Members 80sbuttrock Posted October 30, 2014 Members Share Posted October 30, 2014 I'm a new member and just got back into acoustic playing after going electric for a 20 yrs. Curious as to what string gauge stars such as Neil Young, Brad Paisley, James Taylor, etc use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members specs Posted October 30, 2014 Members Share Posted October 30, 2014 I understand that James Taylor uses John Pearse # 550SLThese are phosphor bronze Slightly Light Gauge11,15,22W,30,40,50 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 30, 2014 Members Share Posted October 30, 2014 I don't know of any source where all of this information is compiled for acoustic guitars (there is one for electrics at the StewMac website). However whenever Acoustic Guitar magazine interviews a player they have a little side bar of "what do they play" where they list the guitar, signal chain, strings of choice, picks and capo. If you have a particular person in mind you might search their site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EdBega Posted October 30, 2014 Members Share Posted October 30, 2014 This could be the start of the "string gauge for celebrities" thread Denny Zager (Zager and Evans) uses custom lights on all his guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 80sbuttrock Posted October 31, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 31, 2014 Does anybody use 14 or heavier? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted October 31, 2014 Members Share Posted October 31, 2014 No. Not sure I've ever seen anything heavier than .013s. I don't think there's a guitar out there braced for that kind of tension, either. I switched from .013s about a year ago because the guitar didn't need them to sound good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted October 31, 2014 Members Share Posted October 31, 2014 Does anybody use 14 or heavier? There are a few companies that make .014-.058 or .014-.060 sets. I don't know of anyone who actually uses them but they're made. Most of us would use them for tuning down so I suspect that's probably how they're generally used. .014's produce about 16% more tension for a given pitch than .013's. Tuning down a full tone would get you pretty close to a set of .013's at concert pitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 31, 2014 Members Share Posted October 31, 2014 Does anybody use 14 or heavier? As others have said, 14's tuned to concert pitch would put excessive stress on the top of a standard acoustic - most are designed, braced (and warranted) for either 12's (smaller bodies) or 13's (dreads). 14's would be hard to fret and bend, probably require a significant adjustment of the truss rod and nut slots even if the top doesn't come flying off. Gauges 0.014 -58 or heavier are used on longer scale guitars tuned down two or more semi tones, in fact baritone guitar are usually strung with 16's and tuned to A or Bb. Additionally, square neck resonators are often strung with 14's or even fatter, but again, they are tuned down and the necks and spider bridge are designed to take the tension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 I couldn't imagine playing with 14's - that's just way too heavy and much too likely to damage the guitar, although I could see them being used for down-tuning, as others have mentioned. I use 13-56's on my short-scale Taylor GS Mini (shorter scale = less tension at standard tuning / pitch), and 12-53's on my standard-sized acoustics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gary Blanchard Posted October 31, 2014 Members Share Posted October 31, 2014 Somehow I can't imagine saying "I'm going to use 13 gauge strings because my musical hero does." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted October 31, 2014 Members Share Posted October 31, 2014 You'd be surprised, Gary. They wanna look like them, sound like them, act like them, play like them and generally dote on them in conversation. They have no shame. Not even out in public in front of gawd and everyone, fer crissake. Waxing their strings is nuthin'. Stevie Ray Vaughn sporting Hendrix was embarrassing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted November 1, 2014 Members Share Posted November 1, 2014 You'd be surprised' date=' Gary. They wanna look like them, sound like them, act like them, play like them and generally dote on them in conversation. They have no shame. Not even out in public in front of gawd and everyone, fer crissake. Waxing their strings is nuthin'. Stevie Ray Vaughn sporting Hendrix was embarrassing.[/quote'] Interesting that you pull those two names out - SRV played pretty heavy strings (13 - 58) tuned to Eb, while the story is that Hendrix used some special 10 - 38's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted November 1, 2014 Members Share Posted November 1, 2014 . . . the story is that Hendrix used some special 10 - 38's. From what I've read, he used Fender 150 strings, as did Clapton, but they don't make them in that gauge any more. I have a comparable set of GHS Boomers on my Strat, .010-.038. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members t_e_l_e Posted November 2, 2014 Members Share Posted November 2, 2014 i was over 15 years ago so stupid to put '14 set n my washburn accoustic. the guitar had no problem with the additional tension. ..but my fingers did, within five minutes of playing i got blisters on the finger tips of my fretting hand. at that time i used to play at least one hour day with '12s on it, so its not that i was not used to heavy playing.... yep the sound was fuller, but not for that price, so i removed them after only that 5 minutes of playing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jamesp Posted November 2, 2014 Members Share Posted November 2, 2014 Somehow I can't imagine saying "I'm going to use 13 gauge strings because my musical hero does." If Ry Cooder says he likes 13s, I'd sure give 'em a try. It's harder for me to imagine caring what some amateur on an internet forum says. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.