Fretted strings -- for guitar and such -- are very simple. Around him, the din of more than 200 string-winding machines and the workers who presided over them set a scene of brisk productivity. Steady growth brought it to the current premises in 1994. Worldwide, the fleet of D’Addario employees has ballooned to 1,100. The latter happens because the bowing action forces the string to vibrate with all of its vibrating modes being harmonic, but if the string does not want to vibrate naturally that way, the string is slow to respond. Thanks for the writeup! "The only difference is that now we have automated machines and more materials to use for the core and the wrap, such as synthetic materials.". D'Addario have developed a process by which they treat the wrap wired and core of the strings with a newly developed, hydrophobic nano coating before it is made in to the string. The silking makes it possible to identify the string and to allow to be thin enough to wrap around a peg. D'Addario strings are widely respected among the music industry's most well-known guitar players, including Sheryl Crow, Lenny Kravitz, Pat Metheny, Tom Hamilton of Aerosmith, Dave Matthews and John Scofield. D’Addario leverages centuries of string-making experience to bring you the most durable, consistent and enduring guitar strings. String cores use only three basic materials: steel, synthetic (polymers) and natural gut. Nick Spadafora, a production assistant from Hauppauge who works on the company’s films, is also the guitarist in the Long Island rock band To Sail Beyond the Sun. D'Addario puts a damping compound in all strings so that when you take the strings out of the package, they sound close to the way they should sound, Lyris said. The sound of that "E" can be a deal-breaker for some people, Fan said. Choose phosphor bronze for a warmer sounding string or 80/20 bronze for a brighter string that will cut through the mix. String Winding: Nickel, Stainless Steel. Though it is known for guitar strings, D’Addario has recently expanded into producing drumheads, drumsticks, reeds and mouthpieces. They are typically unwound, or perhaps they have one winding. His favorites — the NYXL 11-46 — “really do last longer and sound better than the standard XL strings,” he said. Their small town, Salle, was a sheep herding region, and logically enough, it was sheep herders who made the early gut strings from sheep, hog and horse intestines. Join the discussion. Now he is one of more than 3,000 artist-endorsers. D’Addario Acoustic Guitar and Bass Strings. For non-gut strings, the damping now is achieved with modern synthetic materials. Phosphor Bronze — 92% copper and 8% tin with phosphorous, introduced to string making by D'Addario in 1974. I have one recording where the balance was not achieved, and it bugs the hell out of me. Show Comments . Hundreds of spools or metal wire of different kinds and thicknesses sit in a wall of cubbies. Very interesting. It's such a specialized field that D'Addario even makes its own manufacturing equipment in-house, with an entirely different room and department devoted to the design, creation, maintenance and retrofitting of machines for making strings. From steel-string dreadnoughts to delicate nylon classical guitars, D’Addario has high-quality sets for them all. Here is how Fan explains it: Very interesting, Laurie. It's a rather complex process, involving quite a few people! Since the 1970s, when Mr. Metheny started using D’Addario strings exclusively, he has counted on the manufacturer to attend to such details. “My awareness of them is fairly limited. Their small town, Salle, was a sheep herding region, and logically enough, it was sheep herders who made the early gut strings from sheep, hog and horse … D’Addario is a brand that had begun all the way back in the 17th century. Neither idea had much staying power, so the company relocated from Queens to Long Island, opening its first factory in Lynbrook in 1973. Delivery by: Monday, Jan 18 D'Addario 85/15 Bronze Acoustic Guitar Strings_{.009-.045_FULL BRIGHT TONE}_Stainless Steel Material by D'Addario. D’Addario XT strings offer extended lifespan while maintaining the tone and feel of your favorite uncoated string. These are strings made to stay, for players who refuse to fade away. "Playing the violin is really hard, but it's not a mystery. For some local musicians, being one of the 820 or so employees at the Farmingdale headquarters is a boon to their craft. Lyris Hung, Bowed Strings Product Manager for D'Addario, took me on a tour of the factory floor, where up to 7,000 strings a day are made for bowed instruments such as for violins, violas, cellos and basses, under the brands Zyex, Helicore, Prelude, NS Electric, Pro Arté and Kaplan. From 1959 through the early ’70s, the company flirted with a name change, to Darco Strings, and it was briefly acquired by another