3rd- Wound or unwound?

[iansmitchell]

Hey.

I know alot of folks go either way on this, just wondering who goes with what and why.

I go with an unwound 3rd if im going to be doing anything lead, because I GOTTA have it for bends.

For rhythms and slide(which I'm just starting to try out) wound is better.

Chords do seem to be "missing something" when the G isn't wound.

[Henry Mars]

I use wound G's, stone and ebony (2 mm +) guitar picks. I like a thick mellow sound. When I have to bend strings I tune my axe to Eb ( half a step lower than normal). I use the Dean Markley Jazz strings.

 

There are certain guitars that will always sound better with a plain G like a Telecaster for instance. When I have to play one of these I just bite the bullet and do it.

 

Plain G's tend to have less tension than the other strings and IMO are harder to keep in tune.

 

I mostly play jazz and fusion and some classic rock. The wound G works for me. For practice I prefer heavy gauge wound strings.

When I have to play country I will use a plain G for the twang.

[ICH]

I am part way to changing all my guitars to wound G. I have two left with plain. Interestingly enough, Henry, one of the first I changed to wound was my Tele, and I was so pleased with that that I changed some more, with the next string changes. I have a partscaster strat and a totally rebuilt no-name Lester still plain. The Lester will go with its next change, but the strat will stay plain for a while.

 

I do mainly play rhythm, and do very little string bending, so it seems natural for me to go with the extra tension in the wound.

 

Confession time - as a teenager the "thing" was to play with as light a guage as possible. At one stage I was playing with a plain 4th. Top e was a Banjo .007! Well, you live and learn.

 

ICH

[lpdeluxe]

Fatter strings = better tone AND stay in tune better. I learned this simple lesson with my Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gent. It HATED slinky strings, wouldn't intonate, wouldn't stay in tune, and the Bigsby was limp besides. One I got into heavier strings, it perked up. The wound 3rd was natural with the heavier strings, especially since plain 3rds sometimes are louder than the wound ones, and cause wolf tones.

 

It's been years since I've strung up a guitar with a plain 3rd...say, 1982? The difference in timbre alone is enough to make me stay with the wound ones.

[Henry Mars]

Fatter strings = better tone AND stay in tune better. I learned this simple lesson with my Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gent. It HATED slinky strings' date=' wouldn't intonate, wouldn't stay in tune, and the Bigsby was limp besides. One I got into heavier strings, it perked up. The wound 3rd was natural with the heavier strings, especially since plain 3rds sometimes are louder than the wound ones, and cause wolf tones.

 

It's been years since I've strung up a guitar with a plain 3rd...say, 1982? The difference in timbre alone is enough to make me stay with the wound ones.[/quote']

 

I think my old Chet Atkins Tennesean sounds better with heavy strings. As for the Tele, the only thing I really ever borrow it for is the occasional trip into hillbilly heaven. The plain G helps with the "country" sound. Believe me it is not the easiest thing to switch to light gauge strings when you are used to playing on "cables", but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

[Ron G]

Wound Gs for me all the way. I don't have a light enough touch and a plain G goes sharp on open chords. They're also too loud.

[JEPI]

Unwound. 18p on all electrics, forever and ever, Amen.........Long ago I used a wound on an ES175 a GT-75 Martin, but it never was responsive to my style of playing. 18p's for me...........J

[Dave]

Unwound for me. I bend a lot on G-B-E and just can't get used to wound...too much tension. I do think that the heavier sets sound better, probably some of the reason that an acoustic can play some really nice sounding chords. I use 12's on my acoustic and use it like a warm-up bat for exercising my fingers. The more I play the acoustic, the lighter the 10's on my electrics feel.

 

I know I could get used to bending a wound G, but I'd have a long way to work back up if I didn't play it every day. I bend 3rds and 4ths (not strings, semitones) frequently and the calluses sometimes peel from doing that a lot in one night. There's always super glue, something that Hendrix started using when his callouses peeled off and bled. He'd put a drop on the end of each finger and let it dry right before going on stage sometimes, according to legend.

[Ron G]

There's always super glue' date=' something that Hendrix started using when his callouses peeled off and bled. He'd put a drop on the end of each finger and let it dry right before going on stage sometimes, according to legend.[/quote']

 

Dave, there's medical grade "super glue" you can buy in the drugstore. The brand I have

is called New-Skin <--(click it)

[JEPI]

 

Dave' date=' there's medical grade "super glue" you can buy in the drugstore. The brand I have

is called New-Skin <--(click it)

 

New-Skin burns, burns, burns doesn't it?................J

[charlie brown]

So....what "Gauge" wound G string do most of you prefer?

 

CB

[Ron G]

New-Skin burns' date=' burns, burns doesn't it?................J[/quote']

 

It's not for pussies:-" (sorry - Online Tourette's)

[byrds1965]

Complicated,

 

Acoustics 12s except my EJ160E with the long scale neck that one 11s all wound Gs.

 

Electrics all my hollow bodies 11s with wound Gs Markley sells the 11 set with a choice of wound or unwound Gs so you can choose.

