need help with guitar string guage

Jonnybmac · 27 Mar 2011 at 09:22

Since I changed my strings on my guitar ive never been happy with the sound. I currently have on "Ernie Ball Super Slinky Phosphor Bronze Acoustic Guitar Strings 11-52" and the high notes seem to be a little too high and tinny.

I would love for them to sound like how this guy is playing but dont know much about guages. Do I need to go up the scale starting with a 12 or a 13?

I can provide a sound recording of my strings if that would help

This is my guitars note of the last chord of that video

http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u179/spunkydamonkey/?action=view&current=6a45e9ec.mp4

physichull · 27 Mar 2011 at 09:47

I am no expert but my dad has a guitar that sounds just like the deep one in the video. Anybody else can feel free to correct me here as I am just guessing, but, I think its to do with the shape of the body, the quality of the wood and the age of the strings.

Certainly the age of the strings makes a bit of a difference, the older they are, the less 'shiney' and 'tinny' they seem to sound.

That's my opinion but somebody else may have a definitive fact to help you.

On a different matter, I've decided to switch back from 10's to 9's for a bit. It may help my technique out and help me improve while losing a bit of tone.

Jonnybmac · 27 Mar 2011 at 09:49

Ive had these ones on for about 3 months and they havnt got any better. I know theres a break in period but that should only be a week max. most people change their strings every 1-2 months

IceBus · 27 Mar 2011 at 13:36

I've always like Elixir strings for acoustics, I find Ernie Balls a bit too treble heavy.

Naffa · 27 Mar 2011 at 15:21

I can't stand coated strings on my acoustic guitars, give me a set of D'addario EJ16s and I'm a happy bunny.

They last just as long as a set of coated strings (a couple of weeks if I'm not gigging), sound better and are so much easier to play, AND are so much cheaper.

And the guitar in the above video has a high action, with strings that are certainly getting on a bit. I would hazard a guess and say that he's using Martin strings which are the same gauge as your ones.

Scrutinize · 27 Mar 2011 at 16:40

Jonnybmac said:
Since I changed my strings on my guitar ive never been happy with the sound. I currently have on "Ernie Ball Super Slinky Phosphor Bronze Acoustic Guitar Strings 11-52" and the high notes seem to be a little too high and tinny.

I would love for them to sound like how this guy is playing but dont know much about guages. Do I need to go up the scale starting with a 12 or a 13?

What guitar have you got?

Sound can be very subjective and very dependent on what you are playing on and through. I use Ernie Ball earthwood extra lights (10s) on my Ibanez EW20 acoustic, which when not plugged in makes the guitar sound pretty shallow but it is very easy to play on 10s. Plugged in through a PA it sounds great and has enough depth for its purpose (church).

Been meaning to try D’addario EJ26 11s again though which is stock setup.

Jonnybmac · 27 Mar 2011 at 19:29

Its just a cheap 80 pound guitar which i know wont ever sound the best but i thought i would atleast be able to get rid of that horrible high pitch on the higher strings. Ive looked up what tracy actually plays and its d'addario light guage which is what i think im going to try next, i just dont understand the difference between 9,10,11,12 or even 13? Is it just deeper the tone the higher you start off?

Naffa · 27 Mar 2011 at 20:43

The string gauge, in short, is how thick the string itself actually is. The lower the number, the thinner the string.

In terms of what that actually does to tone and playability, a nine gauge string will be much easier to bend, but will have a much thinner tone than say, a string with a gauge of thirteen. The thirteen will be more difficult to bend, and fret, but will have a much rounder, fuller tone.

Another interesting thing about strings is that the higher the gauge, the lower the action can be, generally.

Scrutinize · 27 Mar 2011 at 22:35

Jonnybmac said:
Its just a cheap 80 pound guitar which i know wont ever sound the best but i thought i would atleast be able to get rid of that horrible high pitch on the higher strings

What make £80 guitar as not all are made equal with some producing an acceptable sound and the others sounding no better than a shoe box with 6 elastic bands across it?

I had one of the cheapo Fender DG-5 which cost me £80 and it sounded ok but not a patch on my Ibanez EW20 which incidentally is only a £300 guitar and when I bought it in 06 could be had online for £220.

I fear that no matter how good the strings are, the guitar will be the limiting factor here. The more expensive strings are a waste I imagine. Stick with some Ernie ball Earthwood 12s simply as these usually come in the cheapest (well they are by me).

ran_out · 28 Mar 2011 at 00:36

mrk1@1 said:
I fear that no matter how good the strings are, the guitar will be the limiting factor here.

I'd agree with this really, you can experiment using different strings, having wound 3rd string or not and it will make some difference, but at the end of the day it's not going to turn an £80 guitar into anything much more special - not to say that it can't sound good just y'know it's a budget dealie and you have to settle with the sound you get up to a point. Go with what best suits your playing style and also provides a good action and suits how you bend and fret the strings when you play.

I tend to just go for D'addario 10's, as I don't have the time, money and inclination to test out all the many different variations to find something better, so tend to just pick something fairly middle-of-the-road as it were, for my electrics i just use regular slinkys.