“There is no stage in the world that's too big for the music that you play on an acoustic guitar.”: John Mayer and Ernie Ball just co-designed a set of next-gen Earthwood acoustic guitar strings inspired by cymbals and bells

Ernie Ball knows a thing or two about making acoustic and electric guitar strings but every now and then it is good to get a consultant in, just to see if it will spark some fresh inspiration, and for its new range of Earthwood strings it brought John Mayer onboard as co-designer.

The Earthwood Bell Bronze acoustic guitar strings, available now in a variety of gauges, are not signature strings. Mayer’s face is not on the packaging – we’re not too sure if his name is even on there, not even in the small print. But he helped steer the design, and is mighty proud of them.

The promo video finds Mayer in typically philosophical form. The strings, themselves, sound great. But then again it’s John Mayer’ playing a Martin guitar and that is always going to help.

Still, Mayer believes you can make your guitar sound divine, too. Maybe it’s all those Grateful Dead songs he’s been playing of late, but he is especially Zen here. This not so much a promo for these new strings as it is a pep talk for anyone pickup up the instrument.

“The only thing you have to feed it are two things, guitar strings and ideas,” he says. “For the most part, acoustic guitars are the great equaliser of ideas. If your idea works here, you can change the world.

“It wasn’t until the last 10 years or so that acoustic guitar has really stood at the forefront of pop culture, of youth culture, of really what I would call like high energy creativity from young people.

“f you pick up an acoustic guitar and you write some songs on it, and you play them for people, there is no stage in the world that's too big for the music that you play on an acoustic guitar. The story begins here, the story is told here, and the story ends here.”

Ernie Ball: Introducing Earthwood Bell Bronze with John Mayer - YouTube

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Thank you, John. We needed that. Now, as for the strings, the “Bell Bronze” speaks to the new alloy that they’re comprised of. Forget phosphor/bronze, these are inspired by the same alloys used to make bells and cymbals.

Cymbals? That makes us think high-end musical information. But the frequency profile of the Earthwood Bell Bronze is described as having a similar top end to the 80/20 Bronze set, and a fuller and “richer” low end than the phosphor/bronze without going all dark and muddy on you.

There is a patent-pending on the alloy. But you can grab the Earthwood Bell Bronze acoustic strings now. You can get them in all the popular light to medium gauges, from 10s to 13s. See Ernie Ball for more details. See above for your acoustic guitar pep talk from big bad John.