First Strings Gauge

[jorgemg1984]

Hi!

I have been using John Pearse 013-56 Jazz Rounds strings and I have never looked back to flats again! I order from this site

John Pearse Acoustic/Electric Six String Guitar Nickel Wound Jazz Long D, .013 - .056, 2920

Its possible to just order single strings and I am reconsidering using heavier strings on the strings 1 and 2. I love the rest of the set but I am thinking about going to 014 or 015 / 018 or 019 instead of 013 / 017. Any opinions? I know Newtone and Thomastik and La Bella make some heavy 014 / 015 sets, anyone tried them? Thanks!

(i will also order 4x times of the those strings, makes each set last forever, those two are the only ones that get old!)

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Why not? I would go up one gauge at a time and see how it feels. Since you are just replacing 2 strings, this is a cheap experiment. I have used 14s (La Bella) on a 25 1/2" scale and it worked for me. I suppose the nut slots may need a little filing, but wait and see, first.

[spiral]

Originally Posted by jorgemg1984

Its possible to just order single strings and I am reconsidering using heavier strings on the strings 1 and 2. I love the rest of the set but I am thinking about going to 014 or 015 / 018 or 019 instead of 013 / 017. Any opinions?

Of course you should. I like the Ernie Ball coateds but they don't have a wound G so i custom order sets from Strings and Beyond. Premade sets are just an average starting place. Do what works best if you have the cash.

[jorgemg1984]

Thanks for your help! Since I will be ordering some stuff from Thomann soon I think I might order some DAs just to try and if I like it I will order a custom JP set from just strings. The thing is - its cheaper to order a regular 013-56 set and a lot of extra E and B strings than make a custom set... I will just throw the 013 and 017 strings away!

[jorgemg1984]

Update: Put the 015 and 019. Much fuller sound on the first two strings - loving it so far! The strings sound and feel more balanced...

[Bill C]

I've tried Newtone Archtop strings and I thought they felt and sounded great, but having played half rounds for years I was getting a fair bit of string squeak so I switched to Sadowsky Jimmy Bruno polished rounds. As the Newtones are made in the UK they would probably be cheaper for you purchased from within the EU - I think Foulds Guitars do them and recommend them.

[kambor]

I switched a few weeks ago to .014 .018, and I found it great too. Nice to know .015 works nice to you!

[jorgemg1984]

Hi Bill!

I am really happy with John Pearse... I am not going to switch brand for sure. What I do is to buy John Pearse 013-56 Jazz Rounds and then a lot of John Pearse extra 015 / 019 - usually 4 per set, the first two strings are the only ones that need replacement usually. The 13 and 17 that come in the package go as replacements for my 335 which uses the regular 013-56 gauge with La Bella Rounds. Even being different brands plain strings are usually similar.

Bill those Sadowsky are 15$... I find that a steal! I have the same feeling about Thomastik - they are good but too expensive... I play a lot of hours a day and my strings don't last much due to my sweating so I need the best price / quality ratio! John Pearse sets are 5.71$.. Thats one third of the price! And these are the best sounding strings I have ever tried... My luthier has done works on every guitar on earth and tried every strings that exist probably and loved this ones for jazz. But they do squeak... Lack of squeaking doesn't justify 3x times the price for me.

Oh and Sadowsky strings are made by La Bella - maybe you can find something on the La Bella catalog that does the same for a much cheaper price. I use La Bella Jazz Rounds on my 335 and love them - much smoother than DAs and they last longer also. They are a little more expensive but already come with an extra E and B - with the other extra E and B I take from John Pearse sets I am done

PS - They sell it at that price because they put the Bruno name there (only God knows how is name boosts sells on anything tone related but that's a whole other story). John Pearse Rounds are used by Peter Bernstein - they don't put it on the box and sell it at a ridiculous expensive price but that I call an endorsement. His tone is to die for... On his "Monk" CD you can really hear the sound of these 5$ strings.

PS 2 - I would like to try newtone but they are also expensive. I import John Pearse from the US but the thing is I order all my strings from juststrings.com so the shipping ends up being divided by all sets. Newtone would end uo being more expensive than John Pearse and I dont get theirs sets. I like 015 and 019 better than 014 and 018 and I find 058 a bit too much... So in the end I would have to change some of the strings and I dont think its worth it. Do you find the Sadowsky better than the Newtones? I assume you can buy the Newtones much cheaper in the UK...



John Pearse® Acoustic/Electric Six String Guitar Nickel Wound Jazz, .013 - .056, 2900

[jorgemg1984]

Originally Posted by kambor

I switched a few weeks ago to .014 .018, and I found it great too. Nice to know .015 works nice to you!

Yes - try it! The difference on the feeling is not very big and the tone gets a little fuller. Worth it for me