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Years back, I went to the trouble of finding a respectable string maker because I was dealing Dupont guitars and wanted the owners of these guitars to have the best string available. Because importing strings from France was such a problem (and so expensive!), and because the quality of Argentines was so sketchy as well, I searched for a domestic substitute. Several other European brands really fell short. And as everyone knows, silk-and-steel are completely wrong for these guitars. Fortunately, when I discovered Francisco González, the search ended. Handmade (originally) in Goleta, California, his strings proved brilliant and durable - indeed the superior strings for Selmer-style guitars. Guadalupe Custom Strings also makes the Greens, a gauge which no one else makes, as well as low seventh strings and so on. As of December 2004, Francisco sold Guadalupe Custom Strings to Margie Hernandez, who moved the business to East LA. Then she passed it on to her son Jacob and to Gabriel Tenorio and José Becerra, who now run the business. Here's the new contact information: Guadalupe Custom Strings
 Francisco González, string guru So contact Guadalupe direct to order
(I
do not
sell these or any other strings). They're pricey, but of extremely high
quality. Understand too that they also
(primarily) make strings
for the Latin musical world: guitarrón, vihuela, classical
guitar,
all types of harp, requinto, and on into ukuleles and so on.
Manouche-Tone
guitar strings are only a small part of their unusual
output.
The colors refer to the silk wrap by the loop Purples (Violettes) - 10 14 23 28 36
44
- extra-light (extra-légère) What are the real differences between these sets of strings?
The traditional strings used on Selmer
guitars
are Argentines, made by Savarez of Lyon, France. Contrary to popular
folklore,
they are not silk-and-steel. Indeed there is no silk or fiber
in
their composition at all. They are a pure copper wrap which has been
silver-plated,
then wound on a steel core. * Savarez Argentine actual gauges: Purples
(Violettes) - 10 14 21 27 34
42
Reds (Rouges) - 11 15 22 28 36 44
Best—and prettiest—uke strings on earth:  Do
I recommend anything else? Yes: D'Addario
and GHS
both make very good silver-plated copperwound strings. I like them better than Argentines,
certainly better than Galli or Newtone. Nuages still break too easily.
 But support your local music store first!
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me
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Purples and Reds are somewhat equivalent to Savarez Argentines*. Please
note, in
case you're checking, that the actual gauges of Savarez Argentine wound
strings are not quite the gauges that are printed on their
string
package. And Manouche-Tones have changed since the early days.