Electric strings on your acoustic?

[built to refill]

Ever string your acoustic with electric strings? Why?

 

I could understand doing it if you mainly play electric, and you have extra electric strings laying around .. and electric strings can be slightly cheaper ..

 

What are the pros of playing acoustic strings on acoustic? What are the physical differences between the two?

 

Thanks guys. Merry Christmas!

 

- Bobby.

[kwakatak]

I used to do that on one of my old acoustics when I was big into shredding on my Kramer and wanted to play the same way on acoustics. It allowed me to bend the strings like on my Kramer, but I ended up sawing some deep grooves into the frets and the fretboard. I used to put GHS Boomer Ultra-lights on all my guitars (008s). They were easier on my fingers, but harder on the guitar. I ended up junking a guitar that looked like a knock-off of a Gibson Hummingbird - it had a nice red sunburst with a very ornate faceguard. My mother sold it at a yard sale for $5.

 

The main difference with electric strings is the G strings aren't wound and you can get them in lighter guages. They don't sound nearly as good as proper acoustic strings though; there's no sustain and they can buzz on guitars with lower action. The lightest I typically go on an acoustic now is extra light guage (010s), but I average out on regular lights (012s) and have overcompensated by using heavy guage (013s).

 

Martin Bronze seem to be the most cost-efficient IMO. Elixirs are nice, but they cost double what I'd pay for Martin strings.

[confuseitall]

 

Originally posted by built to refill Ever string your acoustic with electric strings? Why? I could understand doing it if you mainly play electric, and you have extra electric strings laying around .. and electric strings can be slightly cheaper .. What are the pros of playing acoustic strings on acoustic? What are the physical differences between the two? Thanks guys. Merry Christmas! - Bobby.

 

 

I used to string my yamaha with electric srtings. It was a pretty nasty guitar with horrible action that I was never able to fix properly. I liked having electric 10s on it because it made it easier to play and gave me kind of a distinctive jangle. Once I got a better guitar I stopped doing that and can't really see any reason to start again.

[LittleBrother]

More metallic sound. Unwound third is easy to bend. Nickel wound sets feel like they have less tension and more flexible. Beatles recorded like this. And to be honest I am pretty sure some older stars like Merle Travis even played with nickel wound strings. Get a more jazzy sound too on some guitars. Gibson J-160 comes with them from the factory.

[EvilHippy]

I use either Ernie Ball Extra Slinky .8-.38's for electrics, on my acoustic.IMO, it makes my martin sound very clear and trebleley and it gives it less bass, but it still has volume, but not as much.IMO, the Ernie Balls are great for playing unplugged.

 

I also use Elixer Polywebs/Nanowebs....these sound great unamplified and they sound really good amplified....but I think they sound better after 5 weeks of use about 5-10 hours a day.I love dead strings.Now I know why Neil Young loves dead strings.

 

I use an occasional set of Webstrings PB lights, in fact, I just put a set of those on the D-35 this morning when high E string broke.These are ok for the low price, but over all I like the strings in this order:

 

1.Elixer Coated Polywebs/Nanowebs

2.Ernie Balls

3.Webstrings

 

Elixers are high priced...but they last double normal strings do for me and they retain a great all around sound and are perfect for playing through to my Cyber Twin...great almost les paul like sound....but I noticed when I use ernie balls on it while amplified with my cyber twin, it sounds almost fender strat/tele like.

[rivshark86]

It sounds really cool on a 12 string. For normal acoustics well it is differant. For me it was one of those thnings I tried and did not keep.

[rivshark86]

I just remembered a guy I know put some acoustic strings on his electric.... shudder.... That did not work at all.

[Qengho]

 

Originally posted by EvilHippy I use either Ernie Ball Extra Slinky .8-.38's for electrics, on my acoustic.

 

 

You use 8 gauge strings on your D-35? Man, that must make it real quiet. Martin specs 13s for that model; I would think the 8s would have a hard time driving the top.

[frankentele]

In the spirit of "strings are strings, right?" I tried electric strings on an old Yamaha acoustic I had in high school. Yuck. Just plain yuck. What started out as a dead, lifeless guitar sounded like a dead, lifeless guitar with about two feet of dirt shoveled on top of it.

 

I use .10s or .11s on my electric and .13s (mediums, mostly 'bluegrass' sets) on my two acoustics. I like the sound of the top being driven by the strings--much more presence.