More About Woodtone Strings (and picks 🤠)

In The Woodshed Story, I shared how I left my CPA job to build Country Guitar Online, Woodtone Strings, and now producing my girlfriend Soonka’s music.

While strings and picks are one part of that journey, everything I do is really part of the same chase: trying to make flatpicking feel and sound more fun—in jamming, in the way it sounds in the music I record, etc.

Even while I was working a corporate job, I was constantly experimenting behind the scenes — trying different strings, shaping picks, testing tension, feel, tone, and technique. A lot of what eventually became Woodtone started late at night after work: flatpicking, sanding picks, recording jam tracks, and chasing a sound and feel.

Strings that feel easier on the fingers while sounding like mediums — and what tension’s got to do with it

When it comes to acoustic guitar strings, most players usually think in terms of gauge: lights vs mediums.

But over time, I became obsessed with something else: tension.

Tension is one of the biggest things that affects how a string actually feels under your fingers — how stiff or flexible it feels, how easily it plays, how balanced it feels across the guitar, and how it responds when you dig in with a pick.

A lot of acoustic players — especially bluegrass flatpickers — prefer medium strings because they usually offer more volume, projection, and punch.

The problem for me was: I loved the tone of mediums, but I didn’t always love the feel.

So I started chasing what felt like the best of both worlds: the playability of lights, with a tone that could still cut like mediums.

While building Country Guitar Online after leaving my accounting job, I was also quietly designing strings behind the scenes. I kept making tweaks for years until I finally landed on a set I genuinely loved playing.

One of the biggest things I learned during that process was that strings with the exact same gauge can still feel very different depending on how they’re built.

By changing the balance between the core wire and wrap wire, you can dramatically affect:

  • feel
  • flexibility
  • attack
  • projection
  • overall tension

That tension philosophy eventually became the foundation for Woodtone Strings.

Once I landed on a set I loved, I realized they worked perfectly for country — but for bluegrass flatpicking, I wanted a little more tension and bite. That’s what led to the first two sets that started Woodtone Strings:

Country Series

Lower tension and easier playability, with a warm, balanced tone that still has clarity and punch.

Bluegrass Series

A little more tension and projection for players who want extra power, attack, and cut when flatpicking.

When I finally found a U.S. manufacturer I trusted to make them at the level I wanted, Woodtone Strings officially came to life.

I still use these strings every day for jamming, recording, lessons, writing music, and recording “From the Woodshed” performances. They’re what you hear throughout the CGO Jam Track Library, many of the lesson videos, and our music here at home.

Later on, I made a few more tweaks to the Country Series — switching to nickel instead of phosphor bronze and removing the coating — which became my:

Nickel-Infused Low Tension Strings

To me, they have a deeper, woodier sound while still feeling snappy, clear, and articulate. I love these too — they’re the Banjo Ben’s General Store manager’s favorite.

Since then, I’ve also added strings for mandolin, banjo, and resonator guitar. These are the only products I sell that I did not personally design from scratch. However, they still hold to the same standards in feel, tone, and quality — built with manufacturing partners I trust.

All Woodtone strings are proudly made in the USA.

PICKS

Picks have always been a huge obsession of mine too.

Soonka likes to joke that every time she does laundry, she finds at least 3 guitar picks in my shorts pockets — and honestly, she’s not exaggerating. There are picks all over our house.

I’m constantly testing different shapes, bevels, grip textures, thicknesses, and materials — sanding picks in the backyard, recording A/B comparisons, and chasing tiny feel and tone differences most normal people probably wouldn’t care about 🤠

Some of the picks on the site — like the FlexGrips and FlatPicks — are hand-finished here in my workshop.

Others — like the tortoise picks — are manufactured to my specs by trusted partners after designs I developed here in the Woodshed.

Either way, they all start the same way: me testing, tweaking, sanding, recording, and obsessing over feel and tone until I land on something I genuinely enjoy playing.

When that happens, I make a batch of them to share here on Woodtone.

If you’d like updates on new batches and products coming out of the Woodshed, you can sign up for the Woodshed Newsletter.

WOODTONE IN MUSIC

We use Woodtone Strings ourselves — it’s what you hear in the lessons and jam tracks I post on CountryGuitarOnline.com and in our From The Woodshed cover series (and soon, in our original music).

We also plan to start doing livestream shows, so if you’d like music updates, you can sign up for the Woodshed Newsletter.

Here’s a cozy Willie song we recorded at home:

Thanks y’all and happy picking 🤠 — Devin