Electric Strings On An Acoustic

[Mr. Preston Swift]

i was wondering what would happen if i were to put electric strings on an acoustic.

what would sound like? how would it affect the bend"y"ness? would it in anyway mess up the guitar?

i just don't want to try it in case it would mess up anything

[verhoevenc]

Atleast from my experience once where I had no choice but to, they felt odd, sounded overly twangy and bright, they buzzed more, felt floppy, and were generally not fun to play with, or good sounding. Sure you COULD do it... but why?

Chris

PS: And no, it won't mess anything up besides your sound.

[tim_ado]

ok wat about acoustic strings on an electric

cuz ive got a hollow body and just wanna know

[fryovanni]

Acoustics generally use heavier gauge sets than electrics. That would probably explain a lot about what Chris noted. Although I am not sure what gauge set he was using.

Take a look for yourself. Most string manufacturers give you all the data(gauge, tension, alloys).-strings

Peace,Rich

I doubt you are going to hurt an acoustic with lighter electric strings, but you are most likely going to muck with your intonation because it is generally fixed on an acoustic.

[Mattia]

Electric with acoustic strings may not sound like you're used to; they're not as magnetic (the wound strings), so the pickups will deal with the signal differently. Or may do, anyway.

[Jon]

i was wondering what would happen if i were to put electric strings on an acoustic.

It will explode!

As mentioned, acoustics strings are more thick than electric guitar strings (typically). They will be more floppy and may not sound as well. Give it a try and hear for yourself.

[WezV]

Try some classical strings on an electric - its the way forward i'm telling ya!!!

[Jon]

Couldn't agree more. The magnets pick up those nylon strings pretty well.

[davee5]

The sound the nickel wounds will make is different from the phosphor bronzes your acoustic is used to. Howver most of the "floppy" style arguments are probably more about the fact that so many of you WUSSES out there run 09-10 guage strings on your electrics.

I push round-wound 13s on my gibson es-135 and round-wound 12s on my homegrown semi-hollow, which are heavier and equl in gauge to light acoustic strings respectively. Waaaaay better tone out of a heavier string and once you learn to bend 'em and get your finger strength/callouses up you're that much cooler. What did SRV run, like 15s?

Anyhow if your strings are the same gauge they will feel about eh smae under your fingers, but the metallurgy will give you a slightly different sound. Your guitar will, though explode if you try to play stairway on the acoustic.

-Dave

Edited March 12, 2007 by davee5