company, C. F. Martin & Company. The current CEO of the company is John Sr.'s son, Jim D'Addario and several D'Addarios in the next generation are active in the company. The cheapest nylon strings are made in a process called extrusion. For the company, the artists add prestige to the brand, but they also improve the quality of the 700,000 fretted and bowed instrument strings a day that it produces on Long Island. That same building houses both the mill and D’Addario’s drumhead factory, where 8,000 drumheads a day are produced. The D'Addario family tradition began in the tiny town of Salle, Italy in 1680 where they made assorted instrument strings for over two hundred years before relocating to New York in 1905. Even back then, D’Addario counted on artist feedback: Carlos Salzedo, a famous harpist and a friend to Charles, offered his advice on how to work with the new DuPont material. Good ukulele strings, and a bit more expensive ones, are also made by extruding the nylon polymer, but are then ground precisely in order … And the acoustic guitar is no exception. In 1905, Charles D’Addario, Mr. D’Addario’s grandfather, left Italy for Queens and began importing the family’s strings. String Tension: Medium. Another wall is devoted to flattening machines that basically press the wire. 4,291 ₹350.00 ₹ 350. D’Addario XLs are the standard against which all other strings are measured. The winding also gives the string more elasticity. String-making in the D'Addario family has been traced to Abruzzi in Italy in the 1600s, when a Donato D'Addario listed his occupation as "cordaro," or string-maker, in his child's baptismal document, according to a book about the company's beginnings. Size: 3/4. From the Manufacturer. In order to wrap properly around a string, some wires have to be flattened. Ever wonder how the strings of your favorite instruments are made? Ray D'Addario, American photographer; D'Addario (manufacturer), a manufacturer of musical instrument strings and accessories; Major General Lorenzo D'Addario (born 1964) a member of the Italian Armed Forces, and the 23rd Commander of the Kosovo Force; See also. String Core: Steel. This alloy is synonymous with warm, bright, and well balanced acoustic tone. If you do the rights things, good things happen. D’Addario Acoustic . To be more specific, fiber from the walls of animal intestines — which come from sheep, goats, cattle, donkeys, hogs, … This is the main floor of production for steel wrapped strings, mostly used for electric guitar and bass applications. I've been in manufacturing for decades and would love to see how my two passions in life meet in the middle. D’Addario XT strings offer extended lifespan while maintaining the tone and feel of your favorite uncoated string. -- but it takes far longer, even years, to become a master string maker. Fan contributed to a fairly recent thread regarding strings--it is fun to have some string experts contributing here from time to time (including Mr. Warchal as well as Mr. Tao). This poses a serious threat to our brand equity and our loyal customers. I've always said that, but here an expert gives it weight! When his son, John Sr. joined the business, he changed the name to C. D'Addario and Son. However, string diameter cannot be used by itself to determine playing tension, since modern strings are made using a wide variety of materials with different densities. “They’ve kept the dialogue open, and they’ve kept improving the machinery,” he said. Three photos on left: steel strings; strings being coiled to be packaged; and strings prepared for bulk shipments. You can choose if you want normal or hard tension and the strings come in corrosion resistant packaging so that the strings are as fresh as the day they were made. "The fundamental concept for making strings hasn't changed in 300 years," said Fan, whose upstairs office is more like a science lab, filled with custom equipment such as a high-precision string winding machine. D'Addario - Making strings for over 300 years Behind every set of D'Addario strings are over three centuries of fine craftsmanship. In the case of D'Addario strings, the "silking" color denotes the string note on top and the brand of the string on the bottom. But he can explain. Gauges: D'Addario EJ88S sets are designed for use with all soprano ukuleles and optimised for GCEA tuning 23 / 30 / 36 / 25. I feel that they are less different in timber from the synthetic a than the solid steel e. Certainly they are worth trying. But with a bowed string, the vibrations need to be a little more subdued. For plucked strings, "After you pluck, that's all the energy you put into that note," Fan said. Throughout the 1940s and ’50s the company continued to perfect and sell its nylon strings. Details. There are also D’Addario factories in California, Texas, Tennessee and Connecticut. Hide Comments. The flattening process can make the metal brittle, so after it is flattened, it must be annealed, requiring yet more machinery. D’Addario EJ16-3D Phosphor Bronze Acoustic Guitar Strings, Light Tension – Corrosion-Resistant Phosphor Bronze, Offers a Warm, Bright and Well-Balanced Acoustic … Discover the best of Violinist.com in these collections of editor Laurie Niles' exclusive interviews. PL015 is a .015 gauge plain steel string for acoustic or electric guitar. 