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Various manufacturers produce a variety of strings for classical guitar, but which ones are the best sellers? I researched information from stores that publish sales rankings, and the most popular strings were revealed.
The following article summarizes the string reviews/impressions/information articles in this blog
Classical Guitar Strings Top Selling Ranking Survey Results
The following table Ranking of the best-selling strings for classical guitar The survey was conducted on January 5, 2022. The survey was conducted on January 5, 2022.
In the table, we extracted only the manufacturer’s own set of strings, and excluded proprietary sets or multiple sets sold together.
For those that have review articles on this site, please see the links. For those that do not have reviews, links are provided to the string manufacturers’ introductory pages.
As for Strings by Mail, I have included in the table the five strings that are listed as best sellers rather than ranking them.
(Postscript): The ranking of the store’s best-selling strings in 2021 was posted on the blog of the Kurosawa Musical Instruments Doctor Sound classical guitar specialty floor, and has been reprinted with permission. Note that the Pro Arte EJ45, EJ45-3D, and EJ43 are listed together as “D’Addario Pro Arte”.
The store’s website is here. They carry a wide variety of classical guitars, from beginners to professionals.
Considerations for ranking
From this ranking, we can see the following.
Yamaha NS110 is strong!
The most surprising thing to me was that the The strength of the Yamaha NS110 Yamaha NS110.
Perhaps the reason for its popularity is that
- You can buy them for about 600 yen per set.
- Famous Manufacturers
I guess that’s just the way it is.
I have tried the Yamaha Grand Concert strings and they are good strings.
I also saw this result and thought I should try NS110, so I reviewed it.
Augustine is also strong.
I also saw many Augustin products in the ranking. I felt the strength of a long-established manufacturer. In addition, many Augustin products were ranked in the ranking.
Augustine is the originator of nylon strings and was used by Segovia, the god of classical guitar, which is probably why it is so well known and popular.
The reason for the popularity of these strings is that they have been around for a long time and are relatively inexpensive.
However, it is a pity that the newly released Paragon is not ranked very high.
D’Addario Pro Arte is also very popular.
D’Addario’s Pro Arte is also persistently popular D’Addario.
It has long been known for its high quality, and is probably popular because of its high stability.
The new XT series is ranked here and there.
Is there a generational shift underway?
Overseas, strings with XT coating on Dynacore have been introduced, and we are waiting for them to appear in Japan.
Sabales is surprisingly low on the list.
What I didn’t expect was that The low popularity of Sabales The only thing that surprised me was the
There are many professionals who use the Cantiga series, and I also recommend it, but I wonder if the price is a bottleneck.
On the other hand, the fact that it is ranked in spite of its high price may indicate that it is popular among users who are particular about sound.
Classical guitar specialty stores and major online stores have totally different rankings.
It is interesting to note that the rankings are completely different between Hyundai Guitars and Kurosawa Musical Instruments, whose rankings were found in this survey, and online stores such as Amazon and Rakuten.
For example, Sabares, which is ranked low by major online stores, is ranked high by Modern Guitar. I have the impression that the strings ranked by Hyundai Guitars and Kurosawa Musical Instruments are generally very particular about their sound! I’m sure you’ll agree.
I guess the customer base is completely different.
Incidentally, only sets sold by manufacturers were included in the ranking this time. The number one selling modern guitar is the original set (KP set) used by Aoihime Park, and the third place is the original set (KM set) used by Kaori Muraji. This time, only sets sold by manufacturers were included in the ranking.
The contents of each are organized in the table below.
| Aoihime Park’s original string set (KP set) | Kaori Muraji’s original string set (KM set) | |
| first string (of a shamisen, etc.) | Augustine Regal | Augustine Imperial |
| second string (of a shamisen, etc.) | Sabares, Ariance High. | Augustine Imperial |
| third string (of a shamisen, etc.) | Sabares, Ariance High. | Augustine Imperial |
| fourth string (of a shamisen, etc.) | Augustine Blue | Savares Column High |
| 5th string | Augustine Blue | Savares Column High |
| six-stringed instrument | Augustine Blue | Savares Column High |
As for the Kaori Muraji set, I used it too, and I think it is indeed a good combination.
Selecting strings from the best-selling rankings is one way to go.
In a capitalist world, ideally, bad things are naturally eliminated and only good things remain.
The top-selling strings in this survey should not be inexplicably bad, and if you are not sure about your choice of strings, choosing one of these may be a good idea.
