View Poll Results: What gauge strings on your archtop?
- Voters
- 812. You may not vote on this poll
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10
37 4.56% -
11
165 20.32% -
12
385 47.41% -
13
205 25.25% -
other
58 7.14%
Multiple Choice Poll.
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Not too many of the 130 of us who use 11's are posting :-) I just bought my first archtop and am switching from 12's to 11s, which is what I use on all my other electric guitars (12 on acoustic). I'm trying out the d'Addario Pure Nickel.
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08-10-2020 07:01 PM
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I have 11-50 on my solid body guitars. Archtops have 12 or 13 to 52 or 54. But my 335 style (Polytone Improv II) is back to Ernie Ball 10-46 gauge.
I have to play carefully with a light grip to keep intonation good. It facilitates some stuff, but impedes other stuff.
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I use 11s on my archtop. Sometimes I like to use a bit of vibrato on chords or single notes, and heavier string gauges make that more difficult. Vibrato is more important to my sound than any improvement I might get from heavier strings.
Originally Posted by rlyacht
My flattop, on the other hand, sounds much better with 12s.
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I'm also partial to vibrato and even bending. I come from a blues/rock background and I'm now "re-engineering" my playing. I started out long ago using 8's when I was a kid (just like my hero Jimmy Page
) and gradually increased to 11's and I clearly saw the benefit. OTOH, 11 may be my limit.
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I use both 11s and 12s. I find the 11s work well on my Johnny Smith while the 12s feel better on my Wes Mo and L5 P. For the past six months, I've been using GHS pure nickel and really enjoy the fit, feel and sound.
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I have sone flatwounds, they already were on guitar when I bought it used.
I think it is 11, or 12 set.
I never gave it much thought, untill one day that top E snapped, so I replaced it with gauge 12 I had on hand. Looks like almost the same gauge as the B.
It is possible, however, that once I changed B with something lighter, but cannot really remember.
Lower four strings I never changed. They serve me for about 10 years now, plus I do not know how many with previous owner.
My Band camp
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I use Thomastik Infeld Swings(Flatwound) 13's on my Guild X-175.
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Vladan, Originally Posted by Vladan
I use same set TI 12 swing flatwound on my hollow-body over 3 years...only 1st string I've changed.
Kris
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Right now I am using TI Jazz Swing 11s with an Ernie Ball 13 and 17 on top for most of my electric guitars.
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I use TI JS 13s. On my solid bodies, I use Dean Markley Signature Series 10-46, with 10-52 on one of my Les Pauls.
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Wound strings are virtually indestructible. I mean, they can snap under circumstances, but as far as intonation and sound, it feels like they can serve forever. Thicker and heavier, the better. Originally Posted by kris
My Band camp
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I am using TI 13 Jazz Swing on my D`Angelico EXL 1 (Korean) and change them every 12 months. It is incredible how long these strings maintain their quality. Actually, I could leave them on the guitar longer, but I think changing them only once a year tells you how first class these strings are.
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I have a bit of a mix of strings on my Loar right now; low E from the Plectrum AC112 set, A-G from the Pyramid Black Tape Nylon 12-52 set. I had a 15 B and 12 E on but found them a bit too twangy/nasal. That's a lot better with a 16 B and 13 E, and I won't go higher for my hands, but I get a little bit the impression that the guitar sounds more stifled. (I play fingerstyle.)
I had that same impression with my mini jumbo; it sounded nice but (too) quiet with silk-and-steel 12-52 (Earthwood Softs) and really came to live when I put on a set of Plectrum AC111s. I've been hesitant to do the same thing on the archtop because I wanted to be certain it was "woken up" properly after not having been played much at all; maybe I should...
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I myself can’t really decide on gauge from my L5ces.
I slayer ate between 12 flats (for when I’m in jazz only mode) and 11 rounds, to play more versatile stuff.
and it seems to go with the seasons for some reason- the flats for more moody music in the winter and rounds to rock some in the summer.
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I used to feel less worthy because I do like 11s, and peer pressure kept making me think I should step up to 12/13s. Good to see a healthy vote for 11s in the poll.
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Over the years I have experimented with just about every gauge there is. I worked my way up from 11’s to 14’s over a couple of years. But the 14’s were too much. I eventually settled on 12’s. Then over the last couple of years I’ve gone the opposite direction, working my way down to 9’s, but settling on 10s for my archtop. There is definitely a difference in tone. I don’t know that one is better than the other. But, it’s irrelevant if I can’t play the instrument correctly. And, over the years I’ve come to accept that I can’t play heavy strings without undue and unnecessary stress in my hands that inhibits my playing.
