Loar Acoustic Archtop

[swingtoneman]

I have a Loar VS-600-LS acoustic archtop. L5 style guitar. I am a rhythm player into the gypsy jazz / Freddie Green (Love Eddie Lang.) I was wondering what gauge strings do you use for 'the rhythm side of life'?
12-54? 13-56? or even higher?

Your thoughts on what gauge you may have tried.

[Woody Sound]

I have a Loar VS-600-LS acoustic archtop. L5 style guitar. I am a rhythm player into the gypsy jazz / Freddie Green (Love Eddie Lang.) I was wondering what gauge strings do you use for 'the rhythm side of life'?
12-54? 13-56? or even higher?

Your thoughts on what gauge you may have tried.

I like the softer feel of 12's, even though they're not as loud as 13's. I've even tried 11's and the sound was very nice and bright, but not much vol. My own opinion, and some here will probably disagree, is that the heavier you go, the darker the tone gets.

[daverepair]

These days, I mostly use 80/20 mediums on my vintage Epiphones and Gibson. Mediums give more volume for jams or gigs, IMO. The setup must be really good, otherwise they are a bear to play. I also like Martin set MA545(only available in PB), which they call 'light/medium', with gauges in between standard light or medium sets.

[sgosnell]

Archtops in general need heavier strings to move the top sufficiently for louder volume, but that's just a generality. Some can be muffled or choked somewhat by strings that are too heavy. Each instrument seems to have a string tension that works best for it, and the only way I know to get the ideal strings for volume is trial and error. Keep in mind that the ear is imperfect, no matter the head it's on, and if you're truly concerned with the highest volume you'll need to do some experimentation using dB meters along with careful and repeatable placement.

[RomanS]

Martin Retro 13s on my Loar LH300.

[hotpepper01]

My Sumi S5 is a Japanese 20s L5 type of guitar and has a 12 pole KA humbucker wich is floating. I play in a bigband. For the old style Freddie Green/Basie tunes I use this guitar (otherwise L5 or 335). The Sumi has at present 12-52 phosphor wounds on

[maxsmith]

I have a Loar LH700VS I’ve tried a lot of strings on. I settled on these, but I put a plain 14 and 18 on the E and B. Nice big tone; get the neck setup well and they’re not too hard to play.

They are pure nickel wound - a very focused fundamental tone. I generally don’t like any kind of “yellow” string.

John Pearse Acoustic Guitar Pure Nickel Wound, .013 - .057, 980M

[swingtoneman]

Many thanks for all your replies--much appreciated.

[RJVB]

Or you could try Savarez Argentines?

[stevus]

My Sumi S5 is a Japanese 20s L5 type of guitar and has a 12 pole KA humbucker wich is floating. I play in a bigband. For the old style Freddie Green/Basie tunes I use this guitar (otherwise L5 or 335). The Sumi has at present 12-52 phosphor wounds on

Wow, nice Sumi guitar! Hand painted, hard to find, even in Japan. I tried a similar one when I was in Kyoto, great guitar. I guess you have added the pickup later?

Oh, strings, I only use Thomastik Bb112 on my guitars and replace the 3rd with a BB21 roundwound.

[maxsmith]

That’s a beauty!

[Webby]

I use an Eastman archtop for rhythm Jobs. I tried several strings and like the Martin darcos the most. I use .13's.
They sound like this:

Paul

[Woody Sound]

My Sumi S5 is a Japanese 20s L5 type of guitar and has a 12 pole KA humbucker wich is floating. I play in a bigband. For the old style Freddie Green/Basie tunes I use this guitar (otherwise L5 or 335). The Sumi has at present 12-52 phosphor wounds on

Wow that's nice. Does the pickup work with the phosphors?

[radiofm74]

On my LH-700 I happily use 12s for both a good acoustic sound and the ability to play solos. Since I have a FHC in there, I use Martin retros. Omphalopsychos pointed out to me that GHS vintage bronze strings work well with DeArmonds and that's the solution I have on the archtops I've been using with the big band. It works, and once I run out of my stock of Martins I might go for it

I use an Eastman archtop for rhythm Jobs. I tried several strings and like the Martin darcos the most. I use .13's.
They sound like this:

Paul

That little arpeggio always makes me suffer, simple as it seems … ;D And out cap took the tune sooooo slow. Lovely, but you can see we're sweating to hold the tempo!

[radiofm74]

My Sumi S5 is a Japanese 20s L5 type of guitar and has a 12 pole KA humbucker wich is floating. I play in a bigband. For the old style Freddie Green/Basie tunes I use this guitar (otherwise L5 or 335). The Sumi has at present 12-52 phosphor wounds on

PS: what a beauty! But I've recently decided that whatever 16" might come into my house later on, my LH-700 will stay. She's such a great guitar! I'll get her the proper dress she deserves… a good 20s L-5 pickguard!