please help choose correct guitar/strings

[Duffyw794]

Ok this is the typical I play acoustic mainly but want to try an electric thread....


I have tried to read the threads asking which is best.

The telecaster seems to win.

I am a newbie at guitar.

I have an electric but the strings (the upper ones) cut the heck out of my fingers and I dont play enough to build up callouses.

Is it as simple as just get a heavier gauge string and find the guitar that feels right?

or is like the telecaster or taylor t-5 better?

I like fingerstyle on my acoustic and I prefer not to play with picks. Sometimes I want to play some 80s or 90s rock and that electric sound is desired.

So what do yall think? Heavier gauge and then new guitar?

[muscmp]

i'm not sure of your questions but if you keep playing your acoustic, you will build up callouses. electrics are normally easier to play due to the smaller gauges of strings.

play music!

[Steve DeRosa]

A properly set-up electric guitar shouldn't be cutting up your fingers regardless of string gauge - unless you're using it exclusively for slide, the action should be significantly lower than a typical all-acoustic instrument; some suggestions based on 55 years of experience (YMMV):

• Get it in to a tech who knows what he/she is doing (not just a "strings-and-polish" person) and have them give the guitar a once-over - it may be as simple as a few relatively minor adjustments...
• Since you're mainly an acoustic player a slightly heavier set with a wound G may help ease the transition; until very recently all of the electrics I've owned over the years (Fender Strat/Tele, Gibson SG/LP/ES, Rickenbacker, Yamaha, Gretsch, Ovation, Taylor, Godin, Epiphone) have been strung with nothing lighter than 12's (usually flatwound, since I started as a nine-year-old jazzer) - I only went lighter over the last couple years as a concession to age - but you'll need a thorough setup (nut filing, fret leveling, bridge slotting, possibly neck angle on a bolt-neck instrument) for this to work...
• As long as it's going to be in the shop anyway have them make sure everything is as tight as possible, from tuner bushings to tailpiece - especially important on a bolt-neck guitar - and all the electronics are fully functional...
• Don't know if you have a traditional electric guitar amp or not (acoustic guitar amps almost always make lousy electric amps - interestingly enough, less so vice versa IME): if not, you need one - period/end of story/Elvis has left the building...
• Many players coming over from acoustic find a semi-hollow/hollowbody instrument more comfortable, if only on the basis of size/weight/handling qualities compared to a typical solidbody electric; should you decide to go this route there are a number of excellent options in the under-$1K range, the Godin CW II and Gretsch Electromatic 5400/5600 Series being my favorites (and highly recommended - especially the Gretsch - if you're a fingerpicker...

That should get you started...

[YamahaGuy]

I too play mostly acoustic and play electric when the wife's away. For me, the only way I can get away with good intonation without fretting everything out too sharp is to use 12-52 strings with a wound G. I use 12-53 or 12-54 on my acoustics, and have the same nut width on most of my guitars including my electrics , so going from electric to acoustic and back for me is seamless due to my setups. Any mainly electric player who picks up my guitar and tries to do crazy full step string bends looks at me like I'm nuts; I don't disagree, but I don't do a whole lot of string bending anyway.

If you go the heavy gauge string rout, a Tele with its fixed bridge would be a great guitar. I might recommend D'Addario EJ21 strings.

[Steel and wood]

Sooner or later you are going to have to develop those callouses. (Whether it's on an acoustic or electric). One you've got them, it won't really matter what strings you choose.

Good luck!

[clintj]

Electric takes a light touch, much lighter than acoustic. One exercise I had to do with each one is to practice fretting as lightly as possible while still producing a clear note.

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