Here we’re going to have a look at the Cleartone 80/20 Bronze Acoustic Strings.
Here’s what Cleartone has to say about these strings:
Cleartone Acoustic Strings may have a coating of only one micron, but it’s more durable than coatings thousands of times its thickness. It won’t flake off with hard playing, nor will it feel slick or slippery to your touch. Super-high tension winding over a hex-core is used to maintain tuning consistency throughout your performance. EMP Treatment is then applied to all the strings (including plain strings) to ensure longest tonal life without compromises.
Gauges: .012 .016 .025w .033 .043 .053
Cleartone Treated strings are coated but the major difference is in the coating itself. Designed primarily for coating sensitive electronics and hard drive platters (where tolerances for precision are extremely high), the Cleartone Patented Treatment solves this problem by being the thinnest coating in the industry. Not by a small amount either. It measures in at less than one micron thick, yet is durable enough to withstand hard strumming. Lastly, most coated string manufacturers only coat the wound strings (largest 3 strings in electric and largest 4 strings in acoustic) expecting you to change your plain strings regularly. The Cleartone Treatment is applied to all strings to ensure longer string life without tonal compromises.
Here’s what we have to say about these strings.
As seasoned guitarists know, the same strings can sound completely different on different guitars. These strings are no exception.
Overall, the tone tends to be more on the bright side.
We found that they were very durable, with the tone hanging on for several weeks.
The coating on these strings is nice. It’s a thin coating – not overdone as you find on some strings. Cleartone uses a different technology for their coating. They actually don’t refer to it as coating, but rather ‘treated’. The difference is that ‘coatings’ tend to flake off while these ‘treated’ strings maintain their state.
You’ll also notice that coated strings will sound a bit more subdued than these treated strings. This treatment allows the strings to breathe a bit more and for the tone to shine through. Hence, you’ll start out with strings a bit more on the bright side.
Some have mentioned that they get a lot of finger noise. We did not have the same issue. This could be that these treated strings, with their thinner coating are more likely to approach the characteristics of a non-coated string, and if you’re used to playing with a regular coated string, you will definitely notice much less noise – this comes with pros and cons.
Overall, a very nice string. Give them a try.
You can buy these strings here. Remember, Guitar Center will beat any advertised price, so you’re guaranteed to get the best price. Use our Guitar Center coupon to get 33% off right now by clicking on the image below. This offer will expire soon, so get yours now before they are gone at this price!
