Gruffchris Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 Hey, So I finaly got around to restringing my J-45 custom. There have been a few topics on the forum regarding strings and I am sure that 80/20's were recommended. I was also told that gibo's come with d'addario strings. So i bought a set of exp 11's (12's) and exp 12's (13's), I put the 13's on my hog acoustic and the 12's on my j-45. The hog acoustic sounds fine, but the j 45 sounds really off. I'm not as experienced as most of the members on this forum, but i have heard people talk about "full of socks" and that pretty much is what i'm getting. There's to much base, and my cheapo acoustic is sounding better? I guess what I'm really asking is what strings come as stock on the j 45 mystic RW, and for those custom owners out there what make and type do you recommend :) Cheers, Gruff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 All Gibsons come equipped with the Masterbuilt strings I believe. While some are not so fond of the strings, I like them. They may not have the longevity of some other brands but they do sound nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegleg Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 I've tried different strings on my J45 RW, but I've always come back to the Gibson MB13's... but even they get the "stuffed with socks" resonance after awhile... about a month... but then I play pretty much every day at least an hour.. please post back if you find something that's better... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 That's odd, after 2 years of experimenting on my rosewood SWD I found the EXP PB 12's to provide the best tone, and it really is a killer tone. But they do die pretty quick and then you et the socks effect. So, question is do you get the socks tone straight away or after some weeks of playing ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedzep Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 I've thrown in for $18 to get the Thomastik-Infeld Spectrums 11-52's and been very happy with the tone, consistency, and longevity, but for that kind of $$ they should jump out of the pack and string themselves. The fallback strings for my '57 J45 are DR Sunbeam 11's, but all my experience has been with vintage (pre-'65) acoustics, so my suggestion is to try a few brands out. You may have a pack of bad strings. Swap out a couple strings between guitars and note if the tone is muted due to faulty strings. If not, that J45 might have a soundboard or bracing issue. Gulp! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrplefty Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 Chris, I can't really respond to the J-45 rosewood aspect. I can speak from owning a rosewood guitar. I've always preferred phosphor bronze on that guitar because, IMO it really lets the overtones of rosewood shine through. I've played and enjoyed the rotosound jumbo kings, which I believe are made on your side of the pond, the new DR dragonskins, and I'm currently playing a set of curt mangan PB. This is the first foray I've made into 13's on this guitar, and the strings haven't quite lost that new string zing yet, so I'm not going to offer a full assessment on the tone, but so far I'm happy with them. I know it's not a Gibson or a J-45, but I hope I could provide some avenues to explore. JRP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruffchris Posted April 28, 2012 Author Share Posted April 28, 2012 Thank you for the responses :) @PM So Master-built strings come as standard, that's good to know, I will order a pack :). Were these 80/20 exp's faulty? who know's? I ordered them both from amazon the 13's came in like a box and the 12's in a packet, looks legit though. @Euroaussie, that's how they sounded when I strung up the guitar(about 4 days ago)? The old strings were "dead" and they sounded better( i think), but still flat and not nice. it's hard to explain, except to say when i played it before it was really nice sounding and it's not now. I think I probably should have bought PB's, I've always had RW acoustics and bought PB's so I'll get some of them as well as the masterbuilts. Soundboard issues what! let's hope not? I'm hoping that the same time i changed the string is the same time it occurred, but as i said my strings were dead, so who know's? Just to let you guy's know i keep my guitar in it's case with a planet waves humidifier, constant 46%(according to my hydrometer). The action is nice and she plays real easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Run Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 Don't know about the J45, but after trying many brands and gauges I found (until now) that my new SWD Studio sounds better with Martin SP p/b 12.5-55 a good compromise between light and medium and I like the fact that all strings are bronze coated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 My guess is that they were 80/20's, which is a tone I don't like on my SWD. Find the tone too clinical and much prefer the warmth of PB's. Give the PB's a try and report back, I reckon this is the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetMarie Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 I've got a J-45 MC with rosewood and I stick with D'Addario PB 12 gauge--the 80/20 strings go on my mahogany guitars. I agree with the previous posters--it does need the brightness of the phosphor bronze. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruffchris Posted April 29, 2012 Author Share Posted April 29, 2012 Again Thankyou all for the post's. And the 80/20 do sound good and bright on the Hog guitar I have, I will pick up some PB's this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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