In short
Very nice strings considering their price.
Description
The trebles are made of black nylon and the basses are flawlessly coated with black paint.
The black coating gives the basses a thicker diameter than in most high tension sets (mm.: 1,20 E, 0,94 A, 0,82 D). On the contrary the trebles have a typical medium tension diameter (1,01 G, 081 B, 0,71 E).
Total tension is kg 38,8: halfway between the D'Addario Pro-Arté EJ 45 and the Savarez Cantiga 510 CR. A comfortable, “quiet”, “lower middle” tension.
First impression
In the last months I have tried two sets of Black Wires on the same spruce top classical guitar.
At first, playing with black strings on an ebony fretboard is a bit disconcerting. All that darkness inspires a riff à la Tony Iommi instead of a serenade by Francisco Tárrega.
Anyway, the strings are clearly visible to the player. The black coating does not interfere with the left hand fingering, as if it were not there.
Sound
Much more than acceptable and, unlike the price, definitely not cheap.
To my ear the sound is clear (chords are defined, not blurred), brilliant (presence of overtones), without predominance of low or high notes, especially suited for modern and contemporary music. The tension cannot deliver a huge volume, in return it allows for good sustain and vibrato. Overall, I'm very satisfied.
Just a fussy remark: middle tones seemed to me less intense than in the medium tension sets I mostly use. It might be just a sensation and after all those sets are twice the price of the Black Wires, so the comparison is unfair.
Duration
Average.
Both sets lasted no more than 30 days playing daily an hour and a half or two. The sound degraded progressively without a sudden collapse of performance which would be a sure sign of bad quality.
Two side effects of the black coating
Not really flaws:
- the thick diameter of the basses, due to their coating, may cause noisy or irregular tuning if the nut slots are narrow or not properly shaped, as is sometimes the case with unexpensive/poorly made guitars. Since the diameter shrinks a bit once strings are stretched by tuning, no problem will arise for average/decent guitars;
- after a few days the coating of 4th and 5th strings of both sets began vanishing from the points of friction with the frets, thus exposing the copper wiring. This had no effect on the sound and was no surprise: the package states that some loss of coating may occur "under extensive exercise". Which means I'm a seriously trained guitarist :) The 6th string was more resistant. At first the loss isn't conspicuous and affects only the bottom side of the strings, then it extends all over.
Eventually the chromatic mixture of black and copper added a sort of steampunk touch that didn't displease me.
