Should I put 14s on my Gretsch Country Club...

**TheGrandWazoo** · 07-18-2014, 06:22 PM

...or stick with 13s?

Yes or No?

Strings would be TI's. No questions.

**mr. beaumont** · 07-18-2014, 06:23 PM

Yes.

Try the E and B from a set of .014's first. Might be enough.

**TheGrandWazoo** · 07-18-2014, 06:24 PM

Not sure why pict is sideways. Its striaght up on my compooteer

**pubylakeg** · 07-18-2014, 07:16 PM

Sure thing. Is it TI Swing flats you're planning? Lower tension than most. Btw love that 6193. Very uncommon. Love s/c DeArmonds for Jazz. Is the wood bridge original ?

**TheGrandWazoo** · 07-18-2014, 09:22 PM

Thanks. Original bridge was a Malita but I knew a rosewood bridge to match the fret board would mellow her out and she sounds sweet with the treble rolled off through Twin. That great throaty/woody single coil sound.

**Jim Soloway** · 07-18-2014, 09:33 PM

isn't the CC a 25.5" scale length? If so I would be concerned about strings that heavy.

**TheGrandWazoo** · 07-18-2014, 10:14 PM

It is Jim. That's my concern. I'm not sure what the limit is. Maybe just the e and b string as Jeff suggested.

**mr. beaumont** · 07-18-2014, 10:19 PM

Try it. Thicker basses just get muddy...thicker trebles rule.

**TheGrandWazoo** · 07-18-2014, 10:22 PM

Great. Now I gotta buy two set of strings.

And there TIs.

**anothersixstringer** · 07-18-2014, 10:42 PM

TI 12s on my CC were always great

**Greentone** · 07-19-2014, 12:36 AM

Wow...great guitar.

**SuperFour00** · 07-19-2014, 02:24 AM

!. You don't need special plain strings, they're all virtually identical. Just get any 14 and 18 you want.

2. If it were me, I'd go full tilt and have the nut and bridge grooved for 16s (16, 20, 26, 34, 44, 56). Does TI make a flatwound 56? I put 17s on a Japanese D'Angelico for a while ... with a low action, it played like butter. Be macho, go for 16s.

**vinlander** · 07-19-2014, 10:11 AM

not to derail the thread, but I was also wondering about going up in gauge on my 25.5 Regent 13-56 D'Addario having 190.37 pounds tension.
I have extra 14 and 18 from an old Labella set but I calculated it would bring it to 196.34 pounds and a little less than 3 pounds heavier on the treble side of the neck versus Bass side.
What is the tolerance without creating unbalance on a neck?

**powerwagonjohn** · 07-19-2014, 10:47 AM

Mr. wazoo, is this an older Country Club or is it a newer Japanese guitar. I have been thinking about getting one of the newer Japanese Gertsch Country Clubs but I never seen one on natural.
Thanks john

**Jim Soloway** · 07-19-2014, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by SuperFour00

!. You don't need special plain strings, they're all virtually identical. Just get any 14 and 18 you want.

2. If it were me, I'd go full tilt and have the nut and bridge grooved for 16s (16, 20, 26, 34, 44, 56). Does TI make a flatwound 56? I put 17s on a Japanese D'Angelico for a while ... with a low action, it played like butter. Be macho, go for 16s.

You would we SO unhappy playing one of my guitars.

**SuperFour00** · 07-19-2014, 12:00 PM

Originally Posted by vinlander

not to derail the thread, but I was also wondering about going up in gauge on my 25.5 Regent 13-56 D'Addario having 190.37 pounds tension.
I have extra 14 and 18 from an old Labella set but I calculated it would bring it to 196.34 pounds and a little less than 3 pounds heavier on the treble side of the neck versus Bass side.
What is the tolerance without creating unbalance on a neck?

Necks are very strong, they have steel truss rods, and the tension is pulling from way back at the very end of the body. Unless the neck is defective, I don't see how any functional string gauge that could be tuned up to pitch without breaking the string or damaging the machine heads would hurt the neck ... just adjust the truss rod accordingly. In your case, you probably wouldn't even need to do that.

FWIW, I have an 11 set on my 400 with a 13 and 17 for E and B. That makes 13, 17, 22, 30, 40 ,50 (though sometimes I use a 24 for a "G". All flatwound) I guess you would think that set would be unbalanced, but no problems for years of that custom gauge.

**nopedals** · 07-20-2014, 01:50 PM

I have a reprint of a 1940s Gibson catalog. Strings did not have gauges, but you had the option if a plain or wrapped *B strings*, so I suspect that in the old days guitars were built to handle heavy strings.

