What were popular string and pick brands back then, i wonder? I know Fender and D' Andrea had Celluloid picks out, and i know Ernie Ball, Fender, and D'Addario had strings out, but was like the big thing?

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There was a brand of strings called Black Diamomd,they were cheap so a lot of people used them.They were as thick as suspension bridge cables.I can't remember seeing D'Addario strings back then,my earliest recollection is in the mid 70s,

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

In terms of strings, I only remember Black Diamond, Gibson, LaBella and Fender with Ernie Ball coming into being towards the end of the '60s. As far as picks go, I only remember Fender.

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You dig?

Black Diamond strings were the first ones I ever used,and Fender picks,Gibson and Fender strings were what I used most of the time.

The first string sets I recollect buying were the Fender 150L's in 1967 -- I think they'd correlate roughly to today's common 10-46 set. I used the Fender tortoise-shell 351C picks back then, the "thins". When Ernie Ball's "Super Slinky" string sets became available I switched to them for a time but eventually returned to Fender. After a chance meeting and extensive conversation with Mike Sommerville of Head East in an Illinois guitar store in 1969 I switched to Fender 351C "heavy" picks, then eventually to "extra-heavies" which I still use to this day.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Ahh so im seeing consistencies here, mostly big name guitar companies such as Fender and Gibson and a few sole specialty companies such as Black Diamond and Ernie Ball, im guessing when the whole seventies big rock bands, post Hendrix, thing happened all of your specialty companies like Dunlop and GHS started coming around

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Dunlop and GHS were not around in the '60s. They came into prominence LONG afterward. I do remember Electro-Harmonix coming out in the late '60s though.

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You dig?

It would be LaBella strings for my Yamaha Student Classical, 1969-70 then either Fender and or Gibson strings, mostly Fender for the various electrics between 71-74, crappy ones at that,
picks were Fender mostly, also Martin for strings and picks.
I seem to recall Herco picks but oddly enough i have a box or actually a couple boxes full of pics from various times, various thicknesses. Also a Peavey triangular pics,
no idea when those were acquired..
Ernie Balls were the one's that come to mind as far as mid 70's as I was always looking for Slinky's for my Les Paul.

Today it is predominantly Fender Bullet Strings, for the Strats, actually I only have Strats and 1 funky 3/4 sized body twin bucker ( which I have to reassemble since refinishing ).
For the acoustic it is Dean Markley Alchemy Gold Bronze butmore recently Martin's Phosphor Bronze.

OP....String Brand is important but equally so is string Gauge's and the change to custom individual string gauges. I have increased string guauge over the years....From early 70's Super Slinky's 08 to 42 to more recently 09-42 then to 09.5-44 to a change today up to 10-46 .

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

I meant afterwards as in late 70s

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