Is nylon or silk more common for tsugaru san no ito?
I have nylon right now and I really like it cos it feels familiar for the hammer ons and pulloffs but I recall someone mentioning that they use silk. I’m curious to try.
Nylon is much more common, as silk is much more prone to breakage.
There are silk strings available though and many say they prefer the tone, however the unpredictability of whether or not it will hold up for long is a concern.
I occasionally use a silk san-no-ito, but only for performances due to their expense.
As Ian said, they’re prone to breaking very quickly - particularly when used with tsugaru style playing. Even in normal min’yo, their life span is disappointingly short.
Personally, I find the the tone they produce to be preferable, but not so much that I can foot the bill outside of special cases.
Sort of the same situation on the ni-no-ito to be honest :/; but the gap there is large enough to warrant silks whenever I can manage it.