Does anyone use a plain G?

[omphalopsychos]

So I've been playing more funk and rnb lately and I set up some of my guitars with 11s rather than my usual 12 or 13 set. It's all new to me but the plain G string is the weirdest thing about it it. It just sounds and feels off for me. Plain Gs sound out of tune (even though I compensated the saddle to ensure proper intonation), they have a bizarre warbly tone compared to the others, and they're too loud relative to the rest of the set through the amp.

For people who have played plain and wound G strings, do you know what the deal is? Is this normal and/or is it something I can remediate? For more context, I have tried plain Gs (from a set of 11s) on my Tele, Strat, and ES-355. It sounds weird to me on all of them. On the 355 I can adjust the output balance with the pole pieces, but I still get the strangeness in tone and the bad intonation.


It's possible that I'm use to picking and fretting harder due to being accustomed to wound G, so maybe I'm fretting and picking too hard and need to adjust how I approach them. I know this is the "gear" forum, but if people have thoughts about how technique might affect this effect I'm describing, I'm all ears.

[John A.]

So I've been playing more funk and rnb lately and I set up some of my guitars with 11s rather than my usual 12 or 13 set. It's all new to me but the plain G string is the weirdest thing about it it. It just sounds and feels off for me. Plain Gs sound out of tune (even though I compensated the saddle to ensure proper intonation), they have a bizarre warbly tone compared to the others, and they're too loud relative to the rest of the set through the amp.

For people who have played plain and wound G strings, do you know what the deal is? Is this normal and/or is it something I can remediate? For more context, I have tried plain Gs (from a set of 11s) on my Tele, Strat, and ES-355. It sounds weird to me on all of them. On the 355 I can adjust the output balance with the pole pieces, but I still get the strangeness in tone and the bad intonation.

I use plain G's on my Strat and my semi-hollow (both with 10-46 D'Addiario XL 110 sets). I've never noticed any issues with intonation or a warbling sound, and the G is not out of balance volume wise. If it ever was out of balance on my semi and I adjusted the pole pieces to compensate it was so long ago that I've forgotten.

It's possible that I'm use to picking and fretting harder due to being accustomed to wound G, so maybe I'm fretting and picking too hard and need to adjust how I approach them. I know this is the "gear" forum, but if people have thoughts about how technique might affect this effect I'm describing, I'm all ears.

I do find that if I pick plain strings hard (especially the high E), there can be some artifacts in the sound. So, yeah, I'd say it's worth experimenting a little and seeing if you can reproduce the effect on the B and/or E. Maybe also play around with gauges a bit.

[rpjazzguitar]

I use plain G's. Have for years. I prefer the sound and the feel. I don't want a change in timbre between strings and the plain G seems to help with that.

Depending on the guitar it may be necessary to check tuning more often, but I'm not sure about that.

I use 11 13 16 24 32 42. Light to soften the action for old fingers. 11 sounds better than thinner for the E. Probably a 17 would be a little better for the G, but it's simple to buy Fender 09s, throw away the 09, and buy 5-packs of 13s. This may not seem like it would work well, but it works for me. Hard to get the low E dialed in really well (the tuner always shows instability, probably because of too little tension) but it's a useful reminder to not play the low E much.

[chris32895]

I personally find the plain G in nearly every set of guitar strings I've ever bought to be too heavy. Maybe it's my touch but they sound way too loud for me in comparison to the rest of the strings. Very easily off-intonated and vendy. Wound G's feel just right but in contrast I actually have a hard time getting these as loud as I'd like.

[D.G.]

I use D’Addario roundwound 12’s with a plain 19 on the 3rd. The only guitars I use a wound 3rd on is my gypsy guitars.

If you hit hard and use a thick pick like I do, a plain g can really pop. On my adjustable pole guitars, I usually sink the 3rd pole down pretty far. On my Teles, it’s all compromise. I raise the 3rd string saddle much higher than I would normally, tilt the pickup down on the treble side, and adjust my attack. Not optimal, but it gets me close enough.

