by JimN » 08 Dec 2012, 15:26
I've always paid close attention to this subject - in real time - and the earliest definitive UK media mention of lighter strings with plain thirds that I can recall would have been in 1967. Of course, I was up in Liverpool, but I had my ear to the ground.
The craze for lighter strings had to start somewhere, and that somewhere was London, where a taste for lighter strings was growing as a result of the blues boom. But the blues boom was itself a slow-growing phenomenon, garnering support only after Eric Clapton started working with John Mayall - on and off - in mid-to-late 1965. And it didn't really gather speed outside the narrow confines of the Marquee and Klook's Kleek until after the release of the "Beano" album in mid-'66.
Outside the small London coterie of blues players, and certainly throughout the rest of the country, "slack-stringing" (staggering a set by discarding the low E and using a banjo string for high E) was effectively unknown until related articles in the Melody Maker and Beat Instrumental started appearing - definitely 1967, no earlier. And there were no factory-supplied "slinky" sets available in the UK: even Fender R'n'R strings (which were available in the USA) had no market here. Selmer and Jennings catalogues of 1965 don't even mention them. All their Fender strings were medium gauge (approx 12 or 13 to 56).
The market reacted by mid-1967, with the establishment of a UK distributor for Ernie Ball strings (which became a rage overnight), Arbiter suddenly discovering Fender 150s and Picato and Rotosound getting onto the bandwagon with light gauge sets. However, Picato (neé Monopole and out of the same stable as Red Dragon strings) and Rotosound were initially reluctant to commit fully to the plain third, which to most players still seemed like a radical departure. Both companies offered light sets with wound thirds and Picato sets used to contain both a plain and a wrapped G. Buyers also were reluctant to switch to the plain third. The music press contained query letters about string balance on Strats and similar guitars and the Picato and Rotosound response was a reaction to concerns about balance.
I tend to be sceptical about claims (including Hank's) to have moved to plain thirds by 1966 for all the reasons given above. As late as 1968, the Shadows answered a Melody Maker "Any Questions" query by saying that they used Gibson Sonomatics on all their guitars (and at that time, Sonomatic equalled 13-56 (light gauge Sonomatics - 12-52 with a wound third - didn't appear until 1969). Of course, the answer (apparently given by Bruce) might not have been the whole story and could have been a simplification or even have been shortened by the newspaper for space reasons. But later still (c. 1970/71) Hank answered another question to the effect that he was using both Sonomatics (13-56) and Sonomatic Light (12-52) and "sometimes" Fender Rock'n'Roll on an experimental basis. Yet in recent years he has said that he swapped to plain thirds in 1966. That is not possible if the other answers given over the ensuing years were correct, unless "swapped" means "started to experiment with but not in use for everyday purposes".
Of course, today, the normality and ubiquity of medium gauge strings up until the late 1960s has almost been airbrushed out of history. Some commentators call 12-52 or 13-56 "heavy". Neither of them are heavy gauge. They are both medium at a maximum. Others call 10-46 with a plain third "medium", which is gibberish.
A few years ago, when my son was about 12, we were buying him an Epiphone Casino so that he could play the same guitar as John Lennon. The guitar was fitted with unsuitably light strings, both for the geometry of the guitar (arch-top styling simply doesn't suit very light gauges) and for period authenticity. Paying and asking for the guitar to be made ready for collection later in the day, I was asked about strings, with the offer to change them and make the corresponding adjustments. I requested a set of 12-52 on it (much as John Lennon and George Harrison might have been using in 1966). This would require a widening of the nut slots and a tweak of the truss rod.
The shop's "luthier" responded by saying that when he had suggested a different set of strings, he hadn't thought of "getting silly about it".
Not exactly good salesmanship, eh?
Or good command of (relatively recent) history.