 

SGs, Tele, Strats 10s with unwound G for bending leads plus the tele and strat have long scale necks so 10s feel like 11s on them.

 

Tennesean 11s but flat wounds with a wound G.

 

Rick 360-12 what ever the round wound Ric set is G is wound octive is not.

 

Rick 350-6 change between flats and rounds 11s with wound G.

[glenn1281733995]

I use a wound 3rd on my hollowbody. Basically a set of Ernie Ball 12's with a wound G thrown in. I think its about 021". Forget bending it. Unwound on my solids (11's). 9's on my Jackson.

[JEPI]

 

It's not for pussies:-" (sorry - Online Tourette's)

 

lol...I remember using it when I scraped my toes on asphalt just before going to the beach. Thinking, I didn't want that salt water burning me, I decided to use New-Skin. WOW..........The salt water probably would've been the better of the two..........Never have needed it on my fingers though. I do remember after gigging for several years straight that the callouses on my fingers were very light and virtually not there.........J

[Cole]

I don't usually post over here but i look at the posts every day. I have trouble keeping

the G string on my PRS SE in tune. I didn't know why but maybe i should try a wound G.

I use ernie ball 10-52 strings but am considering trying the 11-54 strings. Would a wound

G help it hold tune longer. all my other strings stay in tune real long so its not the Guitar.

[Dave]

I don't usually post over here but i look at the posts every day. I have trouble keeping

the G string on my PRS SE in tune. I didn't know why but maybe i should try a wound G.

I use ernie ball 10-52 strings but am considering trying the 11-54 strings. Would a wound

G help it hold tune longer. all my other strings stay in tune real long so its not the Guitar.

 

If you stretch the strings when you install them and wrap them with at least two or three turns around the tuner (with no overwraps) and lubricate the nut periodically ( with a graphite pencil ) they should remain pretty stable. I tune silently between songs just as a habit two or three times per set, although I can put the guitar in the case and come back the next day and it's nearly perfect. If you bend the 3rd a lot, you will have some stretch but it should only be a few cents on the tuner after the string stabilizes from its initial break-in period. If you have a vibrato tailpiece, it could be the problem, but that would affect all strings.

[bluesstringer]

I don't usually post over here but i look at the posts every day. I have trouble keeping

the G string on my PRS SE in tune. I didn't know why but maybe i should try a wound G.

I use ernie ball 10-52 strings but am considering trying the 11-54 strings. Would a wound

G help it hold tune longer. all my other strings stay in tune real long so its not the Guitar.

 

Welcome to this side of the forum Cole, from a born and bred Hoosier (Wayne County). I've been primarily in Md since 69.

 

Most feel that wound Gs stay in tune better. This is not the case with all guitars and you could have another problem, ie saddle, nut, etc. Try searching tuning problems on this forum and go through the process of tracking down possible problems to rule out another problem.

 

Again, welcome to this side bro !

[bluesstringer]

I have used 10s with plain Gs for over 40 years on all my electrics (12s on acoustics). I have not encountered any real problems as I'm generally a relatively light handed player. Ocassionally, in open chords on my Sherry, the plain G will sound a little sharp unless I really pay attention when i know I moving to an open chord, which is a real pain in the a**.

 

For some reason, I have a set of GHS nickel rockers in 11 that has the same diameter G as the 10s (.26) but in a wound string. I'm going to try this set soon when the Sherry's due for re-stringing. I know that alot of folks here use wound Gs on semi and full HBs but I never have. WE'll see what happens and how I like them.....

[byrds1965]

I don't usually post over here but i look at the posts every day. I have trouble keeping

the G string on my PRS SE in tune. I didn't know why but maybe i should try a wound G.

I use ernie ball 10-52 strings but am considering trying the 11-54 strings. Would a wound

G help it hold tune longer. all my other strings stay in tune real long so its not the Guitar.

 

It depends on how much bending you go or if this guitar has some kind of trem. I use the unwounds on the guitars I play some lead on and don't have a problem once the G is streched. I use wounds on my others and heavier guage because chords just sound better and can get a nicer response when I dig in harder on rhythm, my main thing.

[The_Sentry]

Hey.

I know alot of folks go either way on this' date=' just wondering who goes with what and why.

I go with an unwound 3rd if im going to be doing anything lead, because I GOTTA have it for bends.

For rhythms and slide(which I'm just starting to try out) wound is better.

Chords do seem to be "missing something" when the G isn't wound.[/quote']

 

On electrics...always unwound.

 

On acoustics? That's a bit of a different story. I'd rather have a wound G string on those...

[weeladdie]

I usually use a wound G on my guitars, so when I received my new Washburn HB-35 yesterday the first thing I did was to replace the plain G.

 

Wouldn't you know it, I now had a rattle in the guitar somewhere, which I've heard from some of my others.

 

Put a plain G back on and the rattle was gone......

 

WTF???

 

Anyone else notice this?

[custer]

Always a wound G