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LMM GDG strings.

Without intending to step on any toes, just thought I’d pass along a close substitution for the Blues Blaster LMM GDG nickel wound strings that Gitty has been out of for a while. I waited as long as I could, but when I was plum out of strings, and had already robbed one off my fretless for my daily driver fretted guitar, I went looking. D’Addario EXL120+ nickel wound string sets (Sweetwater and others) includes a 0.44, 0.34, and 0.24” wound strings, and though they’re using them in the 4, 5, 6. DAE positions, they cranked to GDG, LMM quite nicely. Replicates the feel and sound of the blues blaster strings pretty well. I just replaced a set on one of my guitars, one at a time, and I can’t really tell the difference between them and the blues blasters.

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Permalink Reply by BrianQ. on April 20, 2019 at 6:47am

Not stepping on any toes, you’re not the 1st nor last to use that configuration, but definitely a good tone for a cbg? Also good for DAD tuning? Thanx for sharing, may the blues be with you :)

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Permalink Reply by Korrigan on April 20, 2019 at 3:47pm

At 82lbs total, that's way too much tension for my taste. I'm more of a 15lbs per string kind of guy. But if it's comfortable for your playing style and your neck isn't warping then more power to ya. :-)

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Permalink Reply by Bruce Young on April 21, 2019 at 1:44am

Aye, they are some big strings. I don’t know how to calculate the tension. When I got involved with cbg, I bought the LMM GDG strings and simply went blissfully on my way, never giving them further thought. So when they were not available, chose a near perfect replacement, that without looking, I think is an exact match on the low and middle strings, and .002 smaller on the high string. Without bailing on the LMM GDG tuning, I don’t suppose there is any magic that will lessen the tension. I did pick up a set with the high G a plain .009 string, LMH, which would give less overall tension, but it’s of course a different voice I’m not sure I’m gonna like. I’d be interested in knowing the total tension of the LMM blues blaster LMM set I started with, vs the LMH modal blues set Gitty sells. I’d really be interested in how string tension can be calculated, or is it something pulled from a table of measurements?

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Permalink Reply by Korrigan on April 21, 2019 at 9:37am

These are the calculators I use:

Guitar String Diameter Calculator - to determine what gauge string to use for a desired pitch and tension.

Guitar String Tension Calculator - to find the tension of a string of known diameter at a given pitch.