What a difference a gauge makes !

[j4zz]

I know I just mentioned it in my little thread here J&D AG-10 Hollowbody - cheap but plays beautifully
but I am so impressed with the big improvement.

I changed from Elixir nanoweb 11-49 gauge to 12-52 gauge. As well as the bigger gauge, these come with a wound G string. Now this little cheap J&D guitar has a spruce top, and mahogany body, and at the price it has to be laminate. It seems it really needed the step in gauge to get the archtop excited (pun intended). It has just come to life.

I am waiting for it to settle in to the new tension before adjusting too closely, but it seems to play at about the same action (2.5mm on the 12th fret) and the feel isn't all that different. I will get used to it very quickly.

[Woody Sound]

That title sounds like a song.

[j4zz]

That title sounds like a song.

It was meant to

[mr. beaumont]

I know I just mentioned it in my little thread here J&D AG-10 Hollowbody - cheap but plays beautifully
but I am so impressed with the big improvement.

I changed from Elixir nanoweb 11-49 gauge to 12-52 gauge. As well as the bigger gauge, these come with a wound G string. Now this little cheap J&D guitar has a spruce top, and mahogany body, and at the price it has to be laminate. It seems it really needed the step in gauge to get the archtop excited (pun intended). It has just come to life.

I am waiting for it to settle in to the new tension before adjusting too closely, but it seems to play at about the same action (2.5mm on the 12th fret) and the feel isn't all that different. I will get used to it very quickly.

Yes, you are definitely discovering what I consider to be an absolute truth of "jazz" guitars.

.012s with a wound G is where the magic begins.

Sometimes you can go even heavier (I like to on the high E and B only), but sometimes .012s are the goldilocks gauge.

[Woody Sound]

but sometimes .012s are the goldilocks gauge.

[j4zz]

Yes, you are definitely discovering what I consider to be an absolute truth of "jazz" guitars.

.012s with a wound G is where the magic begins.

Sometimes you can go even heavier (I like to on the high E and B only), but sometimes .012s are the goldilocks gauge.

I only recently became aware of the mixing and matching of gauges - and heavier high strings seems to often be the choice. Something else to experiment with for me.

[skykomishone]

.012, I think this is true.