Touchtone 1040TCC Cryogenic Medium Light

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Diane Kauffmds
Posts: 3246
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:13 pm

Touchtone 1040TCC Cryogenic Medium Light

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

Touchtone Cryogenic Acoustic Guitar Strings

By: Diane Kauffmds
Feb 18, 2023
Touchtone 1040TTC Acoustic Guitar Strings
Medium Light Strings (.012-.054)

Strings generously provided by: Strings By Mail, Kit Guitars Forum Sponsor

https://www.stringsbymail.com/touchtone ... 22629.html

“Touchtones start with high-quality core wire and U.S.A wrap. The wire is first cryogenically frozen below -320 F, then brought to room temperature. Cryogenically treated strings are metallurgically enhanced as the process helps to tighten the structure of the alloy resulting in a reduction of surface roughness and an increase in structural durability. They hold their pitch for a clear sound that can be felt and heard.”

They arrived in a box, which contained a sealed plastic package containing the strings. The strings were well protected from corrosion. I place a very high value on corrosion resistant packaging.

I had the help of a local musician who plays local clubs; I strung his Alvarez acoustic OM with the Touchtones. The strings settled into tuning very quickly. He said that the strings were clean, with minimal amount of finger funk from the first day. The windings around the strings felt smooth, almost silky.

When I first tested the strings, I thought “WOW”.

Clear, articulate, bright on the treble end, and warm on the bass end, is an apt description of the strings right out of the box. The attack was immediate and the sustain long. This created a balanced harmonic combination that I really appreciated. They had great projection. My friend Rich took over from there. Rich practices approximately 25-30 hours per week; he owns several guitars, so I’ve strung 2 of them with test strings, the Touchtones being one set. Even after about 20 hours of playing, they sounded strong, articulate, and vibrant. The mids shined bright as the trebles, with a great mix of bass warmth. There was very little finger squeak, and they never fretted out when tuned low. Rich tunes his guitars down to unique tuning combinations quite frequently.

When down tuning, intonation can suffer. According to the LMI website, “The proportion of stiffness to diameter in a half-section of a string is greater than the proportion in the whole string. And the shorter the section, the greater the difference in the proportion…This is inherent inharmonicity.” In other words, no guitar has absolutely 100% perfect intonation; the looser the strings, the more this becomes apparent. Some strings handle this inequality better than others. The Touchtone Cryogenic strings did a nice job when tuned down. After allowing them to settle for a couple of hours, the intonation was as good as I’ve ever heard.

Touchtone Cryogenic strings are very competitively priced at $8.29 at Strings By Mail. They’re a very good deal.

The Good:

Protective packaging
Minimal finger funk
Quick break in, held tuning
Minimal finger squeak
Long lasting

Excellent intonation at lower tunings
Reasonably priced
WONDERFUL SOUND!

The Bad:

Strings are stiff and feel more like heavier weight strings, so they’re tougher to fret
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
jread
Posts: 560
Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2019 9:52 am
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Re: Touchtone 1040TCC Cryogenic Medium Light

Post by jread »

Nice review and thanks for posting. Great price, half of what I’m using. I’ll give ‘em a try.
Morecowbell
Posts: 280
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2019 10:51 am
Location: Fishers, IN

Re: Touchtone 1040TCC Cryogenic Medium Light

Post by Morecowbell »

Has anyone tried the Santa Cruz Guitar Parabolic strings? They're not cheap so was curious what they're like.
"Facts seldom sway an opinion." - John Hall
"The difference between theory and practice is that in theory there is no difference." - Van de Snepscheut
Diane Kauffmds
Posts: 3246
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:13 pm

Re: Touchtone 1040TCC Cryogenic Medium Light

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

Morecowbell wrote: Tue Feb 21, 2023 11:17 am Has anyone tried the Santa Cruz Guitar Parabolic strings? They're not cheap so was curious what they're like.
As a matter of fact, I have the SC Parabolics for down tuning DADGAD. They're test strings from Strings by Mail, and I'll be stringing them soon, and reviewing them.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
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