Is the Electric Guitar A String-Driven-Thing And Should We Care?
Bangkok Blues and Beyond column by Mekong Doctor Blues
String guru Curt Mangan says ‘yes’ and has set out to make sure you do.
Mekong Doctor Blues checks it out
It’s a cliché in the music business that every guitar player has the perfect recipe for the ‘killer’ axe sound and that’s in whatever genre of music the picker works and thus seeks to rule the roost.
I’ve been bending the dickens out of strings since I picked up my first Strat way back in 1969 and convinced myself within just a few months of woodshedding that I had sussed the Hendrix sound - what with my new Vox wah wah, Marshall amp and nitty gritty Fuzz Face pedal.
But like many others of my generation, it took a while for the string thing to rear its head right when the business of picking your preferences arrived – what pick, which amp, what pedal, what wah wah, what fingerboard, what guitar for chrissake – and then yes – which strings?
And then it became quickly apparent that Jimmy Page had his faves, Hendrix his, Clapton his and Jeff Beck his. But who could afford the time or money to experiment, so you went with the busiest display in the local guitar shop, the cool packaging-colour coding backed up with advertising in the music press, and the usual suspects claiming these strings were hot stuff and basically unmatchable elsewhere.
I went my way as everyone else did and the biggest advertisers with the biggest pool of players signed up to spread the word, got the lion’s share of the business – even if the strings were good, bad or indifferent. In truth there was little to chose between the big name strings, and once you had picked a gauge that suited, who made them was not that big of a deal.
Fender had my buck most times and the Bullets are still a good string in my humble opinion – and on my Strats at least.
But then I got stuck for strings one day ahead of a big gig needing a few guitars and my tech dropped by a local music store and picked up a few packs of strings I knew only vaguely, but given the nice saving in price they offered he took the chance and thereby changed my tune overnight.
I brought Curt Mangan strings that day and dutifully applied the tens to all my guitars. I was not fussed as I plugged in my ‘69 white Olympus Stratocaster, just glad to have the strings ready for the big night. But boy was I surprised. I thought the tech had been at my circuits and pickups but he just stood there shaking his head. We were both astonished at the clarity the fusion matched, nickel wound strings produced and to cut along story short, I will use nothing else now but Curt Mangan strings and I never sounded better!
I had the chance to meet Curt on his way to assign a dealer in Sweden and asked him the secret of how he gets the goods out of the steel and still not charge the Earth.
“It’s not what we do…it’s what we don’t do,” he grinned.
“I left my last job marketing strings for one of the majors with a belief that all players deserve and demand a premium string with sonic clarity like no other. After being part of a major string company’s team for 17 years, I decided is was time to produce strings that are FusionMatched and create a tone that is pure a perfect.
FusionMatched is our trademarked proprietary method that combines the highest quality, 100% made in the USA wire and 100% USA workmanship to produce strings with exacting core-to-wrap ratios and tolerances.
“We did not reinvent the string, but we make the best string money can buy and we make it the same way from the same materials every time,” Mangan says.
“We do not shop around for the lowest price on wire. We purchase our premium wire from the same source… all the time. We do not coat our strings and we do not follow several automatic manufacturing techniques that may actually increase string breakage. All of this helps provide strings with maximum longevity. Our strings are not for everyone, but they are perfect for those tired of mass-marketed products and manufacturing mediocrity, String tone is our passion as guitar players and as string industry veterans. Curt Mangan’s FusionMatched strings are the best strings, period!”
And I’ll drink to that!