Home > categories > Minerals & Metallurgy > Steel Coils > Steel or Nylon strings for my guitar?
Question:

Steel or Nylon strings for my guitar?

im buying a new guitar,, it has a built in tuner and its semi acoustic (can be plugged into an amplifier) ,, im trying to choose which strings are better ,, steel or nylon..?

Answer:

You need to decide which type of strings you prefer BEFORE you select a guitar. Guitars are designed for one or the other types of string and they aren't interchangeable. If you try to put steel strings on a classical guitar. you'll ruin the guitar because it isn't built to withstand the extra tension that steel strings have. If you put nylon strings on a steel stringed guitar, the strings won't have enough tension to vibrate the top...resulting in low volume and horrible tone. To decide which type of guitar you need, ask yourself what genre of music you expect to be playing the most. Nylon stringed (classical) guitars have a rich full tone and are primarily for playing classical, flamenco, or folk music. Steel stringed guitars have a full but twangy tone and are primarily used for rock, pop, blues, and country music. You can play any genre of music on either style guitar, but it will sound more authentic if you match the music to the guitar. Best of luck to you, whichever style you choose.
Musical style speaks volumes when it comes to this issue. Those who want high volume will be unhappy with unamplified nylon string guitars. From my perspective, the basic difference between steel and nylon is this: steel strings ring and nylon strings resonate. The volume produced by steel is generally much greater than nylon but, to my way of thinking, the sound resonance produced by the wood of your guitar is largely masked by steel strings. If you have a decently made guitar (generally, around a thousand dollars and up), the sound interplay between the wood and the strings in a nylon guitar is magical across the entire frequency range. With a steel string guitar, the sound produced by the vibrating string overpowers the wood resonance at all but low frequencies. Personally, I'll take a nylon string guitar any day for the sensitivity gained from the interplay between wood and vibrating string.
i have steel and i like the way it sounds but i like nylon better
That's not an option Guitars are designed for either nylon or steel strings. They aren't interchangeable. Putting steel strings on a guitar designed for nylon strings WILL destroy the guitar. If you've already picked out the guitar you want, then you've already made your decision about nylon or steel.

Share to: