Straight Up Strings

Roger Siminoff’s study of the longitudinal tensions and lateral loads of musical strings has been a special area of interest for more than three decades.

Although the concepts are similar, we distinguish between fixed-bridge instruments (guitar) and moveable-bridge instruments (banjo and mandolin). Our guitar strings are engineered with compensated torque loads (moment of force at the bridge) and our banjo and mandolin strings are a result of measuring and compensating for down pressure of strings at the bridge.

Straight Up Strings for Guitar

A major breakthrough in string technology, Straight up Strings for Guitar provide excellent string-to-string balance because they are designed to compensate for the force required to move the inner strings of the bridge versus outer strings, as the instrument is played.

• Final gauges are the result of determining desired torque load (in inch pounds), and then specifying gauges and core-to-wrap ratios to achieve the proper torque NOT by starting with common gauges and calculating torque. The result is a classic bell curve.

As a final step, we’ve applied ISO: 226-2003 equal-loudness principles to further enhance the perception of an evenly distributed tonal range, as a result of how the human ear and brain perceive sound.

Straight Up Strings for Banjo & Mandolin

The typical bridge designs on movable bridge instruments such as the banjo and mandolin have design flaws in which some strings sit over feet and have a direct route to the soundboard or head while other strings sit over spaces or arches and have an indirect route.

• A major breakthrough in string technology, Straight Up Strings for Banjo and Straight Up Strings for Mandolin provide excellent string-to-string balance because they are designed to compensate for these bridge anomalies.

• Engineered to deliver balanced download pressures depending on the strings’ location on the bridge’s saddle.

• Final gauges being the result of download measurements, and not the other way around.

As a final touch, we then tempered the gauges by applying ISO 226-2003 equal-loudness principles to further enhance the perception of an evenly distributed tonal range.