D'addario EJ 15 on J 45

[losmecos]

Hi all.

 

I just want to share this.

 

Recently, I was feeling like if my guitar was more challenging to play. Passing more time on my strat that FEEL just so good. I had difficulty to do my exercices on the J45. It was superb for strumming, but hard for all the rest. You know all that noodling around chords when you get lost in your thoughts.

Anyhow, after reading several post on the net, I thought it would be a nice thing to try with extra lights on the J45. Wich I did.

 

OMG, I dont seems to lose any deepness, or richness in the sound, it just play easier , much easier, and more ringing than ever (well said ?).

In fact , I think that I have rediscoverd my lovely J 45.

 

Will the extra light arm the top ? I,m sure not.

 

Your impressions ?

 

Any ways, I am pretty happy .

 

Michel Marc

[flatbaroque]

That's good to know. I always use EJ 16's but I know some here go even heavier.If it feels and sounds good I say you've found a winner.Won't hurt the guitar at all.Time for another song clip on the lightly strung J-45 mate!

[J200_2013]

Interesting. One thing I've noticed is that changing string gauges on my old Heritage results in only small changes in the character of the sound. But on the Martin D-42, whoa, going from a 12, say, to an 11 makes a big difference. The "stability" of the sound is what I've always liked about the Gibson, besides the heavy, solid feel of the whole contraption. The Martin is Karen Carpenter, the Gibson Bukka White.

[losmecos]

Well.

 

I'm back with my lights strings. I finaly had the impression that my sound was not totaly there anymore. With the lights on...back to life again.

 

Felt i had to say it to you guys.

 

Michel Marc

[milod]

I think a lot also has to do with one's playing technique.

 

I have a small AE that even has 9-42 on it. But I play it very gently fingerstyle. If I beat hard on the strings, I am certain it would sound very bad. I can play things that I cannot play with much heavier strings. But I think for heavy strumming the lightest I would use are perhaps 10-46. I just put on a 10-50 on one "strum" guitar and it's fine.

 

m

[Tafmutt]

As always, each to his own. I've toyed with 11's but, while I like the feel, I don't like the sound. Nines on my old Strat were fabulous. Now that I'm an old "acousticoot", the mediums are more to my liking.

 

Sure do miss the Strat at times, though!

 

Thanks for the post - always interesting to read others' opinions.

 

MJ

[milod]

I've got different strings on my AEs, depending on what kind of music they'll play - so they end up being a toolkit of guitars rather than trying to have one size fits all.

 

Yup to heavier strings for old time stuff. OTOH, I can functionally do almost anything I can do on classical guitar on a lightly-strung smaller steel string guitar. Flamenco-type rasgueado and a few other "tricks" excepted.

 

Pumping out a solid rhythm for a fiddle, mandolin, banjo or other "lead" instrument gets the heaviest strings I'm likely ever to use, 11s. If I'm gonna try to flatpick Ragtime Annie or whatever, I'm more likely to use 10s and flatpick closer to the bridge.

 

But all that's just me. Everybody has to do their own thing and play it their own way. That's why I tend to think that even every 5-10 years or so our technique and our heads may change sufficiently that it may not be a bad idea to try different stuff to play different things. That would have been meaningless to me after working my behind off to get certain stuff "down" my first cupla years of pickin'. But I think that after too close to 50 years of pickin' one gets somewhat different perspectives, depending on one's own personality and preferences.

 

m