surfpup Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 Another angle... as someone who plays a lot of acoustic guitar, the 11s feel pretty comfortable. I really can't play 9s as I will push chord notes out of tune and generally over bend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Answer: after 24 hours I'm loving it. Not sure if it's actually any harder at all in the bends. I see what others are saying about nickel being springy now. I am finding that in bigger bends, when I "gather" the other strings up, they have more tendency to ring which sounds rubbish but I have noticed that with brand new strings before and I should start working on selective muting with the right hand anyway. The nickel seems to be brighter but some how mellow too. I think it's in the attack and decay. I seem to get these sweet tones on on long sustain but a nice sharp attack on staccato notes. Everyone should try pure nickel, regardless of your preferred gauge. That said, you might want to try 1 gauge heavier as I would imagine 10s in pure nickel would be too bendy for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 I have a few Emperor archtops, they have 11 flat wounds on them and they work perfectly well. When I bought my Swingester back in February, it came with 11s with a wound G from the factory. I used em for a bit, then dropped down to .010s which I use on all my solid body and semi's. But on that guitar, I dunno, just something missing. So I loaded it up with a set of 11's with a plain G (just this past weekend) I like em, just seems like the right set for that one. .010s work for me on everything else. For acoustics, I'm using .012 gauge. 011s are just too light, and .013s I just can't manipulate well enough to be comfortable with them at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainNemo68 Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 Eleven's RULE. Just sayin'...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clump Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 And just another twist: I bought a new Les Paul Traditional at the end of 2012 when they were being blown out. I restrung it with GHS Boomer 10s and did some minor action tweaks. It was playing real nice, but intonation was pretty bad. I took it to a local luthier for a setup. When I picked it up he said he spent about 5 minutes with it and it was perfect. He played it hooked up to a strobe tuner and intonation was spot on. Then I played it and most notes are sharp. The problem was my gorilla grip. A lighter touch kept the notes in tune. The luthier suggested that heavier strings would help also. I've been working on a lighter touch, but my natural approach is the gorilla grip. I had a set of D'Addario 10.5s that I got by mistake. Put them on and what a difference! Much better intonation, even with a gorilla grip. Next set for that guitar will be 11s! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 And just another twist: I bought a new Les Paul Traditional at the end of 2012 when they were being blown out. I restrung it with GHS Boomer 10s and did some minor action tweaks. It was playing real nice, but intonation was pretty bad. I took it to a local luthier for a setup. When I picked it up he said he spent about 5 minutes with it and it was perfect. He played it hooked up to a strobe tuner and intonation was spot on. Then I played it and most notes are sharp. The problem was my gorilla grip. A lighter touch kept the notes in tune. The luthier suggested that heavier strings would help also. I've been working on a lighter touch, but my natural approach is the gorilla grip. I had a set of D'Addario 10.5s that I got by mistake. Put them on and what a difference! Much better intonation, even with a gorilla grip. Next set for that guitar will be 11s! Did your "luthier" not ask to see you play or ask about your grip before setting the intonation? Further, did he not agree to lengthen each string once the problem had been uncovered? I assume not. Find another guy, your "not even a good tech who calls himself a luthier" should really know better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clump Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 Did your "luthier" not ask to see you play or ask about your grip before setting the intonation? Further, did he not agree to lengthen each string once the problem had been uncovered? I assume not. Find another guy, your "not even a good tech who calls himself a luthier" should really know better. He didn't set the intonation. It was perfect, please see above. I've not heard of setting up the guitar to compensate for a heavy grip, but obviously not so enlightened as you. His suggestion of heavier strings was spot on. This guy does a lot of repair work on vintage guitars and has a great reputation in the area. Next time I'll bring it to you. ;) From TGP - My link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 I've not heard of setting up the guitar to compensate for a heavy grip Sorry, I wasn't suggesting you should know these things, just that a luthier should. You'd be very welcome to bring it to me. I'm in London though. Where are you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clump Posted May 8, 2013 Share Posted May 8, 2013 You'd be very welcome to bring it to me. I'm in London though. Where are you? It's a little far - I'm in Maryland USA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 Last night I ordered some strings off the inter web. I wanted to try pure nickel and had to buy from Amazon because I had a voucher. The only thing I could get quickly was D'adario 11s. D'adario was one of the brands Pippy recommended to me when I asked him about pure nickel and he plays 11s so I went with it. I hope my fingers are up to it! And that my truss rod has enough adjustment... Looking at my nut, it came out the factory with rather wide looking slots so I think I'll get away with some graphite and let them bed themselves in. Any thoughts? I switched from stock .10s to medium guage .11s, specifically Fender bullets because they make them with a .11 to .48 (and the ends arent' picky). I use pure nickel for vintage tone. The reason I switched to medium guage is because I was tired of busting .10 strings before the set wore out and the heavier guage addresses some fret buzz on lower strings, less vibration. I can get away with full bends on the medium guage sets and not break strings. Medium guage can get distressing playing a bunch of barre chords, or for a long time, then I wish I had some lighter guage strings. Oh, I would do a complete setup going from lite to medium guage sets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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