| Author |
Topic: Substituting wound for plain strings - 6 str. |
David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
|
Posted 8 Oct 2005 8:15 am |
|
| What gauge wound string would you substitute for a .017" plain? How about for a .019" plain? I think you go up in size, but I don't know how much. This is for a standard six-string, but I'm not planning to do any bending on this particular guitar. |
|
|
|
John Bechtel
From:
Nashville, Tennessee, R.I.P.
|
Posted 8 Oct 2005 6:58 pm
|
|
I doubt very much if there is a wound~string light enough! I've never heard of a lighter~wound than .022w or possibly a .020w! 
------------------
“Big John” Bechtel
’04 SD–10 Black Derby w/3 & 5 & Pad
’65 Re-Issue Fender Twin–Reverb Custom™ 15” Eminence
web site
|
|
|
|
Jon Moen
From:
Canada
|
Posted 8 Oct 2005 10:32 pm
|
|
I used to use .018 wounds all the time. That was quite a while ago. They were Ernie Ball singles.
Jon |
|
|
|
David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
|
Posted 9 Oct 2005 12:59 am
|
|
| Elderly Music has GHS wound singles in .018, .020, .022 and .024. I bought one of those Squier mini Strats to feed an unnatural desire and the 22.75" scale is making the G string a devil to tune. I've got a plain .019 on there now which feels like about the right gauge, but it jumps all around the scale. It seems like maybe fatter plain strings are more sensitive to temperature changes, rather than less? |
|
|
|
Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
|
Posted 9 Oct 2005 3:50 am
|
|
| For the narrow range of plain or wound that the Ernie Ball chart on Carter's website lists (A# to G#, .022 to .024), they show using the same guage, plain or wound. |
|
|
|
David Doggett
From:
Bawl'mer, MD (formerly of MS, Nawluns, Gnashville, Knocksville, Lost Angeles, Bahsten. and Philly)
|
Posted 9 Oct 2005 11:55 am
|
|
| I did an Excel spreadsheet plot of standard string guages versus pitch. There is a slight discontinuity in the curve around 6th string G#, where the switch is made from unwound to wound strings. The plot indicates that (around G#) a wound should be about 2 points higher guage than an unwound string for the same pitch. Thus an unwound 0.017 should be replaced with a wound 0.019 or 0.020; and an 0.019 should be replaced with an 0.021 or 0.022. I would err on the side of a higher guage, because that will lessen the problem of the new wound string requiring a very long pedal or lever throw. I think some of the long throw problems come when an unwound string is replaced with a wound string of the exact same guage. That inner core of the wound string that determines the throw is then much thinner than the unwound string, and requires a much longer throw. |
|
|
|
