Resonator strings

[David collins]

I have a National tricone. Normally, on my Maton dreadnoughts, I use extra lights. However, being new to slide and particularly Nationals, I’m wondering if anyone uses light gauge strings for playing slide delta blues. I ask because although the heavy gauge sounds good with the slide, for playing chords, I’d rather the ease of lift or extra light. Does anyone have an opinion? 
kind regards. David

[Phil O'Keefe]

Hi David, and welcome to Harmony Central! 

I don't have a resonator, but I do play some slide, and I generally prefer heavier strings for that than when I'm playing fingerstyle or flatpicking / strumming. Remember, with a slide the idea isn't to depress the string like you normally would with your fingers, but to make solid contact with it using the slide or bar without pressing down too hard - basically just letting the weight of the slide or bar do the work. For me, the heavier strings tend to sound better, and since finger comfort / ability to press them down isn't as much of an issue (unless you're playing a roundneck and using a hybrid slide + fingers approach), I don't see a reason for not going a gauge heavier than you might typically use, as long as the guitar itself is designed for and can handle a slightly heavier string gauge set. Especially if you typically use really light strings on your other guitars. 

If you typically use extra-lights, I think regular lights might be worth a try on your National Tricone.   If you do give them a go, please let me know how it works out for you. 

 

[DeepEnd]

"Medium" resonator strings typically run 16-56 or 17-56, way heavier than anything you'd find on a normal acoustic. John Pearse makes a 13-56 set that might work for you.

[Freeman Keller]

The choice of strings for your resonator should depend on how you want to tune it, how you want to play it and its setup.   I have three resonators, I typically tune them down to open D or G and I play a mixture of slide and fretted.  I run the action just a touch higher than my other acoustics, but they still play reasonably easy.   One  of my guitars is a wooden tricone that I built, the others are an old spider and a metal bodied biscuit.

Based on all of that, I normally string with mediums and usually bump the first string up to an 14 or so.   I often run an unwound third - that gets rid of some of the slide rattle.  The sets that you see called "resonator " are designed for spider bridge lap playing, usually in"high bass G".  Don't put them on your tricone without really thinking about it.  

A few people run lighter gauge strings on resonators and tune them up to open A or E, but I caution you to be careful and have your guitar professionally set up (in particular pay attention to the break angle over the cones).   It is also perfectly reasonable to set up a resonator with lighter gauge strings at concert and just play it like a guitar but I think you loose a lot of the beauty of what it really is.

[Djangler]

I've enjoyed using the D'Addario Flat Tops for slide on a standard dreadnought guitar. They're pretty light: 12-53. Don't have a resonator so can't comment on that.