Gearslutz.com
All Advertisers

Go Back   Gearslutz.com > The Forums > Remote Possibilities in Acoustic Music & Location Recording

Tags: , ,

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Electric Acoustic Guitar through DI Stoneface So much gear, so little time! 25 31st March 2008 01:53 PM
Best Acoustic Guitar Strings for Recording jaguarsg So much gear, so little time! 54 31st March 2008 08:48 AM
Best EQ for recording electric and acoustic guitar Red 7 So much gear, so little time! 8 19th October 2007 10:30 PM
DI electric guitar needs acoustic treatment? penz So much gear, so little time! 1 14th December 2006 05:02 PM
Neve Portico 5012 on Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Drum OH clips nukmusic So much gear, so little time! 6 2nd December 2005 07:05 PM

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 25th August 2006, 12:39 AM   #1
simonv
Gear addict
 
simonv's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Montreal
Posts: 474
Send a message via MSN to simonv
Talking Electric guitar strings on Acoustic guitar

Good evening everyone,

Today I put d'Addario Chromes strings on my acoustic guitar.
And I just kept saying all afternoon how my acoustic has never played and sounded that good in ages, just to realize that those strings were made for electric guitars...

So, it made me think... what's the difference between electric and acoustic guitar strings?
simonv is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26th August 2006, 03:30 AM   #2
max cooper
Lives for gear
 
max cooper's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: tx
Posts: 8,819
Acoustic strings are usually Bronze or Phosphor bronze wound. Bronze is a non-ferrous metal and won't interrupt the magnetic field of an electric pickup as well as the ferrous-wound electric strings.

No problem putting electric strings on an acoustic guitar, although if your truss rod is adjusted for heavier strings and you're putting lighter strings on the guitar for a good length of time you might want to have the rod adjusted.

The truss rod is designed to provide an opposing tension on the neck counter to the forward tension the strings place on the neck. If the rod is pulling harder than the strings, the neck could begin to warp backwards. Shouldn't be much to worry about in the short run, though.

The tone will be different, which it sounds like you're liking. Another factor is that most people use a plain "G" string on electrics whereas they'll use a wound "G" on an acoustic. Changing that voices chords differently.
max cooper is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26th August 2006, 10:01 AM   #3
orange
Lives for gear
 
orange's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: London
Posts: 1,663
Of couse steel/chrome strings do sound different to bronze strings. Even different brands of string sound different.

They're not a rich IMO - useful in an emergency but I wouldn't use them as standard.

si
orange is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 6th September 2006, 08:26 AM   #4
goom
Gear nut
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 76
Before the invention of electric guitars, what were strings made of? Was it always bronze, or was that a more modern thing, to use bronze on acoustic guitars.
goom is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13th September 2006, 02:43 PM   #5
max cooper
Lives for gear
 
max cooper's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: tx
Posts: 8,819
I believe metal wound strings came way before electric guitars. Since elec. guitars were mostly invented in small workshops (Orville Rickenbacker, Paul Bigsby, etc.) metal strings would have had to already be around.

So I bet most stringed instruments were strung with gut strings.

I'd bet metal wound strings have been around for a long long time. Otherwise, what did they string pianos and harpsichords with?
max cooper is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13th September 2006, 02:47 PM   #6
mhartman
Gear addict
 
mhartman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 378
I can tell you that metal wound strings were definitely around in the 20's and 30's. I've owned several 1920's and 30's Nationals and they were all metal string guitars from day one. If you look at the specks for old Martins from the early 1900's, they were braced for metal strings too (unless you are talking about a classical guitar).

Mike
mhartman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 3rd November 2006, 01:21 AM   #7
Marshy
Gear interested
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 6
Send a message via ICQ to Marshy Send a message via AIM to Marshy Send a message via Yahoo to Marshy Send a message via Skype™ to Marshy
Hi evryone,
Interesting, what are your thoughts on acoustic strings? I mean what do you guys use or what is most popular out there? I'm not a very experienced guitar player so im always opend to info. Also i have a Fender Catalina acoustic (it's a Korean made) heard any feed back on this guitar?
Cheers,
Marshy.
Marshy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 5th November 2006, 12:30 AM   #8
ArnieInTheSky
Gear Head
 
ArnieInTheSky's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: K-Dubs, Canader
Posts: 63
It's in my experience people hear 'brighter', they hear 'better.' The fatness of the tone in guitar strings comes from the diameter of the cores of the strings, not the size of the string gauge and yeah the material. Generally speaking electric strings are smaller gauged and have smaller cores which end up producing less bottom end. When this happens you can hear more of the top end since there's no low end to inter fear. This is just general. You may have the hugest sounding acoustic with giant nickel cores.

The Catalina's haven't been around for a while. The first couple batches were made in Japan. It's a cheaper model. But hey if it sounds good, use it. As far as strings out there. I've been playing Martin SP's lately. They use Swedish stainless steel cores and electroplate bronze onto the cores and plain strings making the B and E strings less metallic sounding and more smooth sounding.

jl
ArnieInTheSky is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 5th November 2006, 12:53 PM   #9
shikawkee
Lives for gear
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Nashville, TN
Posts: 1,014
I hate phospher bronze, shiney, plinky guitar strings.
I use the D'Aquisto Tony Rice nickel sets and I ain't going back!!

