Hi all. I'm a novice with only a couple of months practice behind me but have made the switch to nylon strings and thought I'd share my experience so far. . I find that every time I hear something on here that really grabs me, the strings are either nylon or nylgut. After reading Old Woodchuck speaking highly of Chris Sands strings, I bought a set. I love the sound on my modest open back. I've not long graduated from the basic frailing stroke so I'm not yet getting the best out of the strings but I do really like the sound when I play the few tunes I know.
I was worried about the strings breaking and have indeed had 2 breakages both times on the 5th string. I have tied the strings in bowline knots and the 2 breakages seem to have happened in between the tailpiece and the bridge. Not sure why. I would have thought the break would have happened at the tail piece if anywhere. Luckily, I had plenty of string left. I still have to slightly widen the nuts slots. The strings don't pop out but it is very tight up there. The 5th string pip also need to be widened. The 5th string doesn't come close to fitting in the slot and is currently perched on a bridge pin capo. I ordered a new bridge specifically for these strings from Clifford Essex to replace the bog standard $5 bridge. Despite being advertised for use with nylon and gut strings, I still feel the slots need slightly widened. Finally, I am running into difficulties with 1st string pull-offs. The 1st string/second fret pull-off seems to pop up a lot in some of the tunes I play and I'm struggling with it while using nylon strings. With steel strings, I'd just hit the fretted note and lightly pull down off the string. If I do that with these, the string seems to twang off the fret board. I know it will come with practice. If I 'hammer off' rather than pull-off, the sound of that second note lacks a lot of distinction. Something I will work on. Apart from that, I'm really enjoying the sounds of these strings.
