D'addario has done it again.
Some time after their NYXL Electric beta and subsequent release (which by the way is still expanding - we just got word of 3-pack sets of their most popular options being released), D'addario has been hard at work on the NYXL acoustic counterpart, and we've been given the opportunity, again, to take part in the beta test.
Now, to be clear, this counterpart has no direct relation to current D'addario acoustic offerings, other than, on the set we received, an indicator that it is the gauge equivalent of the EJ16 Light Gauge. One might argue that the newer EXP variant, with its usage of NY Steel, might be the acoustic counterpart, and up until this beta test, one might also be correct to say so. Not anymore.
Similar to the NYXL beta test, we received the set in a black "Confidential Beta" string pack. Also included in the package was an insert detailing the goals of the string set, as well as what made these strings different on a technical level, incorporating phosphor bronze, nickel, and NY steel in this new formula. These strings were designed with your tonewoods in mind so they'll go
hand in hand with the richest tonewoods. My particular Breedlove has
rosewood back (solid) and sides (laminate), and rosewood is a very rich
sounding wood on its own, one of the reasons I fell in love with the
instrument as it is. So when a string is designed to let the tonewood
shine, instead of masking it, I'm all for it conceptually.
Opening up the black Beta pack, revealed the standard gray sealed protection that anyone that uses D'addario strings regularly will recognize, with the printed indication noted above. I found this immediately interesting, because with the specification EJ16, and knowing that this is a popular Phosphor Bronze set, I wondered that if, in the future we might be seeing a different alloy in the same series, featuring components closer to the composition of 80/20 bronze, creating an equivalent to, in this case, the EJ11. I'm no chemist, though, and strictly speaking, I don't know exactly how an alteration of the alloy in that way may respond, so I could just be unrealistically speculating.
