″, because they are light and easy to bend. As an example, Stevie Ray Vaughan used railroad guage strings .013″ thru .056″ strings. The .042″(or in Stevie Ray’s case .056″) string is the low E string on a guitar. It actually starts out at .043″, during the process of winding it under ‘tension’, it narrows down to .042″ during the ‘compression’ process. In essence the string has more metal in it than you think. Therefore achieving longer life, increased sustain, easy bending and generally sounding brighter than other methods of producing strings. Even your harmonic overtones have a purity of sound not associated with the hex core strings.

Similar to the argument, tube vs solid state amplifiers, round core wires emphasize the
even or ’sweet sounding’ harmonic overtones. This property is more discrete and harder to
sense than the others mentioned above.

Installing Round Core Strings is pretty much the same as any string, except for a minor suggestion.

DR suggests, when you install these roundcores, be sure you have more than a wrap or two around the
tuning post before you cut off the excess(I prefer 4 to 5 wraps to prevent slippage). The reasoning is that round core strings, at least ones made by DR have an anchor at the end of the string, just past the nut, which keeps the string from unwinding after you measure and cut it to length. Especially if you need to cut it first and make a 90 degree bend. In essence, cutting a round core wrapped string before the anchor can cause it to unwind, although I have tried that and never had a problem.

I install them the way DR suggests, not cutting them until I’ve got them locked to the tuner posts, just to be safe. the instructions on the box are clear and to the point.

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