Is there a general rule of thumb for choosing strings? How do you know what maximum gauge your guitar will take? If it doesn't have a magnetic pickup should I be using acoustic guitar strings exclusively?
Case in point (apologies now because this isn't a CBG case in point):
I just bought two Famos (not Framus) archtop acoustic guitars built in the 1950s. I doubt they've got truss rods. I could be wrong! Would I be best putting low tension strings on them? Will electric guitar strings be more likely to snap the neck? Less likely than acoustic 80/20s, for example? How do I know what maximum tension they will take?
How can your answers be put into the CBG equivalent situation? Is there a golden rule of thumb? A secret formula I'm unaware of?
I'm confused and not getting any less confused no matter how long I'm looking at string information! Help needed (desperately) and much appreciated.
Bear
Replies
1) Scale length
2) Acoustic, piezo pickup, or magnetic pickup
3) Neck construction (neck-through, neck-to, bolt-on, set neck with dovetail joint and pocket), truss rod or not
Realize that string sets will be different for different guitars. You WILL have to experiment! I realize not everyone can afford to buy lots of string sets, but juststrings.com has pretty good prices if you buy enough in bulk. I did this ages ago for all my electric and acoustic commercial 6-string gits, and now know which they prefer. For the CBGs, here's a couple rules of thumb:
1) You want a growly acoustic slide tone, go with uncoated medium phosphor bronze wound strings. Get the right string tension for your tuning and scale length.
2) You want a cleaner acoustic slide tone, try unwound lights or medium lights. You will get more banjo-like tone.
3) You have a piezo, the above still holds.
4) You have a mag pup, now things get interesting. You have to use strings that have a steel core (and yes, some acoustic phosphor bronze sets can do double duty here). Typically, strings made for commercial electric guitars are what you want. Again, know your tuning, scale length, number of strings, and neck construction (less than 4 strings, oak neck, no truss rod needed; poplar neck 4 strings, you might need a truss rod). The vibrations of a steel core string perturb the pickup's magnetic field, creating voltage that can be passed to a preamp and / or amplifier.
Thanks Ron. I'll take a look at your link and have a read just as soon as I can see straight. Damn early morning wake-ups lol. Just wanted to thank you in good time. Much appreciated.
Hey Ron. That link that you sent me looks great but what are the eight columns (sometimes only 7 numerical values) and why are they headed with letters other than eadgbe? I need a decoder lol.
Also, mind if I push my second question part to the fore? How do you know what tension any given neck will take before breaking or bowing I.E. my example and any CBG? I know you said three string and it should be good but would that be good right up to, to be pedantic, 16s? In my example it's a dovetail joint into a pocket, set neck and no truss rod (I don't think there's a truss rod anyway). Scale length is 25.5" on the one and 3/4 size on the other (don't know the exact scale length on it yet).
I found some low tension strings on eBay and will likely just go for them as the seller said they're manufactured to be low tension without sacrificing tone. It would be good to know for future how to figure out the chart in the link you sent though.
Thanks for all the help.
Bear.
Will do Ron. Now for some wake-up juice AKA tea, nectar of the sublime! Thanks again :)
Hey kids, I know nothing about this, but would suggest that you could try a regular string set and sneak up on the tension and see what happens. Can't see where acoustic or electric strings would make a difference, but would think that if you start off tuning a couple of notes low and see how it works and work up from there. Personally I like deeper notes anyway. Have fun and let us know what happens.
Thanks Thomas. Got those Famos guitars in the mail today and strung one up with electric 10s. Nice sound and tone to my ear but the low E was very banjo like. Then I panicked myself that the neck was going to break overnight and detuned it right down to nothing just in case. I just never know what gauge I can put on anything for the best beefy tone vs not risking the neck integrity. I'm an old scaredy cat and worry too much maybe lol