String issues on my sapele Eastman

williamtk2018, interesting.  Strings will help, but at the end of the day, the guitar will want to sing with it's own voice no matter what strings you put on it.  There may be some exceptions with very "different" kinds of strings though, but those exceptions will probably be very rare.

I haven't played a ton, but the all sapele guitars that I tried were always very warm, dry, woodsy sounding guitars....warmer than most mahogany guitars I've played.  I liked to call them "buttery."  A bright guitar will almost always be bright because that's its voice, because of the woods and bracing etc.  Same with a warm guitar.  (this is with good strings, you can always change the voice of a guitar with dead strings!  LOL! ).

I've noticed that if you want overtones, rosewood is the wood that's king of that.  Sapele, Mahogany and Maple give a more dry sound coupled with their characteristic brightness or warmth.

Between Sapele and Mahogany, I've noticed that mahogany can sound much brighter than Sapele, but still warm and woodsy.

So, all that to say, I'm not trying to encourage you to stop trying, but just to consider the guitar's voice.  I usually start there and consider what strings I put on it as just a "tweak" to that voice.

This is why I have different guitars for different voices.  Rosewood/spruce for power, overtones, highs and lows.  All mahogany for dry, woodsy, balanced.  Mahogany/spruce for that power, warmth, direct and dry, but balanced as well. 

Think of it like this, the guitar is the speaker, and the strings are just the amp which will give it (a little) more or less power and more or less (or just "tweak") EQ range, but they won't change the speaker itself.

Just my 2 cents. 

williamtk2018, in general I like Ernie Ball strings, and with my playing style they last a little longer than other strings. I usually use D'Addario strings myself, but have also tried Martin strings, and various others. I try to find out what the guitar seems to want, and usually leave the packet in the case with the date I changed strings on it, because I will otherwise forget what is on the guitar. That way, if I like what's on it I can put the same strings back on. I have a bit of SAS too (String Acquisition Syndrome,) so at any given time I have a wide variety of strings to try. But as changing strings isn't my favorite thing, I will in general leave strings on even if I don't love them until they need changed.

williamtk2018,

Unfortunately I know how you feel.
You want a new guitar, you enjoy looking at all the alternatives, you try a lot of different guitars, then finally you find the guitar that's just right, but as you say when the honeymoon is over, that little bit of dought creeps in, then it dawns on you that perhaps this is not the guitar you really wanted.
I have done it more than once, then I go and trade it in for another guitar, yes you may loose a bit of money, but possiblity end up with a guitar you really like, and more than that you have learned the things you don't like in guitars, it may be size or tone woods ect.
To get the guitar that you really like, may take one or two or more guitars, but in the end it is well worth it. 😀

williamtk2018, Guitars are like dating; you don't date them to find out what you want, you date them to find out what you don't want.  Then, when you find the one that doesn't have anything you don't want, you've probably found your lady! 

Ya, double negatives......I went there!