The Steel Guitar Forum

I recently bought a used Eastman archtop with a floating pickup on Ebay. It came with electric guitar strings of a lighter gauge than I have played. I am about to change strings and am wondering whether most people use electric guitar strings or acoustic guitar strings with this type guitar/pickup. I will be playing mostly through a small jazz amp. Thanks for your advice.

I'm no expert in this, but I've always thought these guitars had flatwound strings on them.

clickhere for Eastman.

I don't know which model you have, but check w/Eastman's website. Generally, a guitar is set up for specific gauges. It's kind of a personal choice however, but your guitar may need a re-set if you change from the factory setup. This AR 910 CE model w/the Kent Armstrong floater above shows a .012 set.

FWIW, I use .011 set D'Addario Chromes flatwounds on my big jazzbox...but I'm far from an accomplished player...so take that into consideration.

A couple of things:

What Jerry said--Always check with the Builder when possible, if only for a starting point. As a General Rule, Acoustic Strings don´t play well with Magnetic Pickups. As another General Rule, Flatwounds will have a softer sound than Roundwounds. Without Guitar in hand it´s hard to say but a .012¨ Set seems like a good starting point to me. When in doubt: Strings are cheap, Experiment.

Enjoy the new Guitar!

[Hey Jerry, I like the new Avatar; hope that one´s around for a while.]

Congrats on your Eastman! They have come a very long way since I bought my first one around 2000.
It really depends on what you are going to be doing with the instrument. If you are playing solo chord melody style, flatwounds will be more forgiving of squeaks and finger noise. And realistically, the floating pickup approach to amplifying a solid wood archtop is going lend itself to that style very well. That being said, one of the greatest all time chord melody guitarists that ever lived, Joe Pass, mostly played a Gibson ES 175 (laminated) with a set in pickup. Although there are people out there that don't care for his tone. Roundwounds are going to be brighter and cut though a combo better.
It does take some experimenting to find the right string for your taste, tone and comfort. My working guitar, and I gig a lot, is a Bob built Benedetto Cremona. She sings best with the Tomastik Jazz Swing 13's (flatwounds). I'm a huge fan of those strings, they are a bit more expensive but the trade off is they hold their tone and last a long time. My backup guitar, and one I use in a Big Band setting, is a Eastman John Pisano 880. That guitar just loves D'A Chrome 12's. I believe DA is what most Eastmans are set up with at the factory.
With the floater, I would suggest trying flatwounds first and if they are too dull sounding for your taste, go to Rounds. BTW the TI's have less tension so the 13's feel like 12's.
Happy Hunting!

I have an Eastman T49/V, similar to an ES175. Very nice guitar.

I use Thomastik infield Bebop strings 012-.050 Expensive for a set of strings but these strings feel softer and compliment the arch top. This set has a plain 3rd but there are different gauges available.

Thanks, everyone, for this good body of advice. I happen to have an old set of D’Addario half-rounds, 13 to 56 in my “inventory.” I am going to start with those and see where it takes. Thanks again for the knowledgeable and thoughtful advice.

I put these Thomastik's on my Heritage and they sound great and last a long time. https://www.ebay.com/p/Thomastik-Infeld ... 589&chn=ps