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IIRC, a 9 or maybe even a 10 gauge E1 has about the same tension as the Aquila's flamenco trebles (Granato and Sugar Rubino), and you should be able to find carbonfluor strings that have comparable tension. Could be an option if you want to avoid the jingly character these very light plain wire strings can have. Originally Posted by chaddukes
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Well, I never thought I would go for flat wound strings. I always thought they sounded dead right out of the package. However, the last time I used flat wound strings was the early '60s. And there wasn't much variety to choose from back then (LaBella, Black Diamond, Gretsch and maybe a couple others).
Fast forward to now. I just installed some TI Jazz Swing flat wound strings (.012s) on my Eastman AR580C and it sounds superb. The strings didn't sound dead at all. They definitely sound different. But they have a very rich, warm, sound. All my jazz guitars will have flat wounds from here on out. I might try experimenting with different flat wound brands. But I can't imagine any other flat wound strings sounding better than these.Last edited by jumpnblues; 07-01-2022 at 08:15 PM.
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Apparently they'll make even an accordion sound great Originally Posted by jumpnblues
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There's a Youtube video discussing electric guitar string gauges and comparing them. And I think there's another Youtube video discussing acoustic guitar string gauges. Both videos are an eye opener. I always thought larger gauge strings were more robust, louder, punchy-er and had better over all tone vs smaller strings. Not necessarily so. Both videos are an interesting, non-scientific, study. The videos forced me to go back to lighter strings and compare. I was very surprised. Some of the lighter strings actually sounded better. But I can't put it into words. I was using mostly .013s for both acoustic and electric guitars. I backed down a step to the .012s and I preferred the sound of them more vs the .013s. I haven't gone down to .011s yet but the .011s sounded really good vs the .012s. They had richer harmonics.
What the heck!!? This can't be!! I had believed that, generally, the larger the string diameter the better the tone. Check it out for yourself. I don't have the link to the Youtube but I think if you Google "Youtube guitar string diameter" or something similar and you'll find it. I still haven't tried stepping down to .011s but I'll probably at least try them. I just hate to spend/waste the money to try them and not like them. Anyway, like I said, the videos were very interesting.
Found the link to one of the videos:
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No surprise here: the thicker the string, the more the vibration energy gets concentrated in/on the fundamental. So: less harmonics (overtones). Originally Posted by jumpnblues
On my nylon stringer I use trebles that are loaded with metal dust: this makes them heavier so they can be thinner to produce a given tone at a given tension. They sound better; fuller and brighter yet the open high E is less "dangerous".
With steel trebles I'd want the opposite: a lighter-than-steel alloy so I can play with at the tension of 11s but with the fewer overtones of, say 13s. Not sure if that's possible (use bronze cittern strings?).
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Really glad you're on the forum, Jens. Your Youtube instructional videos are top notch and you're very generous with them. Thank you so much.
Tom
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I have two Martins, both nice old ones. On the D28 I usually use 12's, because it gives a more full sound for strumming, great balance across the frequencies and between the strings.
On a 00028, I tend to go with lights, 11's. It is a shorter scale, smaller body, nice and warm sounding, and seems to benefit from a bit more snap of the lighter gauge. I also tend to play the smaller guitar more with my fingers. I remember the first time I brought that to a session in LA, my engineer jumped up and asked me what kind of guitar it was, just a great recording guitar. Also I don't like the extra zing of phosphor bronze strings, I prefer the 80/20's, they have a bit more fundamental.
The guitar in the video is also a shorter scale, with that characteristic Gibson dry mahogany sound. I kind of preferred the 11's on that one as well, it got a bit woofy in the lower midrange with heavier strings. I heard the difference on both picking and strumming. I would feel the need to dial out some low mids with heavier strings. By the way, it was done with a large capsule mike, I would usually prefer a smaller capsule Neumann or two.
I usually stick with 12's on the jazz guitars, and sometimes think about going to 11's for fun, or maybe 11's with heavier unwound strings.
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12s on archies and acos, 10s on solids and semis. My hands are evolving, though (i.e. arthritis, neuralgia), so might lighten.
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At some point, after using a variety of gauges on different types of guitars, I settled on 12-15-18-28-38-48 for almost everything. Typically I’ll get an 11 - 48 set and bump the E and B up a gauge with singles, Pyramid Monels mostly, though I sometimes go up to 13 or 14 on acoustics, they just seem to drive the guitar top better.
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