Eddie Lang - String Gauge

[swingtoneman]

I am a big fan of Eddie Lang. Apparently he used a 73 gauge for the bottom E. What gauge bottom E string do you use on your acoustic archtop for a good a sound—tone & volume? I would like to perhaps try a 73 gauge out of curiosity. I have yet to hear of anybody today going down to a 73 gauge. Before I did that I would have to adjust the nut / bridge spacing. Perhaps truss rod? Being a double bassist tension probably not an issue. The guitar in question is a Loar 600-VS.

Your thoughts on this question.

Many thanks.

[SandChannel]

Eddie used a 73? I wouldn't have expected him to go with anything remotely that heavy on his L-5 - especially having come from a banjo. You are def going to need nutwork and adjustments. You might even need to slot the bridge as well. I also have no idea how you are going to get any string balance from something that large unless you are increasing the gauge of all the other strings as well.

I use a '35 L-12 with standard 12-53, but I increase the higher strings (E and B) to a 15 and 18 because they project more and balance well when playing swing without pickups.Gotta be honest here, though. I can't seen any reason to go that heavy on the low E. Heck, I don't even play that low note in most chord forms because it already muddies up with the other instruments.

[AllanAllen]

According to Robb Lawrence – who claims to own Eddie Lang’s block inlaid L-5 – Lang used the following finger-breaking string gauges!
6 – 73; 5 – 48; 4 – 38; 3 – 30; 2 – 20; 1 – 15

Eddie Lang

I'm really surprised to see this.

[hotpepper01]

According to this website, Eddie Lang (prewargibsonl-5.com)
He was using on his 20s dot neck L5
6 – 73; 5 – 48; 4 – 38; 3 – 30; 2 – 20; 1 – 15

I have a fairly modern Japanese Sumi S5, basically a 20s L5 clone/rip off if you will, and I come no where close. I have it strung with 12-56 phosphor bronze rounds. Okay, mine has a 12 pole KA floating HB, but it sounds and projects well in a pub-like setting, playing in an all acoustic combo.

[Christian Miller]

Yeah I’ve that Eddie lived in the realm of the wound B string

as for me … I like .12s haha.

[rpjazzguitar]

Years ago I played a guitar at a store in Berkeley which was purported to be for sale by Kitty Lang, Eddie's wife. Allegedly, it was Eddie's guitar.

My memory is hazy on this point, but I think I had encountered another guitar for sale which was said to be Eddie's, so I didn't trust the story.

In any case, it was an early Gibson archtop strung with what I thought were impossibly thick strings.

[SandChannel]

Wow. 73, huh? Lang had some mighty strong fingers.

[SandChannel]

Just curious - is there a benefit to take the low E up to a gauge that thick?

[wintermoon]

Eddie had three L-5s. The story goes there were two 1920's dot markers he took delivery of, one of which he immediately sold to Alvino Rey. Then a block marker. That one Kitty supposedly gave to his friend violinist Joe Venuti who supposedly gave it to guitsrist Tony Romano who I believe had it stolen from his car. There's a duo record w Venuti he used it on called "Never Before, Never Again", I've got that one in my collection.
As for string gauge one has to consider Lang came up before mics were used widely by individual players so he had to project in a big band setting., the guitar is not a particularly loud instrument, especially going up against horn sections.

[SandChannel]

As for string gauge one has to consider Lang came up before mics were used widely by individual players so he had to project in a big band setting., the guitar is not a particularly loud instrument, especially going up against horn sections.

Was Eddie using a lot of voicing that required the Low E to be heard in a big band setting? Maybe it was more for duo work... All the same, that is a thick string! LOL.

[Dennis D]

That really made me wonder what other instruments used that gauge string ? Is .73 gauge a common bass or cello string thickness ?

[Cunamara]

Just to be pedantic, because I am apparently in just that sort of mood, that's 0.073" rather 0.73"- which would be nearly 3/4"- and .012 not .12. Imagine the tuner required for a .73" string!

Also, there are several systems of standardized wire gauges (American Wire Gauge or AWG, British Standard Wire Gauge or SWG, IEC 60228). A .012" string would be between a SWG 30-31 gauges or AWG 28-29.

[swingtoneman]

Many thanks for your replies.

Just a thought on Eddie’s string gauges: Perhaps he used different gauges of strings on different guitars for the gigs he did?—the heavy gauge for the duo gigs maybe?

[Gitterbug]

Did he use standard tuning?

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

My 7th is a 75 - it’s hard to imagine it as a 6th. As I recall, even Freddie Green used 13-56s. I think the website about him says to use 14-60s to get his sound. But I’ve never seen that described as his own setup.