String gage for Supro 60

Mel Mandville · Post by **Mel Mandville** » 1 May 2005 8:42 am

Hi Everyone,

I purchased an old Supro 60 last year. It's a cool old lap steel with the amp in the case that still works! Anyway I put some strings on it and they seem way to light.
What would you guys use?

Thanks

Mel

Mel Mandville · Post by **Mel Mandville** » 1 May 2005 8:48 am

Sorry, I forgot to mention.. I'm playing in G tuning..

GBDGBD LIKE MY DOBRO

I found an old post, but the gages are for C6

Thanks

Victor Denance · Post by **Victor Denance** » 1 May 2005 10:16 am

Hi Mel,

Check this string gauge chart out.
http://www.b0b.com/infoedu/gauges.htm

It's from Bob Quasar's website, father of the Steel Guitar Forum.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 1 May 2005 2:39 pm

I currently have a set of Martin Resonator guitar strings (nickel silver) on my Supro lap steel to play in open G, same as dobro gauges- .016 up to I believe .056.

You have an even thicker slab of wood up the neck than a dobro has- so the gauge isn't an issue as far as too much tension on the neck-so why wouldn't one use them?

------------------
Mark
[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 01 May 2005 at 03:39 PM.]

Bryan Bradfield · Post by **Bryan Bradfield** » 1 May 2005 3:55 pm

With an old Supro, it's not the warping of the neck that one needs to worry about. Rather, it is the life expectancy of those wonderful, old Kluson tuning machines. I used standard dobro string gauges until my lowest tuner started to slip. I then changed to a slightly lighter set-up. I currently use:
plain .016 D
plain .017 B
wound .028 G
wound .032 E
wound .044 B
wound .052 G
Note that this is a G6 tuning. For the 4th string lowered to a D note, I might use a 0.034", or just leave it as a 0.032".

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 1 May 2005 4:08 pm

I'm not arguing with you, Bryan, but I don't think in the average case that going from a .056 down to a .052 in terms of physics is going to make any real difference to the life span of the tuner. I don't see the Kluson people back in the 50's saying, ".052 is the absolute maximum these things can take."

Hey-maybe I'm all wet-and its actually written down somewhere. I would think if there were an issue, it would be more like "we recommend the use of C6 tuning where the 6th string is in gauges of .036 to .040" and playing in open G period with a heavier 6th string is already pushing the engineering envelope.

My 6th string has never slipped with a .056-the first time I have ever even thought about it is from your post.

------------------
Mark

Bryan Bradfield · Post by **Bryan Bradfield** » 1 May 2005 4:39 pm

Mark -

One thing that the tuner slippage caused me to think about was why I use the gauges that I use. On the dobro I use:
plain .016 D
plain .018 B
plain .026 G
wound .036 D
wound .046 B
wound .056 G
I think that is considered a light gauge, except for the 3rd string, a plain 0.026". I always found stock 3rd's (usually a 0.026" or 0.028" wound I think) to be too wimpy, and I whacked them to a premature death, long before the other strings died. That heavy 3rd is just right for me.

On the other hand, I found that I didn't beat on lap steel strings as hard. The pick-up and amplifier does the work for me. So I figured why aggravate the vintage lap steel with unnecessarily heavy strings?

As long as I get an even balance of volume and tone across the strings, that makes me happy.

Having said all of that, when I made that small gauge change on my Supro lap steel, my 6th string tuner stopped slipping.

- and I don't take your response to my comments as being argumentative. We are all here to share our blend of wisdom and experiences. (But look at the price of replica Kluson tuners. Yipes!!)

And, Mark - those Martin nickel reso strings. Have you tried them on your dobro? How do you like them?[This message was edited by Bryan Bradfield on 01 May 2005 at 07:51 PM.]

Mel Mandville · Post by **Mel Mandville** » 2 May 2005 5:40 am

Thanks for the advice everyone.. I'm way light on gages.
I think I put some Ernie ball 10's or something on. I'm new to lap steel
It had the old flatwounds on there.. When were these guitars made? 50's 60's? Mine has the case with the amp in it.. Still works

------------------
Carter S10, Nashville 1000, American Tele

Russ Young · Post by **Russ Young** » 2 May 2005 6:04 am

Mel:

The Supro "60" was available between 1938 and 1941. The guitar itself is actually a No.20; when sold with the amp-in-case it was designated No. 60. (There is also a Supro solidbody electric known as the "Sixty." It's the only Spanish-style guitar I know of that came equipped with a Valco string-through pickup.)

And include me among the people who use .016-.056 nickel strings -- I have Newtone "Slide Classics" on my Rick B6, which I generally tune to Open D. I haven't had any slippage, either.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 2 May 2005 12:02 pm

Bryan-the Martin resonator strings are decent on the dobro-but not my favorite. Right now I have a set of Beard Special 29's with the .029 wound 3rd string-which will give longer life to the dreaded third string, as you alluded to. These are phosphor bronze and I like them. The first string is .018, and though I like the beefiness-I'm trying to hear the difference-Jerry Douglas doesn't use anything larger than .016 on the first string because he thinks it creates a knd of "thud" that kills the tone. Not being able to hear the same things Jerry hears-and nobody else can for that matter-it doesn't seem real noticeable to me-but then who am I to dispute the maestro?

I got a bunch of strings awhile back way below regular retail from First Quality Musical Instruments via mail order and I have a set of John Pearse strings to try as well. I also got several sets of D'Addario EJ42 resonator strings on that order because that is what I typically use and I'm happy with them-I just wanted to try out some different brands this time around.

------------------
Mark
[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 02 May 2005 at 01:03 PM.]