Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin -- what strings are you using?

[guitar_65riff]

That's certainly lovely. I'm looking for a mellow sound I think. Trouble is. I've Too many guitars. God did I just say that?

[Chazmo]

I sold my Kingpin when I got my 5th Avenue Jazz, thinking I no longer needed it because 5th Avenues have a lot of similarities--unfortunately, I miss it--and I have to agree with those who say the 5th Avenues have acoustic qualities, even when electrified. As such, I have always used roundwounds on my 5th Avenues to preserve that tone as much as possible.

Interestingly, I love TI flatwound Swing 13s on my ES-175 and Epi Elitist Broadway. Since TIs are so perfect on those guitars, I tried TI Be Bop roundwound 13s on my Jazz recently. Hated them. Bass response went to hell and they just never felt or sounded right on the Godin. Yesterday, I put the D'Addario nickel roundwound EJ21 12s that come standard from the factory on 5th Avenues and my guitar was back! At $20+ for a set of TIs in the US, it was an expensive experiment, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, as they say...

[John A.]

I use Martin Retro monel strings on mine. When I got it, it had flats on it, (not sure what kind, except that they definitely weren't D'A Chromes), which were not great unplugged. I tried D'Addario EJ21's before settling on the monels. I play it unplugged a lot, and they give it a bit more volume and legit acoustic tone than regular nickel (i.e., nickel plated) strings, though I don't think I can tell the difference plugged in. The monels have also seem to last a really long time. The set I have on now is at least 6 months old and they still intonate and sound fine, which is a crazy long time for me.

John

[Chazmo]

John A., The Martin Retros are an interesting idea. Did you have to adjust the pickup polepiece heights to balance string to string volumes when you put the monels on?

[John A.]

John A., The Martin Retros are an interesting idea. Did you have to adjust the pickup polepiece heights to balance string to string volumes when you put the monels on?

No, or at least not that I recall. Monels behave the same as "electric" strings with magnetic pups (because nickel is a magnetic metal), and don't have the balance problems that Phosphor Bronze strings do.

John

[GaryB]

Don't know if anyone else experienced the same problem...but when setting up my new Park Ave Kingpin earlier this year, the factory height of the bridge pickup did not allow me to lower the string action to where I like it and the strings were actually resting on top of the pole pieces. Since Godin makes their own P-90's, I was not able to find a lower P-90 base plate that would adapt so my Luthier had to grind down the stock base plate an 1/8". It plays great now . Beautiful Guitar

[guitar_65riff]

So, I solved my own problem and put Godin 10-46 gauge on my 5th Avenue Kingpin p90 and Wow! Very surprised!
Sounds great finger style, picked plugged in... Unplugged. Really nice.

[spaceoddity66]

Hi, nice reading, thank you all!! I've some doubts, my 5th avenue (was only acoustic, but I put a schatten bridge on it, and now is electrified nicely) acoustically plays good (the joint between the bridge and the top still needs some sandpaper work, since there is a gap), but when plugged in the amp, the low E sounds dull compared with the A string. I'm using .10 acoustic bronze Dunlop, that are very nice (I like very low action), but I'm thinking what improvement can I have replacing them with .11 or .12 electric. I don't think that flat strings are a good choice, they sound a bit dark and lose a lot unplugged. thanks in advance for any advice