Hard Tension on Les Paul Standard - Help

[Sdahe]

I have a 2013 Gibson Les Paul Standard Golftop that I can’t find a way to make the string tension to be more loose. I’ve tried other Les Pauls with the same string gauge (.10) and tune half step down that feel very nice to play but mine feels like I’m tuned to 440. My guitar is tuned half step down but the strings feel very hard. I already tried the top wrapping and it felt the same. The action is a bit low too to help with the problem but nothing. Is there anything else I could do?… thanks for all the help

[merciful-evans]

I used to have this problem with a strat. It was very difficult to play.

 

Is there any relief in the neck?

[kidblast]

Normally raising the stop bar would help, bit if you tried a top wrap, not sure the stop bar height will matter.

 

BTW.. you didn't mention this, but are the strings using on these les pauls all the same brand? (not just the same gauge, as some strings brands will feel a bit tighter than others)

[rct]

Nobody said guitar playing would be easy.

 

rct

[Eracer_Team]

Who makes the strings?

 

Maybe try a different made strings

[Black Dog]

I may be overlooking something but I think that as long as the scale length, string gauge and string material are the same, the string tension required for a given tuning should be the same regardless of other factors.

 

If it feels different at the same tuning (all other factors being equal), it's got to be something other than the string tension that's doing it, no??

 

I would do a full setup and replace the strings with the exact same ones as your other guitars.

[Guest Farnsbarns]

String tension at rest is governed only by guage and scale length. Difficulty in bending is governed only by guage and total string length. 2 lps with the same string will have the same tension and the same force required. There has to be something else different which you're perceiving as tension.

[rct]

...The action is a bit low too to help with the problem but nothing...

 

Biggest myth in guitars. Low action actually makes it harder to play, but you can't tell ten million bedroom maestros that. Lift yer strings, I only say it thirty times a week.

 

rct

[capmaster]

I may be overlooking something but I think that as long as the scale length, string gauge and string material are the same, the string tension required for a given tuning should be the same regardless of other factors.

 

If it feels different at the same tuning (all other factors being equal), it's got to be something other than the string tension that's doing it, no??

 

I would do a full setup and replace the strings with the exact same ones as your other guitars.

String tension at rest is governed only by guage and scale length. Difficulty in bending is governed only by guage and total string length. 2 lps with the same string will have the same tension and the same force required. There has to be something else different which you're perceiving as tension.

Biggest myth in guitars. Low action actually makes it harder to play, but you can't tell ten million bedroom maestros that. Lift yer strings, I only say it thirty times a week.

 

rct

I completely agree from here.

[Golden]

Uh oh souunds like consensus. ;)

 

Check the nut/string height first fret, if thats fine, than I can think of no other possible solution.

[Golden]

"possible solution."

 

 

Might just be conflating pressure/fretting with tension. But if the action is crazy low which I agree above with then that wont be the issue but you may think its an issue if its higher than your accustomed to, and IF the nut is cut slighly high then it will be a pressure issue in 1st position fretting issue regardless?

 

My thinking anyway

[american cheez]

the feeling of slinky-ness or stiffness in a string is not just a matter of tension, and string height has to be rather extreme before it is a real factor. string material, otoh, does play a large part. the balance between nickle and steel, affects it alot. it is my suspicion (not actually sure) that this may be why gibson strings seem to be stiffer than other brands like daddario or evrnie balls.

[Guest Farnsbarns]

the feeling of slinky-ness or stiffness in a string is not just a matter of tension, and string height has to be rather extreme before it is a real factor. string material, otoh, does play a large part. the balance between nickle and steel, affects it alot. it is my suspicion (not actually sure) that this may be why gibson strings seem to be stiffer than other brands like daddario or evrnie balls.

 

Gibson strings are D'addario. Obviously the material makes a difference.

[pippy]

Certainly I noticed that D'Addario Pure Nickels were slinkier - less stiff / rigid perhaps? - than the regular fare I'd been using previously.