1,096 ₹364.00 ₹ 364. Laurie,  This is yet another enlightening article, especially for a beginner like me. Of course you want to hear what these D'Addario EJ27N Student Nylon Classical Guitar strings are capable of, so check out this video! All … For example, why does a beginner (or anyone!) But to Mr. D’Addario, the business still feels intimate. For instruments that have perishable parts - strings, drumheads, drumsticks, reeds and mouthpieces - D'Addario makes whatever you need to keep your instrument playable. Strings for plucked instruments, such as the guitar, banjo and mandolin, are made differently from strings for bowed instruments, such as violin, viola, cello and bass. In 1905, when an earthquake wiped out the town, Carmine (who later took the name Charles) D'Addario moved his family to New York. A guitar string would have low damping, so it can ring and ring. Jim D’Addario, the chief executive of the company, nurtures close ties with musicians, who often visit the nondescript premises to tour or shoot videos. Part of that breaking-in process is a natural damping of the string as it breaks down. D’Addario is one of the largest manufacturers of music strings in the world; they are a family owned business based in Farmingdale, Long Island in New York. tend to make scratchy sounds with the bow? The strings are sold at retailers like Guitar Center and Sam Ash, at independent stores, online and directly to instrument-makers around the globe. Made in the USA for the highest quality and performance, only D’Addario strings are sealed inside and out. And that is true whether or not a music store caters to string musicians. In the late 1930s, when Charles D’Addario’s son John Sr. had joined the business — by then known as C. D’Addario & Son — the company began making steel strings and nylon core strings for fretted instruments. Yes, the e string does stand out like a different instrument. “You feel like, ‘These guys are actually listening to me.’ ”. In 1918, he opened a shop in his garage in Astoria, where he made his own gut strings. Plain Steel strings can be used on Electric or Acoustic Guitars. We also watched the creation of a Zyex bass string, which can have up to five wrappings around the core, each winding taking 30 seconds. "Many cellists play cello because they don't like the high, screechy sound of the "E" string," Fan said. Have you ever put new strings on your violin, and found them to be a little too bright until they are "broken in"? The words “I’m not that interested in guitars” sound strange coming from Pat Metheny, a 20-time Grammy-winning guitarist. String-making in the D'Addario family has been traced to Abruzzi in Italy in the 1600s, when a Donato D'Addario listed his occupation as "cordaro," or string-maker, in his child's baptismal document, according to a book about the company's beginnings. Watch this video to learn about the manufacturing processes at D’Addario. For example, we saw a string in which seven spools of very fine steel strands were being woven. The strings were made out of sheep and hog intestines. I have a new found respect for what goes into each of those little coily bits of wire! Apr 11, 2014. That's why they are much less expensive to buy. This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments. Double Bass String: Set of Strings, E String, A String, D String, G String, B5 String (Low), C String (High) Double Bass Tuning: Orchestra (G-D-A-E) Manufacturer: D'Addario. This I discovered when I visited the 45,000-square-foot factory at D'Addario Strings in Farmingdale, New York, where some 400 employees work in three shifts. I've spent a lifetime with my fingers over violin strings, but I've never thought much about how those strings came to be. Not only does D’Addario sell OEM strings, and “white label” strings (which are rebranded, but actually made by D’Addario) the company has also sold quite a few of their actual string winders to other big name string makers. 00 Fulfilled FREE Delivery on orders over ₹ 499.00 . In addition, D’Addario has available two sets for long scale, acoustic bass made of their precision wound, phosphor bronze strings – a four string set and a five string set. If you think about it, it also explains why a plain gut E is a close tonal match for a gut A. Thanks for all that you do on this website.]