Month: November 2023

And, we return to that eternal question!

I have dwelt upon this before (in the very early days of this blog) but since I have to explain to (almost) every customer which string would suit their style (and guitar) the best, I thought that I would put my thoughts down again for the benefit of the larger audience.

If you care to read the earlier post on strings, you can do so here:

Which strings to use; how often to change

So, which strings you use is dictated by a few things: the guitar you play (its construction), your playing style, whether those strings will be played under amplification or unplugged, and whether your guitar has a neck or a belly problem. Let’s go over each of these in a bit more detail but with the following thoughts in mind, that these are a) my thoughts, and b) there are exceptions to every rule.

 

The Guitar

The size and shape of the guitar is the primary factor while choosing strings, for the bigger the size of the guitar, bigger should be the strings that go on it; and vice versa holds true too.

Consider a Dreadnought model from any brand. The model got its name from the World War I battleship ‘HMS Dreadnought’, introduced in 1906 and was all-guns, huge and the most modern at that time. Modern guitar pioneers CF Martin and Co have the credit for the design of the guitar they named ‘Dreadnought’ which they introduced in the markets in 1916.

So, if you are holding a guitar that is built like a battleship, and put on size 10 strings (.010″) on it, you are asking a tiger to purr!!!!!!!!!

If you have a dreadnought guitar and all other factors are under control, I prescribe size 12 (.012″) strings for it, for the guitar is built to take the strain of 12s. If it is a Martin, Taylor or a Guild, I might hazard suggesting that you use size 13 (.013″), because, generally speaking, these guitar brands are head and shoulders above the rest. Yes, those are big strings, but while playing those, you will only feel the ‘B’ string bite, for it is the single, thickest steel string. Yes, there is greater strain on the neck of the guitar, but once you get used to the bang you get out of 13s, I doubt you will ever be able to go any lower.

If it is a jumbo guitar (think Gibson/Epiphone SJ200), 13s it is, most certainly.

A parlour guitar/OM model, on the other hand, I would not hazard going above size 11 (.011″).

And size 10 would be perfect for it because it is not a performance guitar but more of a personal instrument that you’re supposed to sit in a parlour and play. Even if you play a parlour guitar  on stage, I would still go with 10s, but with amplification. It all boils down to how the guitar is constructed and how much strain it can take.

 

Playing style

Often, I’ve had customers tell me that they play lead and so they prefer 10s (or even 9s), or that they are comfortable playing those gauges. What such people fail to understand is that they are getting just 50% out of a dreadnought instrument by playing those gauges.

Playing styles (finger style or plectrum player) don’t dictate string gauges, but most certainly how the instrument is set-up. The string gauge is decided by the size and construction of the guitar.

However, if you are a finger-style player only, a lighter gauge string will help.

 

Exceptions

The exception to the above rules are 12-string guitars. Even if it is a Super Jumbo you’re playing, the tension of the 12 strings acting on the neck and top of your guitar will exert so much pressure that if you wish your guitar to live and serve you long, you better not go over Size 10 strings.

 

A guitar with problems

If you have an instrument that has either a belly bulge or a neck that has risen over time, you would be well served to have lower gauge strings on it. However, first, get the problem tackled. If you have an instrument that you love very much, or, is a big name guitar, get that neck reset or belly bulge corrected, expensive though it may be.

Thereafter, if the manufacturer prescribes that you use 12s on your guitar, go a string gauge down, to keep the problem in check.

Talking about manufacturers, follow the string specifications prescribed for your guitar in the instrument brochure. However, you can comfortably go up or down one gauge.

 

Problems?

For any problem that you are facing with your guitar (set-up, belly, neck issues), feel free to get in touch with me here, or phone (70804 75556) and WhatsApp.

The last time, I had announced that I shall no longer do (any) glue-up jobs between July and September and that I would welcome these jobs October onwards.

This bridge-glue-up job came in October when the humidity gods were more benevolent,

but this was an odd one.

Obviously, it had been standing lonely in a corner of some forsaken room. You can make that out from the missing ferrules of the D and G string tuners. It had developed a handsome belly bulge and the bridge had started to come off.

Wisely or not, the owner had taken it upon himself to take off the strings, as also the bridge!!!!

He brought it to me thus.

I marked the outline of the bridge and you can see what portion of the bridge was stuck to the finish under it.

But first the belly had to be dealt with. Over two clamped sittings of 48 hours each, the belly seemed to disappear, permanently or not, only time will tell. Here are a few photographs of the time it spent staying clamped over the four days.

Then I turned my attention to the footprint of the bridge, clearing all the unneeded finish that was under the bridge.

But that is just half the job done. The other half entailed cleaning the bridge. But as I started cleaning it, flakes or white powder covered my hands and clothes. Super glue!!

After I was done with cleaning the bridge, I checked for warp in it, considering that it was stuck to a bellied top. Sure enough, there was quite a bit of curvature in it. Sanding it out would mean thinning the bridge down to a ghost of itself.

Instead, I decided to put a new bridge in place of the old one.

The only problem with that was that the new one was a few millimetres smaller than the original which threw the bridgepin holes on the top and the new bridge out of whack. The way out: plug the holes in the top and redrill them to match the ones in the bridge.

That done, it was time to glue up the bridge.

It was now the turn to set up the guitar and it began with neck straightness.

I forgot to click a photograph of it, but at some point in the life of the guitar, the D and G tuning machines got spoilt and were replaced with some very ordinary open-gear tuning machines. These were the type where the ferrules are just pushed in from the top and are not screwed onto the rest of the tuning machine. In fact, the person changing out the machines had not even bothered to drill new holes and had screwed on the new machines in the old holes. As a result, the machine heads were tilted to one side, making turning them a pain. Since I had not been asked to touch those, I replaced the the ferrules and was done with it. 

As I strung up the guitar (with the old strings that the owner had given me), I could make out that the action would be more than double of what I would like to see. So, the saddle needed to be cut in half to get me near tolerable action.

I did what I had to but still the action wasn’t as good as I would have liked it. But there was nothing more to be done.

More importantly, the owner was happy that his guitar was playable again.