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psw

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Well, in all fairness to reality, the nomenclature IS out of date. I could be wrong, but I think the naming convention comes not in relation to other instruments, but rather in comparison to tradition... dating back to when they couldn't even MAKE ultra-light guages, and therefore .11 WAS the lightest being made. Apparently they have a hard time changing with the times!

I still don't consider .11s to be heavy, though, I consider them to be medium and .13s to be heavy. :D

I also know that it was the heavier strings being referred to. When I was referring to ".11"s, I was referring to a set of strings starting with .11 and then having the guages scaled normally from there. Such a set of strings will NOT ruin the neck of your Les Paul.

Greg

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If you want to get really technical, .11s are extremely heavy! On the other hand, .011s are much more manageable.  B)

I've always known an 11 set to be referred to as Mediums

Typical breakdown for electric's

8 - Ultra Lights (or some mondo light name)

9 - Extra Lights (or some really light name)

10 - Lights

11 - Mediums

12 - I dunno :D I've never bought anything heavier than 11's. :D

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If you want to get really technical, .11s are extremely heavy! On the other hand, .011s are much more manageable.  :D

:D Well-spotted. Oops! The good news-- I'll know for next time that I was out by a whole decimal place!

Greg

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Thanks for all the great stuff here...

I think I'll stick with the '10's...they not only sound good but they stay in tune better on my primitive guitars...I use '10's on my acoustic too...

Just got to do a bit more playing to get my strength back with them... :D

As for my action...I'll be dropping it back down when I quit taking the scratch plate off to futz with my sustainer...you know one good thing about the strat design, if you really loosen the spring claw screws on the trem, all the strings loosen to get that 'plate out of there...then wind them back up when you're done...almost returns in tune (well almost)... :D

A consistantly low action would make the sustainer more consistant across the 'board...it's interesting that mine works so well even with a pretty high action...so I don't think I'll be dropping it really low...at least into any kind of fret buzz territory....

pete®

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what? 10s on an acoustic??!? god that must not sound so good no?

i REALLY like my acoustic strings... 12-56 Light-Medium (also called Bluegrass i believe...) set... Has the 3 smaller strings from a light set and the 3 bidder ones of a medium one... Makes the bass come out a lot more with my thin Ovation and still somewhat able to bend...

Edited by Pr3Va1L
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One of my friends went into a store and asked for lights of this brand her teacher recommended (I forget the name) and after she strung up the guitar the strings seemed REALLY thin so she looked at the pack and they were 8's!

Amazingly enough they sounded pretty darn good for fingerpicking. Just now so great for strumming :D

And of course they broke very quickly.

I just couldn't believe that a company makes 8's for acoustic. But I saw the package and it was 8's for acoustic.

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  • 3 years later...

I use mainly tens and nines, though i have used strings from 13 set, when i last time broke strings, cause i was too lazy to go to a msic shop and my bro had a spare set of thirteens

loved the thirteens, by the way.

i have a quite low action, i have only my crappy williams acoustic(with a hell of a lot fret buzz :D ,should fix that)

but then, one day... in school, i got to try a nylon-string (rather cheap quality) acoustic, which had an action so high that i could have put my mobile phone under the string with strings not touching it, and playing with it was just... amazing. loved that.

but high actions not good for me really, cos every once in a while i have problems with using too much pressure pushing the strings.... not good considering the fact that i play piano, plus i sometimes have the notes sounding out of pitch(although rarely, mainly when im nervous, i also often do have a light kinda touch to playing)

wish i could adjust my acoustics action though, would put it super high :D

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LOL four year old thread...

Interesting how many guys are still here.....wonder where Goreki went?

Heavy bottom 10-54 for me - I buy a 7-string set and either use the 54 on the low-E or drop out the wound-26 (intended for D). Fairly high action - heavy right hand.

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I tried 13's on my Ibanez. I don't think it could take it because I heard a pretty loud pop somewhere while I was tuning up. I took them off immediately lol. That was during my "SRV IS GOD" phase.

Now I use 10s or 11s. Mostly 10s. I still haven't found a brand of guitar strings that I like especially for recording. I use the elixirs now, just because I really hate buying/changing strings.

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i just ordered myself a load of handmade strings from a guy living fairly locally. i went for a few custom sets designed to hopefully work really well on the multiscales as well as a few other projects. i am not used to having to wait for strings though

http://www.newtonestrings.com

its nice to be able to talk about core shapes, sizes and wraps, for me its a whole new approach to getting the right tension for a given scale length.

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i just ordered myself a load of handmade strings from a guy living fairly locally. i went for a few custom sets designed to hopefully work really well on the multiscales as well as a few other projects. i am not used to having to wait for strings though

http://www.newtonestrings.com

its nice to be able to talk about core shapes, sizes and wraps, for me its a whole new approach to getting the right tension for a given scale length.

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.009 and about 3mm at 24th fret... for someone who is used to heavy bass strings and strings so high above the fretboard you can easily put your fingers between fretboard and strings, this is extremely light and really low action. String tension feels great when tuned down to C.

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I've gone as high as 13's with a wound g-string. I kind of felt indifferent about it. If anything, the tone became a bit muddy.

For acoustic, I love heavy strings. I have an old Yamaha that my dad owned and never played. The guitar is nothing special, but the action is very high. It has a very impressive sound, especially for what it is. I've thought about making a new bridge for it, but I think it will take away more than it adds.

I also go for heavy strings on an acoustic. To me, there's nothing worse than twangy, empty sounding acoustic strings.

Edited by NotYou
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