12s or 13s on your Dreadnought acoustic?

RandallFlagg

Which gauge for the win?

ToneControl

11

bluechargeboy

I use either:
11s, which are loads easier to play than:
12s, which sound better.

Many dreads come strung with 13s which I imagine brings out the best sounds, but it depends if you are wanting to do dreadnoughty strumming or get busy with lead lines. I've never tried them and have no interest in doing so TBH.

tone1

11's for me

RandallFlagg

11s? big girls blouses!

bluechargeboy

Sorry to tell you this but all acoustic players are big girls' blouses; there are no subdivisions within that. :P

ICBM

12s at the moment - it's a big heavy guitar even by Dreadnought standards and I felt 11s sounded a little thin - although the biggest problem is that most sets of 11s come with a 22 G, which is noticeably too light and thin-sounding - it needs to be a 23, which oddly a set of 10s normally comes with! I've never quite understood that.

My ideal gauge might actually by 11/12 hybrids - 12s, but with the 11 and 15 plain strings.

bluechargeboy

I am trialling 11s at the moment; they surely sound thinner but the needs of the performance outweigh the tone IMO (Martin Retro monel strings use a 23 G by the way).

Lewy

.013s, but with quite a low action and a very straight neck.

Lewy

 bluechargeboy said:

the needs of the performance outweigh the tone IMO

There's a lot to that. A lot of people fetishise tone over actually playing well....not limited to acoustic (or guitar for that matter). 

daveww

11 to 50 Newtone masterclass

jimmyguitar

12-53 D'Addarios but tuned D-D. Really suits a dreadnought and sounds huge but solos are easier to play. I get loads of compliments from punters at my solo acoustic gigs.

AliGorie

RandallFlagg said:

Which gauge for the win?

not sure what u's question is RF, the type of guitar is not all that relevant - u's playing style is.
presuming it's a standard Dread - spruce 'n something with a 25.4 scale length it depends what type of tension u like to work with / against.
Grassers usually like more resistance for the h'ons and p'offs they do also there's 'that sound' they get from playing behind the soundhole so 13's are widely used. They also acoustically have to compete with banjo, mandolin and fiddle so need the 'punch' of that extra tension.
I play a deep body'd OM, in tuning and use 13's - never in standard.
Do u use tuning's ?
and so on

richardhomer

13s - though I use a lot of dropped tunings.

BigMonka

12s ftw 

thermionic

13-56 for me. I've always had 12s on my other acoustic, so I don't think 12s on a dread would sound too bad really.

RandallFlagg

AliGorie said:

RandallFlagg said:

Which gauge for the win?

not sure what u's question is RF, the type of guitar is not all that relevant - u's playing style is.
presuming it's a standard Dread - spruce 'n something with a 25.4 scale length it depends what type of tension u like to work with / against.
Grassers usually like more resistance for the h'ons and p'offs they do also there's 'that sound' they get from playing behind the soundhole so 13's are widely used. They also acoustically have to compete with banjo, mandolin and fiddle so need the 'punch' of that extra tension.
I play a deep body'd OM, in tuning and use 13's - never in standard.
Do u use tuning's ?
and so on

Bashing out Pinball Wizard or Going Mobile in your best Pete Townsend style...what else is there?

I'm kidding, but the reason I like a Dread is to be able to play hard like Pete Townsend but also have a guitar that can sound OK for Neil Young type picking such as Needle and The Damage Done. I'm no finger style virtuoso.

My D28 can sound a little restrained with 12s, but I prefer the more balanced tone when compared to a HD28 (which is all bass and treble and seems hollow in the mids), I'm toying with going to 13s, and it's been a long while since I tried them and at £17 a pop for a set of coated long life strings and with a couple of sets of 12s in the drawer, I can wait!

When did strings get to £17 a go? jeez. 

Lewy

I think a standard D28 benefits from .013s definitely. With setup there's no reason for that to be a struggle, especially for the sort of stuff you're looking to play.

sweepy

13's for DADGAD and other turnings , 12's for standard

olafgarten

I use 12s on my Sigma 000, I think any more tension would be dark too much for any sort of lead playing. 

BigLicks67

A few years ago after a bout of RSI I had to drop to 10's, then to 11's and I'm now back to 12's. I think 12's are the ideal, you can get away with 13's on standard braced guitars, but I'd avoid on scalloped bracing. Obviously, all this is based on using standard tuning, lower tunings would probably dictate heavier strings.