daveinspain Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 If you have never tried electric strings on your acoustic you are in for a surprise... I posted something about this a while back in the lounge but I thought I would comment about it here. The very light gauge strings sound crystal bright but still resonate a full round sound. There is a huge drop in finger noise while changing from chord to chord and the feel is very nice... Anyone else use electrics on their acoustic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincentw Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Hopefully you have a J-160E. Otherwise...no. Probably not what Gibson had in mind when considering great tone for the acoustic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted April 19, 2011 Author Share Posted April 19, 2011 Hopefully you have a J-160E. Otherwise...no. Probably not what Gibson had in mind when considering great tone for the acoustic. Sorry my acoustics are not Gibsons and I do have electrics on both my acoustics now.... I hope to own a Doves in Flight one day so maybe I'll keep that one strung with acoustic strings.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jchabalk Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 I think i know what you're talking about, try out nashville tuning sometime. I think keith used to use it sometimes to get the guitar in a different place in the mix. i kind of like it too, but only if i had at least 2 guitars. ;) get a set of 12-strings strings and have at it. Nashville Tuning Nashville tuning is a little more involved than just tuning your guitar differently. It's also known as high-stringing a guitar because different strings need to be used. It creates a 12 string effect on a 6 string guitar. The simplest way to explain it is, you use the high octave strings of a 12 string set of strings on a six-string guitar. The first two strings of your instrument (high E and B) remain unchanged, and the lower four strings (G through low E) are tuned an octave above standard tuning. It is possible to buy ready-made string sets for Nashville tuning but they may be hard to find. You can use a 12-string set ( just use the octave or thin strings) but that's kind of expensive. The best way for you may be to buy the strings individually from your local music store's single-string bin. The gauges for a medium set would be .012, .016, .010, .014, .020, .030 high to low. A light set would be .010, .014, .009, .012, .018, .027 high to low. All strings are unwound except for the low E which is wound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 OK, I play 12's on my electrics, and 14's on my archtops, so you really don't want my opinion on this subject (I can hear the jingly jangly as we speak)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 OK, I play 12's on my electrics, and 14's on my archtops, so you really don't want my opinion on this subject (I can hear the jingly jangly as we speak)! What? I do! I think you gots loads to offer, even if I don't agree (or others too). You also have more experience in this type of thing than most. How are we supposed to learn anything? Lay it on us. Go ahead. I think we can take it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockinB23 Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 I tried it once in my early years as a beginner guitar player and I didn't like the sound. They were too light to drive the top properly so I lost a lot of good tone. .012's or .013's for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 . I sometimes use a mixed singles 12-53 set I put together from single strings: 12, 16, 21, 30, 42, 53 The G (21) and D (30) are a bit lighter than the normal G (24) and D (32) from a 12-53 set - easier bending without giving up too much low end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 Ah ... no thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duende Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 If you have never tried electric strings on your acoustic you are in for a surprise... I posted something about this a while back in the lounge but I thought I would comment about it here. The very light gauge strings sound crystal bright but still resonate a full round sound. There is a huge drop in finger noise while changing from chord to chord and the feel is very nice... Anyone else use electrics on their acoustic? Hi Dave I use electrics on the top three strings; 0.9, 0.11 and 0.13 and then a normal tension acoustic ones for the basses and it works for me too At the moment my main steel strung guitar is my Ibanez EP 9 (Steve Vai acoustic). It sounds great with these strings and was a eureka moment when I did this. Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig910 Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 Electric .09s on an acoustic? I'll pass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 Lots of us used to throw nickel electric strings on an acoustic in an emergency. Main problem was sometimes getting stuck with unwound G string. Would say though the biggest difference in sound between acoustic and electric strings was on the low end. Not alot of oomph there with electric strings. There also might be a truss rod adjustment in your near future if you use electric strings for a length of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rambler Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 Since string pull drives the top, the lights dont have enough pull to get it working, at least not to get an optimal sound (tone. volume. intonation). I think many here will second the notion to accept a flattop for what it is rather than approaching it, in effect, as an electric. But don't take my word for it."No matter what else you do, if you don’t keep up your acoustic work, you’re never going to get the full potential out of an electric, because you lose that touch. You get sloppier. I don’t play electric guitars at home, I play acoustic.” K. Richards, Guitar Player, 12/92. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stubee Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 Use whatever you want. It is your guitar. I've been using D'Addario J-17 mediums (13s) on dreadnaughts for too many years to count and J-16s (12s) on 00-sized guitars. I use D'Addario 10s on my Tele and Strats. Have tried up to 13s on some of the electrics because I like the tension but it is tough to do big bends with those. I used the heavier strings mainly so an electric wouldn't feel like 'spaghetti' after playing a flattop. I've since learned to lighten my touch on my Fenders. Before about 1989 I had a Hummingbird for nearly twenty years with some problems. I used acoustic 'extra lights' 11s on that during it's weirder high action periods. It sounded OK with 'em but IME a heavier string drives the top of a dreadnaught and produces louder & richer tone. Have put 12s on a couple of dreads since then but changed back to 13s pronto because it works for me. But like I said, it is your guitar & if you like really like strings on it play it and enjoy it. I do think it'll sound better with heavier strings, especially if you play hard like I do, but I play enough that mediums don't seem stiff at all to me with a good set-up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpbiii Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 We use super-light (38/8) on pre-steel string Martins. These give great steel string sound with essentially the same tension for which the guitars were designed. 1893 Martin 1-26 1919 Martin 0-18 1921 Martin 0-28 Let's pick, -Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freak show Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 I'm glad you brought up this subject. I met a guy who keeps electric strings on an old small body Levin. At first I thought he was crazy, but then I played it. The sound was incredible! I may have to try it out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rambler Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 Freak Show and TPB make a good point that it depends (to an extent) on the guitar. Certainly that would make sense on an older, smaller unit (Martin 0 and on down), maybe ones built for gut strings originally. Most of us ( I was) were probably imagining 14 fret steel strings. On such as those, they were made for a heavier string. Anyway, its your guitar. May it go well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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