12s or 13s on your Dreadnought acoustic?

What's Hot
2»

Comments

  • crunchmancrunchman Frets: 11414
    It does depend on the guitar.  Get something responsive that's not over braced and you don't need stupidly heavy strings.  Get a modern D28 and you do need heavy strings to get the top moving.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • 12s on my Santa Cruz;  my Larrivee TSB SD50 sounds amazing with 13s but find 12s easier to play and that's what I usually put on it
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • AliGorieAliGorie Frets: 308

    When did strings get to £17 a go? jeez. 
    'r u talking about
    Thomastik-Infeld strings ?.
    their 'Spectrum's' are quite possibly the best strings made, in materials and manufacture (for acoustic guitar).
    Superb, of course they wont suite everyone or every guitar but the amount of expertise involved is beyond what we've come to expect from the £5 a set US brands.
    The layer of silk between the core and wrap wire really works to neutralizing that 'metallic clang'  ya get with the likes of D'Addario's on a  decent quality acoustic.
    £17 ? tax deductibles to a pro-musician might be the answer


    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • Tell you what, after every 2 hours acoustic practice on a Wednesday with just 11s, and after having gotten the action lowered, I still find my plucking hand sore. I'm half tempted to go back to the trusty Little Martin guitars which I found a breeze to play.. but clearly sounds nothing like my Larrivee. Damn it!
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • Tell you what, after every 2 hours acoustic practice on a Wednesday with just 11s, and after having gotten the action lowered, I still find my plucking hand sore. I'm half tempted to go back to the trusty Little Martin guitars which I found a breeze to play.. but clearly sounds nothing like my Larrivee. Damn it!
    I'm pretty sure that the Little Martin has a 23 inch scale and the Larrivee is most likely 650mm/25.5 inches, so there is a big difference re string tension. It might be worth having a look at the neck relief on the Larrivee as an adjustment might make things a bit easier or alternatively try a Gibson J45 which has a 630mm scale length.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • LewyLewy Frets: 4127
    Tell you what, after every 2 hours acoustic practice on a Wednesday with just 11s, and after having gotten the action lowered, I still find my plucking hand sore. I'm half tempted to go back to the trusty Little Martin guitars which I found a breeze to play.. but clearly sounds nothing like my Larrivee. Damn it!
    Sore where...fingertips? How are you picking the strings....flesh, nail, both etc?

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • It's like a day-long throbbing pain along my tendons :o
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • AliGorie said:

    When did strings get to £17 a go? jeez. 
    'r u talking about
    Thomastik-Infeld strings ?.
    their 'Spectrum's' are quite possibly the best strings made, in materials and manufacture (for acoustic guitar).
    Superb, of course they wont suite everyone or every guitar but the amount of expertise involved is beyond what we've come to expect from the £5 a set US brands.
    The layer of silk between the core and wrap wire really works to neutralizing that 'metallic clang'  ya get with the likes of D'Addario's on a  decent quality acoustic.
    £17 ? tax deductibles to a pro-musician might be the answer


    No, Martin or Elixir coated long life strings:

    http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/strings-c1/acoustic-guitar-strings-sets-c33/martin-lifespan-msp7200-phosphor-bronze-acoustic-guitar-strings-13-56-medium-p444





    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • crunchmancrunchman Frets: 11414
    The coated strings have always been about 3 times the price of normal strings.  If they last 3 times as long you are fine.  If they don't then buy normal strings - unless you are lazy and don't want to change them as often.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • AliGorieAliGorie Frets: 308
    ah, see what ya mean Randy, something I never consider - ‘coated’ as quality non coated las me 1 to two years - so no need thankfully, as I can hear the effect the coating has on the sound + the typical quality of materials is VERY average alloys in coated strings.
    Your paying for a slightly longer lasting string - the coating - but your also paying for reduced sales a company would incur - either way, they got ya if you sweat acid, your gonna have to live with average sounding, strange feeling expensive consumables.
    On that point - has anyone tried DR Dragon Skins - which I believe are their ‘Rares’ with a coating of which I’m a fan.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71963
    AliGorie said:

    On that point - has anyone tried DR Dragon Skins - which I believe are their ‘Rares’ with a coating of which I’m a fan.
    Yes, I have - they're the only coated strings I can stand. The feel is still different from normal strings, but not as offputting as the other coated ones, and it seems to wear off eventually - I've got a set which have been on about three years, and they feel like normal strings now but haven't corroded. I'm not 100% sure what they sound like compared to other coated strings since they're on my resonator guitar so they sound like a tin can anyway :). But from what I could tell when I've heard them on a couple of other guitars, they sound much more like normal strings too.

    I really can't bear the sound of coated strings normally - they're either tinny or dull, or both at the same time somehow! Although I'm not sure that the feel isn't worse.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • camfcamf Frets: 1190


    The extra lights sound nice, no?
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • LewyLewy Frets: 4127
    camf said:


    The extra lights sound nice, no?
    Yep. Nicer on the fingerstyle than the flatpicking imo. 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • camfcamf Frets: 1190
    And I have two new sets of extra lights I thought I couldn't give away... hmmm. :)
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • LewyLewy Frets: 4127
    camf said:
    And I have two new sets of extra lights I thought I couldn't give away... hmmm. :)
    I'm assuming they mixed the audio in such a way as to level out the differences in volume. It would have been an interesting alternative approach to leave the level constant and see how much the loudness varied.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • camfcamf Frets: 1190
    They're usually pretty good on that site about trying to keep everything the same in their comparisions. Unless it was done automatically by the recording process or the youtube compression I doubt they'd have reset the levels... kind of defeats the purpose. Could it be that the volume differences weren't that great?
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • LewyLewy Frets: 4127
    I'd be very surprised if there was as little difference in the loudness in the room  between extra lights and mediums as there appears to be on the video. Just going from mediums to lights on my guitars makes a significant difference - although as is shown by the video the tonal difference can be worth it. My OM and J45 both sound better - if quieter- with lights versus mediums.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
Sign In or Register to comment.