Can change in string brand affect all this?

Originally Posted by TBman

Well, if the saddle fell out and its a compensated saddle and you put it back in reverse it might mess things up a bit. Take off the strings, spend another $7 on another set, maybe back the the Martin Lifespans or even their everyday strings and try again. Changing strings won't throw off the intonation if you're going lights to lights. I can't imagine even going lights to medium would even do that.

^ This. Good advice to check that the saddle didn't get turned around, and new set of strings will tell you quickly and cheaply whether a visit to the luthier is in order.

[GGSanders]

It has happened to me, with each of my steel stringed guitars, and it wasn't caused by a bad set of strings, or a saddle installed backwards.

Part of my search for the best set of strings has been to find the best combination of tone, feel and intonation. Lower tension strings tended to fret flat unless I raised the saddle and action, which I didn't want to do.

[onkeltuka]

Wow, thanks for all the answers.

Originally Posted by vindibona1

... BUT *7* MONTHS WITHOUT CHANGING STRINGS?...

Haha. I meant I changed the strings once during those seven months, so maybe I'm just half as lazy?

But: No saddles dropped etc. during the string change, everything went normal. The weather has been unnormally cold and wet (this is Finland, so that's saying quite a lot!), so I wouldn't rule out that effecting the guitar.

I'll get the Martin strings and report back. I miss so much that booming low-E! It always reminded me of a grand piano in some weird way.

[51 Relic]

I encountered the same problem on my Martin Jeff Tweedy . D'addario strings are 12-53 with a 24 on the G string . Martin gauges for lights are 12-54 with a 25 on the 3rd . Martin strings work well on my Martin but any light 12-53 set with a 24 on the 3rd changes the tension

[saxonblue]

Originally Posted by 51 Relic

I encountered the same problem on my Martin Jeff Tweedy . D'addario strings are 12-53 with a 24 on the G string . Martin gauges for lights are 12-54 with a 25 on the 3rd . Martin strings work well on my Martin but any light 12-53 set with a 24 on the 3rd changes the tension

I wouldn't have thought it was possible to make that much difference myself but after 4 or 5 years of using Martin SP4100s I put some D'addario EJ16s on my Maton thinking they'd be the same. the action lowered noticeably & I was getting plenty of fret buzz for my fairly aggressive style of strumming.

Didn't want to go down the path of adjusting truss rods so put Martins back on in a few weeks, problem solved, higher action & better tolerance to harder picking & strumming not to mention a stronger & better defined tone. Don't ask me why, I would have thought the overall tension was about the same, it just turned out that way.

Nothing against D'addarios either. I always use them for my 12 string & my electrics as well.

[Silly Moustache]

The OPput light guage strings (the Dads) light guage are a bit light for a dreadnought.

If he is used to playing mediums (didn't say what gauge his SPs were) then he might be fretting too hard and bending the light gauge strings out of tune.

[catdaddy]

Using strings from a different company will produce a different tone. Is it possible to get a bad set of strings? Yes, but in my experience it is quite rare. I've had one bad set in the past 10 years which includes around 100 string changes. Is it possible that while changing the strings some element of your guitar's setup was altered? Yes, but again that would be extremely unusual.

My experience suggests to me that the most likely cause of the intonation problem is that you may not have stretched the strings properly when you changed them. Without doing that it will take the strings a good while to settle in to a state where they will maintain their pitch properly.

If you're not familiar with how to stretch strings after a change here's a video to help (instruction begins at 0:50 of the video):

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by catdaddy

Using strings from a different company will produce a different tone. Is it possible to get a bad set of strings? Yes, but in my experience it is quite rare. I've had one bad set in the past 10 years which includes around 100 string changes. Is it possible that while changing the strings some element of your guitar's setup was altered? Yes, but again that would be extremely unusual.

My experience suggests to me that the most likely cause of the intonation problem is that you may not have stretched the strings properly when you changed them. Without doing that it will take the strings a good while to settle in to a state where they will maintain their pitch properly.

If you're not familiar with how to stretch strings after a change here's a video to help (instruction begins at 0:50 of the video):

Don't know who the guy in the video is, but he's talking rubbish. The strings don't 'stretch', they snug up tight against the post when pulled hard and which is the whole point of the exercise: and you don't need to pull along it as he's doing because that does nothing. Just grab the string in the middle and yank it up, away from the fingerboard, a few times. The part about 'stretching' them behind the nut is also completely pointless.

[catdaddy]

Originally Posted by AndrewG

Don't know who the guy in the video is, but he's talking rubbish. The strings don't 'stretch', they snug up tight against the post when pulled hard and which is the whole point of the exercise: and you don't need to pull along it as he's doing because that does nothing. Just grab the string in the middle and yank it up, away from the fingerboard, a few times. The part about 'stretching' them behind the nut is also completely pointless.

Calling it "stretching" is simply semantics. Taking umbrage at his technique is your prerogative but is irrelevant to the OP's problem and what needs to be accomplished. What's important is that the strings have some give around the tuning post and at the seating point under the pin against the bridge plate. Pulling on the strings to tighten at the peg and seat at the plate is what is important for intonation/tuning stability.

[The Bard Rocks]

Keep in mind that after 7 months, any strings added will radically sound different. And I would no longer trust my aural memory of what the old strings sounded like when they were new.

As far as the intonation issues are concerned, it may be something other than the strings. Since they sound "wrong" (and louder) to you, it may be that you are listening more critically and hear something that was there all along.

[onkeltuka]

Again; I meant I changed the strings once during 7 months, so they were like 3.5 months at their "oldest"

[onkeltuka]

Ok, I got a set of .012 Martin SP's and what a difference! That deep resonant sound is back and the guitar is alive again. I'm impressed I must say. Volume increased too, and intonation is back on track. Unbelievably big difference! Needless to say I'll stick with Martins from now on.

[1neeto]

I’m still baffled at the intonation thing.

[jaybones]

Could be the same gauges from different manufacturers have different tension.