 

Must be worth a try?

 

Pip.

[Golden]

Makes sense the pure nickle is softer than steel for sure.

[rct]

Sorry to disagree with everyone. Play until you don't give a …. what the strings are made of, that's what makes a guitar player.

 

rct

[Guest Farnsbarns]

I found I got less attack and a warmer tone with pure nickel which I wasn't so keen on.

[capmaster]

Makes sense the pure nickle is softer than steel for sure.

"Pure nickel" would mean the wrap wire only. The required tensile strength calls for closely the same alloys for core and plain string wires.

 

On the other hand, different metal coatings, on plain and wound strings as well, may affect the feel of the strings differently. The common plain D'Addario strings feel quite stiff to my fingertips though the very tension is virtually unaffected by it. I don't like them.

 

 

I found I got less attack and a warmer tone with pure nickel which I wasn't so keen on.

That's exactly why I don't use pure nickel strings.

[pippy]

On 6/27/2017 at 1:19 PM, rct said:

Sorry to disagree with everyone. Play until you don't give a xxxx what the strings are made of, that's what makes a guitar player...

With absolutely the Very Greatest respect, rct, (and I really do mean that) strings are a necessity and finding some strings which make life work better for a player is arguably quite important.

It could equally be said;

 

"Play until you don't give a xxxx what pickups are installed, that's what makes a guitar player..."

 

...yet you, yourself, are on your seventh permutation of p'ups in your Telecaster...

 

Somethings can be improved even although the old ones are still mostly usable as-is.

I had no problems with the performance other brand's offerings but I found that the D'Addarios were simply just that little bit better for me.

What am I meant to do next time I need strings? By the ones that aren't so good or the ones I prefer?

 

Jus' sayin'...

 

 

Pip.

[rct]

With absolutely the Very Greatest respect, rct, (and I really do mean that) strings are a necessity and finding some strings which make life work better for a player is arguably quite important.

It could equally be said;

 

"Play until you don't give a fukk what pickups are installed, that's what makes a guitar player..."

 

...yet you, yourself, are on your seventh permutation of p'ups in your Telecaster...

 

Somethings can be improved even although the old ones are still mostly usable as-is.

I had no problems with the performance other brand's offerings but I found that the D'Addarios were simply just that little bit better for me.

What am I meant to do next time I need strings? By the ones that aren't so good or the ones I prefer?

 

Jus' sayin'...

 

 

Pip.

 

Trying to make the guitar easy to play will never have a good result. The weakened guitar player who can only play certain strings on certain guitars with certain action will find his or her self marginalized at best, left out at worst. Pickups? Sure, they're a fundamental part of ones sound, and they don't affect(verb) your playing in the least. Strings could very well affect(verb) your playing if you let them. Strength and stamina are a really really important part of playing. Making it "easy" is much different than getting the sound you like.

 

If you come out and pick up my guitar, use it for three songs and tell me the pickups suck I will maintain my utmost respect for your getting up there and making it look good no matter the sound you were getting.

 

If you pick up my guitar and put it down immediately because the strings are too high or too fat or too skinny or the wrong composition, well, you know...

 

And yes, I could absolutely hate the pickups in your guitar, but I'll definitely play it like I don't give a fukk what is in it. You have to, there is no alternative. Anything else is just petulance and should be left at home.

 

rct

[Golden]

Thats exactly why I don't use pure nickel strings.

 

I found I got less attack and a warmer tone with pure nickel which I wasn't so keen on.

 

 

My thoughts also. That said, I been swapping back and forth of late again with Ernie Ball and Nickle Wound D'Addarios just because of sale and needs, seems to me the D'Addarios just wear better but tone I hear no difference nor in playing.

[MichaelT]

Once again, the OP has disappeared and hasn't responded, perhaps not even read the responses. I notice a difference between the factory strings currently on my LP Tribute versus the Ernie Ball Super Slinky strings on all my other electric guitars. They seem a little more pliant than the ones from Gibson, regardless of whichever brand they're using these days. Usually one of the first things I do is replace them with my preferred brand but I kept these on just for fun.

