String guages for lap steel in general

[Jim Pitman]

Having come from bluegrass reso GBDGBD, I've always used heavy gauge 0.016 to .056 which I think works well with an acoustic instrument. But, I'm considering changing to lighter for an electric lap steel.
I think there's less sustain with a lighter set but more interesting overtones, attack and decay.
I also play a U12PSG and standard guitar. My mind can't take another tuning so I'm sticking with GBDGBD on the lap steel.
Your thoughts and opinions?

[Raymond Craig]

on my cat can I used standard dobro strings but on my 6 string melba screamer I used gauged electric strings for open D tuning both of these guitars have pretty high nut and bridge if your steel has a low action you may want to try heavy strings so it doesn't feel mushy

[Jeff Highland]

It's a matter of personal preference, and also depends on what scale length you have on your lap steel.
I use 16-56 nickel reso strings on my 23" scale Supro In G tuning and would not want to go lighter, but YMMV,

[Brian Evans]

A lot depends on the scale of your lap steel. If it's 22.5 or 23", the heavy 16 - 56 strings will be a lot less tension, and feel loose compared to the 25" scale of a typical Dobro style resonator guitar. Lighter strings will feel a LOT looser. I use a G tuning on my lap steel, National Dynamic with 23" scale, and they feel nice with the heavier strings, kind of cushiony. If you lap steel is long scale, you might well experiment and see what you like.

[Jim Pitman]

Tx for the input guys.
For what it's worth:
Here's some commentary on the tone rather than the feel I found on the Geargod site regarding choosing guages.
"At a certain tightness, the sound loses some of its guitar-like quality, and lacks some of the harmonic overtone content that gives the tone its richness".
.

[Brian Evans]

I think a good question about string gauges to ask is "what is your target tension in lbs for your strings?" You need a certain tension to get good tone, good feel, good longevity, and it's easy to take that and convert it to gauges for any pitch you might ever want. My strings seem to end up around 25 lbs, more or less. Might be a little light?

[David Mason]

There has been some pretty serious evidence kick in that heavy-gauge strings actually sustain less - as a function of volume. Big strings give you more initial volume - but then, so can those little round lumps on the front of your amp - but Wait a Minute! What about Stevie Ray Vaughan - you know, the guy who was always double-picking notes and tremo... oh.

This chart is god's gift to gaugery, or at least b0bby lee's:
https://www.b0b.com/infoedu/gauges.htm

Scale lengths differ, preferences differ - precession of the equinoxes, the moon is out there, you know? I like them a bit loose, it's more "stringy"-sounding, less "shiny" (if these technical terms are above your pay grade, not to worry: I'm just babbling.) The point is, that chart provides accurate single-stringery-ness relative to each other, so once you plant your flag, well, away you go! You can peel the chart off your thing, sink into a word processing program, gorf it a bit tidier, print up dozens, hide them all over the house ->->->
I think I may have too many guitars.

[Peter Jacobs]

For G tuning on a 23” or 22.5” scale, standard reso gauges work for me, although I have dropped the .056 to .054, because the 56 gets a little thuddy. There’s always trade offs- too heavy and the sound is dull, to light and the strings bend too much under the bar, which makes for an unclear tone. Most of the strong charts say the low G should be a .048 - that’s way too light for me — the string gets really floppy.