**entresz** · 07-20-2014, 07:04 PM

I used to use a .13 set and swap the E and B for .14 and .18 respectively. I use Thomastik .12 sets now, or on acoustic archtop .13 rounds. The .14 and .18 strings seemed to dull the sound in a way that I didn't like. No harm in trying it though!

**pubylakeg** · 07-22-2014, 06:36 PM

Originally Posted by powerwagonjohn

Mr. wazoo, is this an older Country Club or is it a newer Japanese guitar. I have been thinking about getting one of the newer Japanese Gertsch Country Clubs but I never seen one on natural.
Thanks john

Hopefully, not treading on Mr Wazoo's toes, that's a recent Japanese reissue Gretsch 6193. Unfortunately discontinued, it would appear.It looks absolutely stunning, and I bet those DeArmonds sound fantastic.

**GoergeBenson** · 07-22-2014, 07:08 PM

Are you trying to do this because you have a Gretsch (reasonably thin sounding archtop not overly suited to playing things like Bop)?

If so, I would just get a darker sounding guitar. Gretsch are great but not very well suited. Adding exceptionally heavy strings to compensate, won't make it play nicer, perform any better or make it more practical.

IMO it will do the exact opposite.

The string tension will be insanely high making chording down the but end bloody hard.
The bass will be so heavy that you will start to encounter greater feedback issues
The heavier strings will put mor pressure on the top and make it vibrate even less, thus taking away the point in having a hollow body in the first place.

Actually by that logic it should feedback less lol. You get what i'm saying.

Of course I could be wrong but thats my 2pence worth :-)

**TheGrandWazoo** · 07-22-2014, 09:59 PM

Mr. benson. You'd be correct if this wasn't the country club. Most Gretsch's that people see are the standard 6120 that is a braced guitar sometimes with a tone post. These are geared towards loud playing and better suited for rock. As they are trying to be archtops with minimum feed back. The Country Club though is Gretsch's more traditional archtop. Solid spruce top, maple sides, no tone post. Trust me, it's a jazz guitar if there ever was one. It will hold it's own against the over priced guitars traditionally played. Its a very well made guitar out of their Terada plant in Japan. If your looking for a deal on great archtops, Gretschrs can't be beat.

My my reason is that things sound thin on top compared to the bottom. The bottom is fine but even acoustically it feels like the guitar has more to offer on the top end. I like Jeff's idea of just swapping out the B and E string.

**TheGrandWazoo** · 07-22-2014, 10:00 PM

The dynas offer a great single coil sound that I love. Gets me close to that 50s New York sound I cherish.

**entresz** · 07-22-2014, 10:24 PM

Dynasonics are a great jazz guitar pickup....
when Gibson made the AlNiCo Staple pickup, that was intended to sound more like the dynasonic.

**GoergeBenson** · 07-23-2014, 04:08 AM

Originally Posted by TheGrandWazoo

Mr. benson. You'd be correct if this wasn't the country club. Most Gretsch's that people see are the standard 6120 that is a braced guitar sometimes with a tone post. These are geared towards loud playing and better suited for rock. As they are trying to be archtops with minimum feed back. The Country Club though is Gretsch's more traditional archtop. Solid spruce top, maple sides, no tone post. Trust me, it's a jazz guitar if there ever was one. It will hold it's own against the over priced guitars traditionally played. Its a very well made guitar out of their Terada plant in Japan. If your looking for a deal on great archtops, Gretschrs can't be beat.

My my reason is that things sound thin on top compared to the bottom. The bottom is fine but even acoustically it feels like the guitar has more to offer on the top end. I like Jeff's idea of just swapping out the B and E string.

Well without sounding rude, if it is too thin on the treble, thats exactly the way Gretsch are and therefore I see no difference between the sound post being there or not. Its just the way they design their guitars.

You say it holds its own against over priced jazz boxes but actually it fits in well with other Japanaese made models, so I see no real 'value' there.

I have never had to nor would I ever consider owning a 17" archtop that would need 14's. IMO only buying an archtop that wasn't quite right for the job IE a gretsch, would force me into such a move.

I would just add a gauge up on the trebles too but you will have to get used to the string difference and slight tension. It's usually something I avoid but others seem to have no probs with.

I would also change the pick-ups because those are generally bright sounding.

To be honest, I would change the guitar but then I play straight ahead jazz. The tops on this guitars are too thin and that also causes you to have a brittle treble like tone.