 

As far as rct's comment, my finger strength and callouses don't care too much what strings are on the guitar, or even which guitar it is, mine or someone else's. My preference, of course, is one of my electric guitars with the Super Slinkies (.009) My first guitar teacher had me doing stretching exercises and using a hand exerciser for hand and finger strength.

 

String height matters somewhat, depending on how fast I need to play. I can play faster with lower actions and bend easier and play easier if they're a little higher. I have the different guitars set up accordingly, some higher, some lower.

 

So, I hope the original poster is reading this and getting some use out of it, else we're just talking to ourselves.

[capmaster]

I have a 2013 Gibson Les Paul Standard Golftop that I can’t find a way to make the string tension to be more loose. I’ve tried other Les Pauls with the same string gauge (.10) and tune half step down that feel very nice to play but mine feels like I’m tuned to 440. My guitar is tuned half step down but the strings feel very hard. I already tried the top wrapping and it felt the same. The action is a bit low too to help with the problem but nothing. Is there anything else I could do?… thanks for all the help

Do you use Strap Locks on your Les Paul? They are the best for ease of mind and fretting hand, I'm not kidding.

 

For a short period I left the stock strap buttons on my first Les Paul, and the constant effort to support the guitar with my fretting hand made playing quite uncomfortable. Comparison with my cheap old LP copy with Strap Locks made it clear to me in an instant: Keeping the Gibson strap buttons for originality's sake is sheer nonsense. It just makes playing a hassle.

 

I retrofitted this Les Paul guitar - a 2012 Standard, by the way - with Schaller Strap Locks, and those that I added later, too, with exception of the one that had them stock.

[pippy]

Trying to make the guitar easy to play will never have a good result. The weakened guitar player who can only play certain strings on certain guitars with certain action will find his or her self marginalized at best, left out at worst.......Strength and stamina are a really really important part of playing. Making it "easy" is much different than getting the sound you like...

Over the last 40-odd years I have gone from using .008s through .009s and .010s to the .011s I now use on everything barring my Gypsy-Jazzer.

I went to the heavier strings not because they made life easier - they certainly didn't - but because I discovered that by going that way I could get the sound I like.

 

Going from .008s to .011s, obviously, isn't me choosing to make my life 'easier' - after all (and as has been said many times before) the tension of a given length of string blah-blah-blah is a physical constant blah-blah-blah note / pitch blah-blah-blah - but, for me, the degree of pitch-control available from pure nickel is better than that which I'd previously experienced from strings of a different compound.

 

I thought that this info might be useful to the OP.

 

Pip.

[Guest Farnsbarns]

Trying to make the guitar easy to play will never have a good result. The weakened guitar player who can only play certain strings on certain guitars with certain action will find his or her self marginalized at best, left out at worst. Pickups? Sure, they're a fundamental part of ones sound, and they don't affect(verb) your playing in the least. Strings could very well affect(verb) your playing if you let them. Strength and stamina are a really really important part of playing. Making it "easy" is much different than getting the sound you like.

 

If you come out and pick up my guitar, use it for three songs and tell me the pickups suck I will maintain my utmost respect for your getting up there and making it look good no matter the sound you were getting.

 

If you pick up my guitar and put it down immediately because the strings are too high or too fat or too skinny or the wrong composition, well, you know...

 

And yes, I could absolutely hate the pickups in your guitar, but I'll definitely play it like I don't give a fukk what is in it. You have to, there is no alternative. Anything else is just petulance and should be left at home.

 

rct

 

Seems to me you might be confusing preference and necessity, but you know that, you wind up merchant. I can play any guitar with any strings within reason, doesn't stop me having a preference for the guitar/neck/pickups/strings/insert any other variable of my choice.

 

Now stop being belligerent, and that's coming from me. :D