[Cunamara]

I find that the plain G tends to fret a little sharp, particularly at the nut but also higher up the neck. Some of that is probably finger pressure, some of it is probably intonation, which is not entirely fixable on the guitar. I think a lot of what sounds different is that the timbre of the string is very different than what your ears are used to. Just like the B sounds too loud compared to the wound G string, the G tends to sound too loud compared to the wound D string. As already mentioned, you may be used to hitting that G string harder to balance it against the B string, which will just take practice and neuromuscular reeducation. And yet, Ed Bickert and Jim Hall both used plain G strings and seem to have gotten them under control, so it's possible. And a lot of, if not even most, modern players are using light gauge strings with a plain G.

I use either hybrid picking with a flatpick, or I have recently transitioned to using a thumbpick and fake nails. I find that the letter lets me really balance strings, although I've had to learn how not to be too heavy with the thumb.

[AllanAllen]

If I'm using 11s, I fret the G at the 8th fret and tune from there. It helps with the weirdness.

[mr. beaumont]

I have one of my teles set up with a plain G, "just in case."

Whenever I play it, I remember why none of my other guitars have a plain G.

[Cunamara]

If I'm using 11s, I fret the G at the 8th fret and tune from there. It helps with the weirdness.

I do something similar. To check my tuning and intonation, I compare every string against the open high E (B string, fifth fret, G string eighth fret, D string 14th fret, A string 18th fret and low E string fifth fret harmonic).

I have never tried them, but there are tuners that offer "sweetened" tunings that are supposed to help with this sort of thing.

[hotpepper01]

I use plain G on allmost all of my guitars. I came the other way around. Since I was 16 or 18 years old, I played in rock and blues cover bands. Up until appr 15 years ago I never encountered a wound 3rd. Then I started playing in a bigband. I could not get used to the feel of a wound 3rd. So, my standard set of strings on my pair of L5CES and other jazz boxes look like 30 40 50 flats from a set combined with 12 14 18 single plain strings. Volumewise, it means I fiddle with the pickup and polepiece heights until I am content enough. Intonation, hmm, that is another story with a wooden bridge, that often is a comprommise ie as good as it can possibly be.

[One_Note]

If you have adjustable poll pieces on your pickups, try lowering the poles at the G string, that can help. But yeah they're weird.

[Peter C]

AFAIK, Ed Bickert played and Tim Lerch plays sets with a plain G. Ed's set was surprisingly light, too. Most people seem to prefer a wound G.

If you're not doing mad bends, there are 11 gauge sets with a wound G string, bearing in mind that a wound .022 tends to be as quiet as an .018/19 plain is loud.

[Stringswinger]

On my solid body guitars, I use 10's with a plain G. On my archtops I use 11's and 12's with a wound G. I pick with a lighter touch with the 10's and it works just fine.

On the archtops I use Dunlop Delrin 1.5 mm picks.

On the solid body guitars, I use Dunlop Jazz 3's. The smaller picks lend themselves to a lighter picking style.

[Tim Clark]

I've started using a Peterson tuner with the "sweetened" setting and it really helps. Have always tuned my plain G string a little flat compared to what standard electronic tuners show, but now I'm seeing that everything but the A string should be slightly different from what standard electronic tuners show.

Never have had the other problems the OP mentions and have always used plain G strings (in 10, 13, 17, 26, 36, 46 set), currently on an ES125 thinline (1966). Keep in mind I'm not a real jazz guitar player :-)

[Oscar67]

TI .012 roundwounds sadly come with a plain G (unlike the flatwounds). I rather like how it sounds on my acoustic archtop but of course the wooden bridge means the intonation is off, so I swap it for a wound G. On my guitars that are strung with .011s or lighter, I always use a plain G and never have issues. But my guitars are set up really well and that makes a difference. The only downside for me is that the plain G responds to temp changes faster than the other strings so until the temperature settles I need to tune it more.

[Cunamara]

AFAIK, Ed Bickert played and Tim Lerch plays sets with a plain G. Ed's set was surprisingly light, too. Most people seem to prefer a wound G.

If you're not doing mad bends, there are 11 gauge sets with a wound G string, bearing in mind that a wound .022 tends to be as quiet as an .018/19 plain is loud.

The SIT S1150 set can be had with both Gs. I find it to be pretty balanced with both.