Sounds REAL (some say "vintage") and I haven't broke a string yet.
__________________
"Lend me some sugar, I am your neighbor"-
Andre 3000
shikawkee is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 7th December 2006, 08:30 AM   #10
wardshorsehead
Gear interested
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 21
Before the dawn of bronze strings, most steel strings were nickel. Listen to the old time Carter Family, Louvin Brothers, Delmores, etc. Those were nickel strings.

Quite a few modern instruments are built around the assumption of bronze strings, and seem to sound better that way. But put a set of the correctly gauged nickel strings on a vintage box, and you get the tone that was characteristic of the instrument when it was made.

On my wooden Nationals, I tend to prefer phosphor bronze, but on my metal body, I love heavy gauge nickel strings.

And forget those dead on arrival Elixers. Sure they play nice for a long time, but it's like sitting on grandma's sofa with the plastic dust cover. Crap.
wardshorsehead is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11th December 2006, 04:34 PM   #11
noiseflaw
Lives for gear
 
noiseflaw's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: London
Posts: 965
I've just changed the strings on one of my acoustics to Electric D'ddario 10' gauge.

Serious lack of tone - but then the guitar isn't too great for that anyways.

I replaced the factory fit plastic bridge and neck saddles, to bone, I altered the truss rod and lowered the action.

Now that guitar is set up for 'strummy' pop songs with a light fresh acoustic feel.

Helps remove the boomy sound too.

Nice.........
__________________
.
"There's no correlation between creativity and equipment ownership. None. Zilch. Nada." Hugh MacLeod

~ peace ~
noiseflaw is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11th December 2006, 05:17 PM   #12
zootdaze
Gear Head
 
zootdaze's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 61
Quote:
Before the invention of electric guitars, what were strings made of? Was it always bronze, or was that a more modern thing, to use bronze on acoustic guitars.
In the past, guitar strings were made of either wire or gut. (Gut strings were usually called catgut, but were actually almost always made from sheeps' intestines.)
__________________
"All ya need to play guitar is five strings, two fingers, and one a$$hole" ~ Keith Richards
zootdaze.com
MySpace.com
Virb.com
Indie911
friendster.com
zootdaze is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 16th January 2007, 04:54 PM   #13
Devina
Gear nut
 
Devina's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 99
we used fishing lines if out in the bush.....different
pound weighted lines
Devina is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23rd March 2007, 07:04 AM   #14
Rednose
Gear addict
 
Rednose's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 479
Well, it probably won't record well.
Had a session where the dude strung his acoustic with electric string.
No volume, sounded terrible.
I would recomend restringing with Martin Mediums.
Rednose is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26th April 2007, 01:31 AM   #15
kafka
Lives for gear
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,043
Quote:
Originally Posted by simonv View Post
Good evening everyone,

Today I put d'Addario Chromes strings on my acoustic guitar.
And I just kept saying all afternoon how my acoustic has never played and sounded that good in ages, just to realize that those strings were made for electric guitars...

So, it made me think... what's the difference between electric and acoustic guitar strings?
Well, the D'Addario Chromes are flatwound strings. i.e. the wound strings are wound with a ribbon of metal over the core, as opposed to a wire. These are a specialty string. You usually use these only for Jazz on archtops, although I once met someone who liked them on his Les Paul. I think Ed Bickert puts them on his Telecaster, but I've never heard of anyone else doing that. For about 20 years I used nothing else on my ES-175, although now I will occasionally put roundwounds on.

As far as the difference between electric and acoustic strings goes, it's the material of the winding on the wound strings. Acoustic strings are usually wound with bronze, whereas electrics are usually wound with steel. There are also different standards for sizing. A light acoustic set might range from .012 - .052. This would be heavy for an electric set, which can go down to .008 - .038. The flatwounds are usually spec'd similarly to acoustics, with .012 - .052 being light, and .013 - .056 being medium.
kafka is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 31st May 2008, 06:06 PM   #16
yeu351
Gear interested
 
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 1
Hi everyone:

I seldom played my acoustic guitar which has Elixir medium gauge (.013 to .056) acoustic strings on it, because it's so hard on my fingers and its sound is low & dull.

Just a few days ago, without seeing this post, I'd changed it to D'Addario super light gauge (.009 to .042) electric strings.

Now, I play it every day. The sound is bright & clear. Best of all, it doesn't hurt my fingers at all. I like it!
yeu351 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17th July 2008, 03:36 PM   #17
spons
Gear Head
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 45
do they really record all that bad? because I like the idea of stringing my Yamaha with electric light gauge strings. To get that strummy toppy sound I've been trying to create for a while. Kind of like early bowie acoustic sound
spons is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17th July 2008, 04:07 PM   #18
NorseHorse
Gear maniac
 
NorseHorse's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Virginia
Posts: 241
Re: What were strings made of before?...

CAT GUT.

There are a few folks in Williamsburg who play on gut strings. They have a softer/silkier tone but go out of tune much more often.
__________________

Williamsburg, VA 23186
NorseHorse is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 01:24 PM.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.0.0