. This is the original acoustic string alloy selected by John D'Addario Sr. and John D'Angelico in the 1930's and is a popular choice for recording due to its crisp, deep and projecting tone. D'Addario Silk & Steel strings couple silver-plated copper wrap wire with silk for easy fingering and a mellow tone. Despite his access, Mr. Spadafora still marvels at the inner workings of the factory. By utilizing the proprietary Composite basses and precisely intonated trebles of our legendary Pro Arte strings, D’Addario XT delivers dynamic response and long-lasting performance. Brand : NS Electric. Fan Tao is one of the brilliant minds from the scientific community that have made significant improvements available to the violin family of instruments. In 1918 he started making strings with his brother-in-law, Rocco, and officially established C. D'Addario and Co. in in 1930s. D'ADDARIO AND CO EXL120-7 NICKEL WOUND 7-STRING SUPER LIGHT 9-54 - Cordes en nickel pour guitare électrique 7 cordes D'Addario EXL120-7, Super Light, 9-54Le jeu EXL120 figure parmi les best-sellers des jeux 7 cordes proposés par D'Addario et offre une superbe flexibilité associée à … This was during the age when strings were not made from steel nor nylon, but gut. Made in collaboration with Aquila Strings; Warm punchy tone; Great tuning stability; Made in the USA/Italy; Making Strings since 1918 ; View our full range of D'addario Strings or visit D'addario Strings's Website for more details on their extensive range of strings. That certainly explains why violin strings cost so much more than the guitar's. "Our strings tend to be warmer and more responsive, out of the box," she said. D'Addario Plain Steel strings are made using round steel wire with our patented Lock Twist - ensuring the ball end will not separate from the string. We welcome your thoughtful comments. His father and grandfather thought the material was perfect for harp strings and the treble strings on classical guitars. If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to … At the end of each string, the windings are spread out so that they can apply "silking," that colored wrap at the end of strings which is both decorative and practical. This cuts down on the break-in time for a string. Drummers like Anton Fig, who plays with Paul Shaffer’s house band on “The Late Show With David Letterman,” and Glenn Kotche, drummer for the band Wilco, have worked with Mr. D’Addario to improve the drum products. When the string is finally finished, it may be sorted to sell with a set, or sold separately, wrapped and sealed airtight in food-grade plastic, and put in packaging that D'Addario prints on its own four-color presses. D'Addario strings are made in the USA, using digitally-controlled string winding machines for consistent strings that sound great right out of the package every time. D’addario made the bold decision to bring the drawing process in house which allowed them to pay infinite attention to detail and evolve the string to what it is now. The sweat and salt in your skin starts the corrosion process in the string. Coming from  a guitar exclusive background, I was shocked when I first found out what violin strings went for (even more than electric bass), but now it makes sense. “Musical instruments are just tools,” Mr. Metheny said recently inside the 110,000-square-foot headquarters of the instrument string manufacturer D’Addario, in Farmingdale. “Knowing exactly what goes into making the strings, the science of it all, including the research and testing, is pretty amazing to me,” he said. Made in the USA by D’Addario. Then various materials are wound around the core. That's where something called "damping" comes in. "It gives an added tonal dimension" to have so many different kinds of metal vibrating together, said Lyris. The history of the D’Addario family business starts in the Abruzzo region of Italy around the 1860s, said Mr. D’Addario. D'Addario Zyex Viola Strings Zyex synthetic core strings produce a balanced, rich sound. In a way, the violin is like two instruments, the "E" having a different quality than the "A," "D," and "G" strings. “It’s a critical detail.”. Of course, the physics can't teach you muscle control, but it can tell you a lot about sounding point and bow speed. Made with high carbon steel wire, XL strings are precision wound for unparalleled consistency, maintaining a tone and feel that’s been revered by guitarists since 1974. "Once you put the string on the instrument, it starts accelerating the corrosion of the string," whether you are playing it or not. Around 500,000 per day are made for fretted instruments like guitars, mandolins, banjos, etc. Environmentally friendly, corrosion resistant packaging for strings that are always fresh Made in the U.S.A. for the highest quality and performance String Gauges: Plain Steel.009,.011,.016, Nickel Wound.024,.032,.042 EXL130 is D'Addario's lightest gauge string set. “It’s a really complicated job.”. 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