Pro-Arté Dynacore Carbon

I am a casual hobby player, not a classical guitarist. I have a Breedlove Discovery nylon string “crossover” guitar — not a true classical guitar — with a solid cedar top, that came with extra-hard tension D’addario nylon strings. For my taste, the stout strings sounded dull on the heavily braced cedar Breedlove.On a whim, I tried these carbon strings. Their sound is brighter and more resonant on my guitar. I went with NORMAL tension because the carbon strings’ total tension in Normal is 92 lbs (the same as extra-hard tension regular nylons). The total tension of the HARD carbons is 102 lbs. (The back of the package lists the total tension.)My guitar is heavily braced and could probably withstand 102 lbs of tension, but why chance it. Carbon strings are a bit stiffer than nylon, so NORMAL tension allows my strings to vibrate freely.Of note, the G string in this pack seemed SHORT and was an absolute bear to attach to the headstock after it was secured to the bridge with two loops. I hope that was just a QC thing, because I would not want that struggle again!

I had just installed Pro Arte EJ45s on my Yamaha NTX700, and the intonation was off on the treble strings. Very noticeable. I even took the guitar to my luthier, thinking it might be something else, and he suggested using something else. I installed these, and they sound great. The intonation is much better, close to spot on.

They look great and sound very bright and clear.

If your Classical guitar has a dark sound and you want it to sound more brilliant as well as louder, this is a good set to go for. This set brings out a lot of overtones. The carbon trebles have better sustain. They are thinner then regular nylon and feel more slick to the touch. With that being said be very careful when installing the strings as they have a tendency to slip and cause potential damage to your sound board. It is harder to get a good vibrato out of these then regular nylon strings but not impossible. I find these strings to be excellent for live performances, but do not recommend them for recording because they sound alomost too brilliant even under a good microphone and eq adjustments.

They sound much brighter and significantly improver the dound of my old cheapo Yamaha guitar. They took a bit longer than traditional nylon strings to set in, but after they did, the tuning is stable. They just feel better and sharper and deeper toned than nylons from the same manufacturer. I am sure they will sound even better on a higher-end instrument. I did notice the wire wound on the 3 lower strings get worn relatively quickly (you see pressure marks. However thats not a big deal for me. I actually periodically sand my wire wound strings with high grit sand paper, and very soon they do not exhibit any finger noise anymore, plus you stop seeing fret pressure marks on them as the wire gets flatter - that without any noticeable deterioration of the sound, and quite the opposite, the sound gets richer.

Recently bought a Cordoba c3 because of the solid cedar top and low price. The strings the guitar came with are ok but sounded plastic-y in the higher ranges and a little on the thick side with the dreaded muffled g string pronounced Imo. So i ordered D'addario ej45 normal tension and the feel and sound was good but again was too muffled and i was starting to think it was the Guitar and filed for a return. Just as a long shot i ordered these D'Addario EJ45FF ProArte Carbon Classical Guitar Strings, Dynacore Basses, Normal Tension and i'm in heaven, even the g string i have to keep looking at it as i play because the sound is so good i think i'm on the b or d. this guitar sings now and the return has been canceled. (For those who have trouble with the e string being too slippery and coming undone) when you tie off the small e string go through the bridge hole twice and then go around the e string , finish with the double over under pinching the last bit of string behind the bridge block and tighten no slipping that way.

The normal tension carbon strings of D’Addario have a good sound however they are far more slippery than the their nylon counterparts. I am of course writing about the trebles. Timbre wise they are ideal for modern sounding guitars with a tendency to sound dark. I would not use them for recording as nylon has a sweeter sound but for a situation in which you need projections this is better if you can figure out how to get the strings to stay. Unfortunately they are not functional for me unless I use a ball end. The first string slipped out of place so many times it broke. This needs to be improved.Also the tensions are wacky. The normal tension of the carbons feels somewhere in between the nylon hard tensions and the normal tension. It for sure has more tension than the regular set of strings so also factor that into your choices and set upI am giving three stars because while the string sounds good it needs to stay on, sorry but not sorry.

There are so many choices of strings (especially nylon) and preferences vary greatly depending on the instrument, player's skill level, type of music to be played and venue. D'Addario is an excellent company that has been around for a long time, produces quality product(s) and seems to really 'have their act together'. For string options and choice(s), be sure to use the 'string finder' on the D'Addario website which can be very helpful unless you already know exactly what string(s)/product you want/need. I definitely recommend D'Addario string(s)/products. Thanks D'Addario, keep up the good work!