Hi ladies...thanks for the constant inspiration to you and all of Cigar Box Nation
How to know which string gauge to use is a question which keeps popping up everywhere.
i crunched numbers and made charts and simplified everything down to this... zandi z.
Replies
MM.. i should have replied to this a while ago.... i love making charts in order to understand things...this one is so simple that you only have to remember, either the heavy scale or light scale, and you always have a clue about which string to use.
for the usual 6-string ,from strings #1- #6:
light = .005, .015, .020, .030, .040, .050.
heavy = .015, .020, .030, .040, .050, .060.
the heavy scale is most like the number of the string,yes?.............z.
Hi, I've just made my second guitar and used strings bought at Gitty's. The gauge is 10, 14, 22.
The thing is that the 22 seems really loose compare to the other strings plus, it wont tune. From the first fret, with that string, it going wrong. When I make a bend with the 10 and 14, it's alright, a bit tight but alright. With the 22, the bend, using the same strengh is going a lot further. The difference is huge in fact.
So, is there an explanation, a solution ? Because, well, I bought 12 strings of each and the shipping fees, USA...France is awfull.
Marmelade.... you must have figured it out by now...yes? I did not realize it has been so long since my last visit here.
The ranges, from light to heavy: For string #1 is .005-.015. For #2 is .015-020. For #3 is.020-.030.
As far as i understand things, the weight of the strings are proportional. I feel that they should be strung that way, for best resonance, but i am too inexperienced to be certain of that as a fact, only a theory.
10-14-22 seem very light, and tight, to me. I would have probably chosen 10-17-25 or 10-20-30 for a wider, deeper range of notes for the instrument... BUT, i am an amateur... yes?
I am now building 1 and 2 -strings, especially for children to learn.... adults like them, too. I can use 'extra parts' and strings to good advantage this way.
One of the more fun things i have learned, recently, is that 3-strings liked to be tuned to the "din-dan-don" of Frere Jacque.
i hope this helps...someone. ..... zandi z.