Acoustic Tension —“Strings”

[kevin m]

Hello Folks –is it just me or do other folks find their guitar strings just too tight. I watch Brian when he is doing acoustic lessons and he just seems to coax volume and tone so effortlessly out of every note on his guitars. I realize the guitars are great but I feel there is also something with strings that I may be missing. His strings appear to be almost silver, when mine are all copperish -I use PB strings -light gauge. In particular the low e,a, and d strings really seem to bend –could he be tuned down?

Hmmmm—just wondering if there are answers to this question.

Thanks
Kevin

[John C]

Use round core instead of Hex, big difference in feel and tension

[Richard G]

I remember Brian saying he used 10’s on all his acoustics, whether that’s still the case, I don’t know. Moreover if you’re bending using the third finger, it’s good practice to reinforce the bend with the middle finger as well.

Richard

[JoLa]

Brian uses 10s on the electric guitars but his acoustics have at least 12s gauge now, specifically D’Addario 12 gauge (EJ16), in standard tuning.

Yes, there so many different kinds of strings out there with different feel, gauge, color, tension… etc Finding the right ones for you will require a journey. When it comes to the sound and how effortlessly it may seem to look when Brian plays, I think it’s just years of experience and stamina. I think you need to find the strings that work well for you and your taste and abilities.

🎸JoLa

[Richard G]

I thought my memory served me right, this was Brian’s response from 2017

Richard

Brian
Keymaster
Topics: 78
Replies: 2622

I use 10 gauge on acoustic

[JoLa]

Well, it looks like the strings and their gauges has been a journey for Brian, too. I’m sure it never ends…
I also remember him trying out the Stringjoys at one point.

This is his response to a comment under EP534, just 4 months ago:

🎸JoLa

[sunjamr]

I think beginning and maybe intermediate level guitarists should use as light gauge as possible to allow better focus on the actual fingering and chord structures. Also, coated strings like the Elixir Nanowebs are much kinder to your fingers, and avoid that dreaded string squeak when sliding up and down the strings. I’m probably an advanced-intermediate player, and I use 009s on my electric guitars, and 010s on my acoustics. BB King used 008s on “Lucille”. Seeing Billy Gibbons with 012s on his guitar, he asked Billy “Why do you want to work so hard?”

Sunjamr Steve

[GnLguy]

Santa Cruz Guitars – I’ve never played one but would love to some day.

They only build 400 guitars per year – they give amazing detail to their craft and their tone – as best as I can tell from videos – is equally amazing.

They’ve developed what they call Parabolic Tension Strings that require much less pressure to play.
Video below is with Tony Polecastro who gives a very honest review

https://santacruzguitar.com/santa-cruz-parabolic-tension-strings/

[sunjamr]

And I see that you can get carbon fiber strings for classical guitars. The cost? $400 per set. That’s more than my guitar cost.

Sunjamr Steve

[Tao]

Guitars with short scale. Less string tension with short scale 24,75″ compared to 25,5″ standard. Brian’s Alvarez is a 24,75″ I guess.

Tao

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